Ryan Newman
No. 12 Sony HDTV Dodge Charger
California Advance
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Sony HDTV Dodge Charger, will make his eighth NASCAR Cup Series start at California Speedway on Sunday and his 177th in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Only one of Newman’s seven starts has come from outside the top-15 – a 28th in the September 2005 race. The other six starts included four top-10s and two top fives, including the pole in April 2002. Newman’s average start at California is 10.5.
Newman has only one finish outside the top 20. In April 2003, after starting fourth in the Auto Club 500, Newman finished 42nd after an accident. Three finishes have been in the top 10, including two top-fives. Newman’s best finish at California came in May 2004 when he placed third after starting from the seventh position. Newman’s average finish at the 2-mile track is 15.9.
In seven races, Newman has led three of them for a total of seven laps. Of 1,755 laps run at the track, Newman has finished 1,540 of them. This gives Newman an 88 percent completion rate.
Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Sony HDTV Dodge Charger, and the Sony team will take chassis PRS-048 to this weekend’s Sony HD 500. Two weeks ago, this car was driven at Michigan International Speedway in the GFS Marketplace 400. Newman started fourth, but finished 25th after dealing with a variety of problems during the race. This car was also tested at Kentucky this year, but before that, it had not been on a track since the 2003 season. In September 2003, Newman drove the car at Loudon where he started on the pole and finished ninth. In November of that year, he started on the pole at Phoenix and finished third.
Newman on California Speedway:
“This team had a great run last weekend at Bristol – in both races. We were able to get out with two top-10 finishes. The Cup car was especially challenging because it wasn’t good all weekend and we qualified pretty average. We couldn’t do anything to the car to make it run a fast lap, but once the race came around, the car felt really good. It was a little tight during most of the race, but it was manageable and we came out with an eighth-place finish. It was a run this team needed.”
“We’re out of the Chase this year, but we’ve still got 12 more races to run. Everyone plans on focusing on one race at a time and now our job is to win races and prepare for next year. We may be out of contention for a championship, but this team knows how to win and we still have many chances to visit victory lane before Homestead in November. This weekend, at California, we’ll try to win our first race of the year and hopefully, contend for the 11th-place finish in the points at the end of the year.”
Quick Stats:
California Speedway: 7
Races Led/Laps Led: 3/7
Best Starting Position: 1 (April 2002)
Best Finishing Position: 3 (May 2004)
September 2005 Start: 28
September 2005 Finish: 18
