Ryan Newman/Daytona Advance
Ryan Newman will make his 10th NASCAR Cup Series start at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday and his 169th in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Heading into his second Daytona race this year, Newman has just one top-10 start at the 2.5-mile superspeedway -- the 2005 Daytona 500. Earlier this year, Newman started 18th, which was his fourth Daytona start from inside the top-20. His average start on the trioval is 23.33.
Newman recorded his career-best NASCAR finish at Daytona in the 2006 Daytona 500 with a third. In his first NASCAR start at Daytona - the 2002 Daytona 500 - Newman earned his first top-10 finish at the track in a Cup race, placing seventh. The Alltel Dodge also has recorded six top-25 finishes at the track. Newman's average finish at DIS is 19.89.
In nine DIS races, Newman has led 26 laps in three of them. He has finished all but one of his nine starts. He was involved in a horrendous accident on the frontstretch during the 2003 Daytona 500 and completed only 57 of the 109 laps run in the rain-shortened race. Newman's completion rate at the superspeedway is 92 percent -- 1,245 of a possible 1,352.
Crew chief Matt Borland and the Alltel team will take chassis PRS-65 to this weekend's Pepsi 400. This chassis has been raced a total of six times -- four Daytona events, one at Talladega and an appearance in the 2005 Budweiser Shootout at Daytona.
The first time this chassis ran on the track was in the 2003 Pepsi 400 when Newman finished 22nd. In September 2003 at Talladega, Newman finished fourth after starting 12th. At the 2004 Daytona 500, Newman started 20th, but finished 31st after being involved in an accident. Newman started the 2005 season by racing the chassis in the Budweiser Shootout, starting seventh and finishing second. Later that year, in July, Newman finished 14th after starting 27th. Newman also used this car in this year's Daytona 500 when he earned his career-best, third-place NASCAR finish at Daytona after an 18th-place start.
Quotes:
Newman on Daytona International Speedway: "Daytona is such a tricky place to be. You have to find people to work with and who will work with you in the draft, but at the same time, you have to make sure you stay out of other people's messes."
"Drafting is such an important part of racing at Daytona. If you can't find anyone to work with, you'll never be able to move up to the front. On the other hand, some people find it better to stick around in the back until later in the race because the cars are so close together and one little wiggle of a car could cause half the field to wreck."
"Our goal for this weekend is to go out and try to duplicate the type of finish we had at Daytona in February. The Alltel Dodge Charger ran well and we were able to keep our nose clean and we're hoping to do that again this weekend."
Quick Stats:
Daytona International Speedway: 9
Races Led/Laps Led: 3/26
Best Starting Position: 9 (February 2005)
Best Finishing Position: 3 (February 2006)
July 2005 Start: 27
July 2005 Finish: 14
