Ryan Newman/Dover Advance
Notes:
Ryan Newman will make his ninth NASCAR Cup Series start at Dover International Speedway on Sunday and his 165th in the NASCAR Cup Series. "The Monster Mile" is the site of three Newman victories; most recently in September 2004. Newman was also the last driver to sweep the season at Dover, winning both races in 2003.
Newman has only started outside the top-five at Dover once in his NASCAR Cup Series career, that was a 38th-place start in his first ever race at the track. He finished fourth. Newman, along with fellow Dodge driver Jeremy Mayfield, possesses two of the last six poles. The last two poles were set by points due to inclement weather. Newman leads all active drivers with a 7.125 starting average at the "Monster Mile". Newman's first victory at Dover in June 2003 came from the pole.
There has only been one race where Newman finished outside the top-10. In June 2004, he started second and finished 24th. Newman's average finish at Dover is 6.50. Among active drivers with at least five starts, only Tony Stewart has a better average - 6.00. Newman has never recorded a DNF at Dover.
Newman has led five races at Dover for 632 laps, the third highest behind Bobby Allison (2,803) and Jeff Gordon (2,117). He has completed 3,576 laps of a possible 3,604. That is a 99 percent finishing rate.
Matt Borland, crew chief of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, and the Alltel team will take chassis PRS-79 to this weekend's Neighborhood Excellence 400 presented by Bank of America. This will be the first time this chassis has been run with a Charger body. After the Atlanta race in March 2006, the 2004 car was stripped down and redone as a Charger.
The first time this car ran was in California in September 2004 where it finished fifth. The chassis also was used in the final Mountain Dew Southern 500 at Darlington in November 2004, where Newman finished 34th. It was tested in Atlanta and Nashville in 2005 and ran three races last season: second California, 18th; second Charlotte, 7th; and second Atlanta, 23rd. This season, the car ran again in Atlanta and finished 18th.
Quotes:
Newman on the "Monster Mile": "We've had a lot of success at this track and I'm looking forward to getting back up to Dover and hopefully turning our season around. It would be nice to get another Bud Pole Award, but we would definitely appreciate a fourth win even more."
"Dover has always been a good track for this team and it's almost expected that we do well there. We're not going to take anything for granted, though. We'll go up there and work just as hard as we do at every other track and hope that it pays off and we get another good finish out of the track."
Quick Stats:br>
Dover International Speedway: 8
Races Led/Laps Led: 5/632
Best Starting Position: 1 (twice)
Best Finishing Position: 1 (three times)
June 2005 Start: 4
May 2005 Finish: 8
