Ryan Newman New Hampshire Advance
Notes:
Ryan Newman will make his ninth NASCAR Cup Series start at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday in his Alltel Dodge Charger and his 171st in the NASCAR Cup Series.
NHIS is one of five tracks where Newman has earned three or more Bud Pole awards in his Cup series career. Newman's last pole at the 1.058-mile track came in July 2004. In eight starts at the oval, Newman has six top-10s, including four in the top-five. His lowest starting position was in July 2003 when he rolled off the grid in 16th. His average starting position at the track is 6.625. Newman also holds the track qualifying record from 2003 with a lap of 133.357 mph.
Again, NHIS is one of only three tracks where Newman has earned multiple wins in the Cup series. Newman has won three Cup races at Dover International Speedway and two at Michigan International Speedway. At NHIS, Newman has two wins, including the last Cup event at the track in September 2005. Newman has only one finish outside the top-10 in eight starts - a 33rd in September 2004 - and five of those finishes have been in the top-five. His average finish at the New England track is 7.875.
Newman has led at least one lap in each of his eight races at NHIS for a total of 499 laps led. Twice Newman has led the most laps during the race, including his first win at the track in September 2002 when he led 143 laps en route to victory lane. Newman has had only one DNF at the track - an engine problem in September 2004 - and has completed 2,269 laps of a possible 2,307, giving Newman a 98 percent completion rate at the 1.058-mile oval.
Crew chief Matt Borland and the Alltel team will take chassis PRS-55 to this weekend's Lenox Industrial Tools 300. This is the same car that Newman drove to victory in September 2005, however, it's been rebuilt a couple of times since then. In November 2005, the team took the same chassis to Phoenix where Newman was involved in a wreck during practice. The car was taken back to Phoenix in April 2006 and was involved in a wreck during the race.
The backup car for NHIS is chassis PRS-69, a car which had two top-10 finishes last year. Borland and the Alltel team took this car to both Martinsville races in 2005. In April, Newman had a flat tire at the beginning of the race and lost a few laps, but he was able to drive the car back to the front and finish fourth. In October, the car finished 10th at Martinsville. The team also tested this car at Richmond International Raceway earlier this year.
Quotes:
Newman on New Hampshire International Speedway: "I enjoy going to Loudon to race. We've had quite a bit of success there and we've only had one finish outside of the top-10, which was due to engine problems. We're going into this weekend's race knowing that we can win here and hopefully, we'll be able to get two consecutive wins at this track.
"Obviously, we need to have a good finish in order to make our way into the 'Chase'. We're not out of it yet, but we need some better runs if we're going to make it in. New Hampshire is a good place for us to go in order to get that finish that we're looking for. We won the last time we were there and I know everyone on this team feels like we can do it again."
Quick Stats:
New Hampshire International Speedway: 8
Races Led/Laps Led: 8/499
Best Starting Position: 1 (three times)
Best Finishing Position: 1 (twice)
July 2005 Start: 4
July 2005 Finish: 7
