Ryan Newman
No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger
Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway
NNCS Notes:
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, will make his 12th Cup start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It will be his 221st career start in the Cup Series.
Newman has an average start of 3.1 and an average finish of 17.2. All but one of Newman's starts at Atlanta have been from the top 10, including seven Bud Pole Awards. Newman and mentor Buddy Baker are tied for the most poles at the Georgia track. Newman's only non-top 10 start came in October 2006 when qualifying was rained out.
Newman has four top-five finishes at AMS. He has five other finishes inside the top 25.
Newman has led 159 laps in nine races at Atlanta. He has completed 99.6 percent of the laps possible at the intermediate track - 3,483 of 3,498 - since he made his Cup debut at the track in 2002.
Newman's wife, Krissie, will celebrate her birthday Sunday. The couple plans to celebrate her birthday by visiting Noah's Ark in Atlanta, an animal shelter with some interesting occupants, including tigers, bears and monkeys.
The Alltel team will participate in the NASCAR COT test slated for Monday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Chassis
PRS-108: This car was last raced at Michigan in August when Newman qualified 34th and finished 16th after a two-day rain delay.
PRS-082: The back-up car was tested at Kentucky earlier this year, but has not been used in a race.
Quotes:
Newman On Atlanta: "We've been having some really good runs the last few weeks, beginning with Talladega. We did really well at Charlotte until the truck arm broke with two laps to go, but I think we've improved a lot on our intermediate-track program, so we're looking forward to Atlanta. We're taking a good car with us. We got the pole back in March and had to replace the engine before the race, so we started in the back and just couldn't get things going from there. Hopefully, we'll have some better luck this time around."
Upcoming Events
10/29-30: Newman and the Alltel Dodge team will participate in the NASCAR COT test at Atlanta Motor Speedway following the Cup race on Sunday.
11/1: Newman will make an appearance at the ExxonMobil Refinery in Beaumont, Texas, before heading to Ft. Worth for the race that weekend.
11/17: Newman will participate in the annual Hot Rods & Reels Fishing Tournament at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
