Ryan Newman
No. 12 Alltel Dodge Avenger
Checker Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway
NNCS Notes:
Ryan Newman will drive in the USAC Midget Car Series race at Phoenix International Raceway prior to this weekend's Checker Auto Parts 500.
Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Avenger, will make his 11th Cup start at Phoenix International Raceway. It will be his 223rd career start in the Cup Series. Phoenix was the track where Newman made his Cup Series debut in 2000.
Newman has an average start of 9.5 and an average finish of 22.2 at the 1-mile track. He has three Bud Pole Awards, which he earned 2002-04. He has three other top-10 starts at the track.
Newman has two top-10 finishes at Phoenix and three more inside the top 15.
Newman has led 114 laps in three Phoenix races. He has completed 2,825 laps of a possible 3,123 since he made his debut in 2000. Newman has a completion rate of 90.2 percent at the Arizona track.
Crew chief Michael Nelson and the Alltel team will take chassis PRS-525 to Phoenix this weekend. It is a new car that has only been tested at Atlanta. The backup car is chassis PRS-519. It has been the backup car for the last few COT races, but it has not been used. The last time it was on the track was during a tire testing session at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
Newman on Phoenix: “I’ve had my ups and downs at Phoenix during my career, but I like racing at the track. We had a decent run going in the spring before we had some problems on pit road."
“We’ve been having some great runs lately and the team was able to pull out a top-five finish at Texas last week despite the fact that the car wasn’t the best all weekend. The guys did a great job getting the car ready for the race and our pit crew did a great job getting me track position all night.”
