Ryan Newman News and Information

WARNING – All lap number referneces and other information MAY be slightly off. We had company over for the evening including diner. So I was not able to pay 100% attention to the race like I usually do.

Ryan Newman and his #12 Alltel Dodge finished todays Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway in 28th while Carl Edwards saved a lot of fuel in order to win with out running out of gas.

UPDATE – NEWMAN’S THOUGHTS ON THE RACE

“We just couldn’t seem to make the car go today,” said Newman, who complained that his car had no grip, meaning that the car wouldn’t stick to the track and felt like it was sliding around for most of the day. “The car’s balance was never really bad, I just had no grip, and when you don’t have grip you really can’t manipulate the race car and make it go where you need to in order to gain spots.”

LAP 20
Around lap 20 Newman came over the radio saying he was loose in and not enough grip. Shortly after he came back over saying he was getting looser.

Newman was up to 27th.

LAP 40
Newman was back down to 29th and was basically say that he was loose everywhere. At this point already the leader Clint Bowyer was less than a straight away behind him.

LAP 51
Newman and most of the rest of the field were coming in for their green flag pit stops.

The plan was for air pressure and track bar adjustments.

Newman had come into the pits in 29th and after the green flag pit cycles were over he was in 32nd.

LAP 56 – Caution
Reed Sorenson blew something in his car and brought out the caution.

Newman and others came back into the pits to get more adjustment. They took 2 new tires and 2 rounds out of the right rear and 1 round into the left rear.

Newman left the pits and restarted in 19th.

MISSED IT
We have guests over so my coverage here is spotty today. But somewhere around lap 100 Newman went a lap down.

LAP 200
Newman was still running a lap down at this point and in 27th. Newman went into the pits for green flag pit cycles. He had more adjustments include air pressure and track bar adjustments.

Once the green flag cycles were done, Newman was in 28th and 1 lap down.

LAP 225
Around lap 225 Newman was put 2 laps down by Carl Edwards.

At this point there was only about 13 cars on the lead lap.

LAP 240 – Caution
Caution comes out with Newman sitting in 27th and 2 laps down.

When he pitted they lowered the track bar 2 rounds and changed 4 tires and fuel.

He left the pits in 27th and 2 laps down and that is where he restarted.

LAP 260
Around lap 260 Juan Pablo was taken out by David Gilliland. It appeared to be pay back for a little confrontation a couple of laps before hand. If Gilliland did that on purpose he needs to be penalized. It was pretty extreme as he sent Juan Pablo Montoya head first into the wall.

Gilliland was held in the pit road penalty box for 5 laps for causing that incident.

A few moments later NASCAR parked the #38 of David Gilliland for the night and told the driver and crew chief to report to “The Trailer”.

Newman went into the pits in 23rd and came out in 24th 2 laps down.
LAP

Newman ended up finishing 28th and 3 laps down. He would have only been 2 laps down but Carl Edwards and team decided to gamble on not pitting for a splash of fuel. The bet paid off and they won the race.

POINTS STANDINGS AFTER THE RACE
Take a look at the points. Jimmie Johnson did not have a good day and Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton did. All finished ahead of Johnson.

So the points gap closed up at the top. As you can see Edwards is only -103 behind with Biffle only being -140 behind. Both have a long way to go but can make it up in 2 races.

I am still hoping that the championship comes down to the last lap at Homestead-Miami Speedway.