Tornados Driver Boldly Gains 12 Spots in Last Two Laps at Atlanta

Date:               March 7, 2010

Event:             Kobalt Tools 500 (Round 4 of 36)

Series:             NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location:        Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile oval)

Start/Finish:   7^th/17^th (Running, completed 341 of 341 laps)

Winner:          Kurt Busch of Penske Racing in a green-white-checkered finish (Dodge)

Ryan Newman battled through handling and tire issues to score a hard-fought 17^th-place finish in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

The driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) lost two laps about midway through the event when he made an unscheduled pit stop for a shredded right-front tire. Despite the issue, Newman was able to make calculated gambles to pick up 12 spots in the closing laps of the race, which ended in a green-white-checkered finish.

“Man, we could not catch a break until the very end there,” said Newman, whose top-20 result was his best four races into the 2010 Sprint Cup season. “But either way it was a hard-fought 17^th-place finish for the Tornados Chevrolet. It looked like we were going to be 31^st there for a long time and to get that break there at the end was really nice. We’ve just got to work a little bit more on it, but I have to say the guys did a great job on pit road today. We were really improved there.”

Newman qualified seventh for Sunday’s race but had to start from the rear of the field after making an engine change prior to the event. NASCAR rules state that if an engine change is made prior to the race, the car for which the change is made must drop to the rear of the field. 

With the drop of the green flag, Newman didn’t waste any time as he tried to make up the lost ground. By lap 30, he had already moved into 15^th. He told crew chief Tony Gibson that the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet was just a little too loose, especially off of turn two.

When the caution flag waved at lap 34, Newman pitted in hopes of helping his loose-handling racecar. The Tornados pit crew changed four tires, added fuel and made a track bar adjustment. A quick pit stop put Newman back on track in 14^th-place. Although he was still picking up spots and had moved into 12^th-place by lap 50, Newman told his team that his Chevy was still a little too free exiting the turns.

A caution on lap 80 afforded Newman’s crew the opportunity to improve his car’s handling. The pit crew made track bar and wedge adjustments and changed four tires and added fuel on the stop. Following the trip to pit road, the team noticed that the right-front tire was blistered and told Newman that tire wear was something that they would need to collectively watch closely over the course of the race.

Unfortunately, the chassis adjustments hurt Newman’s forward bite as the car was still too loose off the corners and tight in the center. Newman began sliding back and fell to 22^nd when the caution flag waved again. The crew again made a series of wedge and air pressure adjustments to try and improve the handling of the Tornados Chevy.

By lap 150, Newman was in 24^th and he told his crew that the adjustments had over-tightened his racecar and that he could not drive it through the center of the turns the way he needed to. The team began making a plan for the next stop, but Newman radioed that he had a tire issue and had to pit immediately.

The unscheduled pit stop came on lap 153 for four tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Newman’s right-front tire was shredded when the crew removed it from the car. He returned to the track in 30^th-place, two laps down to the leaders.

As soon as Newman returned to the 1.54-mile oval, an untimely caution came at lap 157. Newman elected to stay out on the track since he had just pitted. The decision to stay out enabled Newman to gain back one of the lost laps, but he was still mired deep in the field. Over the next 130 laps, Newman’s team made a variety of tire pressure adjustments in hopes of helping the car’s handling. The team also made a series of strategy calls regarding when to stay out and when to pit in hopes of regaining their lost laps and making a run at the leaders.

However, the effort was thwarted when the No. 48 Chevrolet of Jimmie Johnson made contact with Newman’s No. 39 machine as the two came off turn four on lap 285. Newman had to pit for a flat tire and to repair his left-front fender damage. For the second time during the race, Newman returned to the track and was greeted by another untimely caution which put him in 32^nd, three laps down to the leaders.

Again, Newman stayed out while the race ran under caution and regained one of his laps. The team opted to roll the dice, and thanks to caution flags, Newman was able to get back on the lead lap before the final restart of the race at lap 339. Newman took the green flag in 29^th and was able to pick up 12 spots over the final two laps to claim the 17^th spot.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished 13^th.

Stewart continues to lead the SHR driver lineup in the championship point race, as his top-15 finish bumped him three spots to eighth in the Sprint Cup point standings with 510 points, 134 markers behind series leader Kevin Harvick. Newman moved up three spots to 29^th in the standings with 337 points, 307 markers behind Harvick.

Kurt Busch won the Kobalt Tools 500 to score his 21^st career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his third at Atlanta.

Matt Kenseth finished .482 of a second behind Busch, while Juan Pablo Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Paul Menard rounded out the top-five. A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Harvick and Scott Speed comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were 11 caution periods for 53 laps, with eight drivers failing to finish the 341-lap race, which was extended 16 laps past its scheduled distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

The Sprint Cup Series takes a rare weekend off before heading to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway for the March 21 Food City 500. The race begins at 1 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

Date:               March 5, 2010

Event:             Kobalt Tools 500 Qualifying (Round 4 of 36)

Series:             NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location:        Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile oval)

Pole Winner:   Dale Earnhardt Jr., of Hendrick Motorsports (28.761 seconds at 192.761 mph)

SHR Lineup:   Ryan Newman (7^th, 28.943 seconds at 191.549 mph)

                    Tony Stewart (15^th, 29.073 seconds at 190.692 mph)

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Atlanta Motor Speedway by qualifying seventh for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 28.943 seconds at 191.549 mph on the 1.54-mile oval.

“I couldn’t see anything at all going into turn one with the sun setting right in my eyes. I really didn’t know where I was,” said Newman, who has seven career poles at Atlanta, tied with Buddy Baker for the most all-time. “We had a good lap, but we didn’t have the best draw and that didn’t help us any out there. It was a good lap, but I would’ve liked to have gotten a little more. I think we have a good racecar on Sunday with the Tornados Chevy. This team has made a lot of improvements over the year with our mile-and-a-half program and I’m comfortable with our cars and our packages at these tracks.”

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 15^th after turning a lap of 29.073 seconds at 190.692 mph. 

“Our car was a lot better in practice,” said Stewart, who scored victories at Atlanta in March 2002 and October 2006. “The early draw didn’t help. The car got a little upset through the bumps in turns one and two and I lost time off two waiting for the car to settle in. We were pretty good in (turns) three and four, though.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr., captured his ninth career pole, his first of the season and his second at Atlanta by posting a lap of 28.761 seconds at 192.761 mph. Kyle Busch will start alongside Earnhardt, as he timed in at 28.833 seconds at 192.280 mph. Juan Pablo Montoya was third (28.859 seconds at 192.106 mph), while Hendrick Motorsports teammates Mark Martin (28.903 seconds at 191.814 mph) and Jeff Gordon (28.909 seconds at 191.774 mph) rounded out the top-five.

Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Kobalt Tools 500. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Casey Mears, Terry Cook and Aric Almirola.

As far as manufacturers went, Chevrolet took the top spot thanks to Earnhardt’s pole-winning run. Toyota was next best at the hands of Busch, while Ford was the third-fastest make thanks to Kasey Kahne’s sixth-place run of 28.922 seconds at 191.688 mph. Kurt Busch, who qualified 11^th, was the top Dodge at 29.018 seconds at 191.054 mph.

The Kobalt Tools 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 7 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon. 

KANNAPOLIS, N.C. (March 3, 2010) – It’s been 299 races since Ryan Newman made his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series during the 2000 season. Newman’s debut at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz., was about a little more than nine years ago. For Newman, it’s hard to believe how quickly the time has passed.

Seems it wasn’t very long ago that Newman was a fresh-faced college student who, after enjoying success in the open-wheel ranks, was working to transition to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was back then that the United States Auto Club (USAC) champion was paired with former Sprint Cup driver Buddy Baker. Baker was charged with teaching the Indiana native how to hustle around NASCAR’s bigger racetracks in bigger, heavier stock cars.

The 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., where Newman will make his 300th Sprint Cup start this weekend in  the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was just one racetrack where Baker and Newman spent numerous days working together. Atlanta is just one of the places where the lessons that Newman learned have stuck with him.

The story goes that, nearly 10 years ago, Baker would travel with Newman to different racetracks and test sessions as his driving coach. While the team was in the garage preparing the racecar, Newman and Baker would jump in the rental car, buckle in and go for a ride around the racetrack.

Baker – the legendary driver who amassed 19 wins in 700 Cup starts – would show Newman how to drive the racetrack. The two would even drive the track backward so the young Newman would have a better perspective on the track’s entry and exit points.

Baker was very careful not to tell Newman what he should do. However, should Newman do something wrong on the track, Baker was the first to let him know what it was. Baker wanted his young protégé to learn from his mistakes.

The lessons that Baker taught are still fresh in Newman’s mind. Newman often reflects on Baker’s advice and has recognized him for his help in making him the driver he is today on numerous occasions. In fact, after Newman’s win in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500 in 2008, Newman named the car Buddy to thank his mentor.

Newman has a chance to honor his adviser in another way at Atlanta this weekend. The two – teacher and student – are tied with seven poles each at Atlanta, the most of any driver. With the ultimate qualifying effort, Newman could break the tie and set the all-time pole record and, in doing so, would give a nod of thanks to the man who helped him learn how to be successful in NASCAR.

For Newman, qualifying on the pole would also be a boost for his No. 39 SHR team and a potential momentum builder for the rest of the weekend. After three races, the team sits 32nd in points and has a best finish of 18th (last weekend at Las Vegas) so far this season. Although Newman and his team aren’t worried about their spot deep in the points, the team is ready to make a bold jump starting with qualifying this weekend at Atlanta.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

You head to Atlanta this weekend with an opportunity to break a tie between you and Buddy Baker and set the pole record (with eight poles) at the 1.54-mile racetrack. What would it mean to you to hold the pole record at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

“Buddy Baker has been a good friend and mentor to me since I got my opportunity to race stock cars with Penske Racing back in 2000. He was someone I had admired, and when I got to know him, we had a lot in common and really enjoyed each other. I still talk to him pretty frequently – and we both have a lot of stories about each other, which we won’t get into, but we had fun. A lot of people have heard me tell the stories about how and what Buddy taught me, but it’s something that’s pretty cool and has been really important to my career. Buddy and I would go to racetracks and we would take our rental car out on the tracks at tests and drive around the racetracks forward and backward. Driving the tracks backward gave me a different perspective of the entry and exit points of each corner. What Buddy did was teach me how to approach those areas on the racetrack when I was driving the track the right way. Atlanta was a track that he helped me with a lot. Back when I tied him for the pole record, I think he joked that he shouldn’t have taught me quite so well.

“To be honest, though, Buddy probably helped me more than I realized at the time because he never told me what to do – he told me what not to do. He would never tell me when I was doing something right, but he always told me what I was doing wrong, because he wanted me to learn from my mistakes. He was an amazing teacher, and I count myself very lucky to have Buddy as a friend and mentor. He taught me, more so sometimes, the things not to do than the things to do. To me, that made a big difference and a big impact. If I could not make some of those same mistakes he did that cost him a shot at a victory, and to make an addition to his resume, those were things that were going to help my resume.

“I really would like to get the pole record at Atlanta. I look at all the records that are out there, and I think I told reporters last year that this may be my only shot at a record of any kind. But to me, it’s not so much about breaking Buddy’s pole record. In fact, being tied with Buddy is quite an honor for me. I think it would be even more of an honor if I could pass him and set my own pole record at Atlanta, just because I know what an incredible driver and teacher Buddy was to me, and I know how long that pole record has stood. It would be something really special. I think both Buddy and I would be excited if I could set the record this weekend.”

While you have had great success at winning poles in Atlanta – you even had six in a row from 2003-2005 – you haven’t had as much success in the races. You have just one top-five in 16 starts. What do you attribute that to?

“Unfortunately, I’ve heard that question before, too. When you look at my stats, I guess I’ve got a lot of poles and not so many wins, or at least a third as many wins as I have poles. But the numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story. I’ve had some fast racecars there. We lost power steering one race and still finished 10th, one lap down. We had a tire that was out of balance and pitted while we were leading one year and went a lap down. Last year, we had strong racecars in both of the races at Atlanta. We had a top-10 car in the spring race and we lost a cylinder, which caused us to fall out of contention. In the fall, we had a really good car. I struggled with handling for most of the race but, in the last 100 laps, I got the car to my liking and I was able to get a top-10 out of it. So I’ve had some fast race cars. I’m not talking the first run of the race. I’m talking toward the end of the race. Unfortunately, we’ve not gotten the results to show for it. We got turned around on the back straightaway running in the top-five with (Dale Earnhardt) Junior at one time there. It’s all in how you look at it. I’ve always said it’s tougher to complete 500 miles faster than everybody than it is to run one lap fast and hold your breath.

“I feel like, this year, we have the opportunity to win the pole and have a solid finish. We had a really good car in both races at Atlanta last year. And over the past year, our mile-and-a-half program at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has really improved, so I think we will have an even better shot at both a pole and a good finish. Just in the past two races, I’ve been really happy with my No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet. We’ve unloaded well. We’ve been super fast. We’ve been really competitive. Unfortunately, we had issues at both races – a blown engine at California and some pit road issues at Las Vegas – and we didn’t get the finishes we feel we deserved. Overall, though, we’ve had some really strong racecars, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we have for Atlanta this weekend.”

What are some of the keys to racing at Atlanta?

“Atlanta is fast, especially when the conditions are right. You have to hit your marks. It’s bumpy enough that those bumps can spit you right out. Getting into turn one and the middle of three and four, you’ve just got catch everything just right. It’s kind of like surfing or wakeboarding – you’ve got to catch the waves right and, obviously, put the car in the right spot to do the right things with the gas and the steering wheel. I think it’s the combination of the tire grip that we have, initially, and it’s a wide open racetrack. There’s plenty of room to race there. It’s one of the best racetracks we go to for three- and four-wide racing in the corners. I think we’ll have a good car. We ran better in Atlanta last year than I have in a long time, so I look forward to going back and seeing what we have this time around.”

You haven’t really had the start to the 2010 season that you had hoped for with two DNFs and a top-20 finish. Instead, it’s very reminiscent of how you started out last year. With that in mind, your team was able to fight back from a rough start and secure a spot in the Chase for the Championship. Is that something you guys look at right now and something that keeps you motivated and saying that you can do this?

“It has been a frustrating start to the season for us but, just because a race or two doesn’t go your way, you can’t get down and upset and think that this is how your season is going to go, or this is what your season is going to be like. We have to stay focused and believe that our luck is going to change. We know where we were at this time last year and it’s about the same spot as we are right now. For us, though, we are looking at the big picture and we’ve run a lot better already in the first three races this year than we did last year. We’ve made some pretty big gains as an organization and some pretty big gains for me, personally, working with Tony Gibson and having a year under our belts and having that notebook to go back to from when we got some experience together there last year. For instance, California was something that was out of our control. Our biggest satisfaction was knowing that we had a car that was a top-five racecar in Fontana. We worked our way toward the front every run, and then we lost an engine. Gibson probably says it best – that we have to take a positive out of each race. We got our first finish at Las Vegas. It wasn’t a finish I was happy with or proud of, but we finished the race and now we’re going to use that as a springboard to hopefully make some big gains in the points these next few weeks, just like we did last year. We came from behind last year as a new team of people who didn’t really know each other. I have a lot of faith in this team because we didn’t give up at all last year, and I believe we can do the same thing again this year.”

TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

Ryan has enjoyed great success in qualifying at Atlanta. He is tied for the pole record there with Buddy Baker with seven poles, and he has the chance to set the all-time pole record this weekend. How much of a focus will you put on that this weekend?

“Ryan is definitely a threat to win the pole at Atlanta, and I would really like to see him get that record. It’s something we would like to help him achieve, but I would give up a pole for a strong car all day, good pit stops and to be able to win a race. Anybody can sit on the pole, but you’ve got to win races when it comes right down to it. I’d rather have a really good racecar than a really good qualifying car. We’ve had good qualifying cars the first three races this season. I know Ryan has thought that he had a valid shot at the pole at Daytona, California and Las Vegas, and I don’t think it will be any different for us this weekend at Atlanta. We’re taking the car we ran in California, and we unloaded good and fast right off the truck, so I think we’ll have a good car and we have good notes. The rest will be in Ryan’s hands. I would love for him to get the pole and that record, but I don’t just want to win the pole just for the sake of winning the pole. I would settle for a really, really good racecar and have a solid day in the pits and on the racetrack.”


Last weekend at Las Vegas, the team qualified third and then had some issues on pit road, which led to an 18th-place finish. However, your first comment at the end of the race was, “We finished one of these things, and that’s a start.” Can you talk about that comment and what your goals are heading into Atlanta?

“I look at it as a case where we had to pull a positive out of the weekend. We had a really, really good car right off the truck at Las Vegas. We qualified well – in third place. The race started out really well for us, but we lost several spots on the first pit stop and then we lost a straightaway to the leader on a green-flag stop, and that’s what put us behind, which was disappointing and frustrating to everyone. But we did finish the race. We had a good car. We just had some bad pit-road issues that put us further back than we should have been. You just try to pull a positive out of each race, no matter what it is. The way I look at it is that it’s early in the season. This isn’t where we wanted to be, but we have to look at each race and make the best of each situation. Right now, we just have to keep finishing these races. As long as we can do that, we will be doing what we did last year and we’ll be fine. It won’t be long until we will be right back up there in the hunt.

“We ran well at Atlanta last year both times we were there. We had some engine issues and dropped a cylinder in the first race while we were running in the top-10. The second race, we got a top-10. We know we run well there. NASCAR and Goodyear have brought the same tire to Atlanta, which seems to suit Ryan’s driving style a little better so, hopefully, that will play into our favor and help us shine a little bit better, too. We gained points after our finish at Las Vegas. We need to make some bigger gains. We need to make a six- or eight-spot gain there. We need to have the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet in the top-20 by the time we come out of Bristol. That’s our goal right now, just to have solid finishes and get back up there in the points like we did last year.”

Ryan Newman’s Atlanta Motor Speedway Performance Profile:
Year    Event    Start    Finish    Status/Laps    Laps Led    Earnings
2009    ×Kobalt Tools 500    12    22    Running, 327/330    3    $109,679
    Pep Boys Auto 500    23    9    Running, 325/325    1    $135,479
2008    Kobalt Tools 500    12    14    Running, 324/325    0    $115,075
    † Pep Boys Auto 500    17    16    Running, 325/325    0    $133,950
2007    Kobalt Tools 500    1    23    Running, 324/325    0    $111,000
    ×Pep Boys Auto 500    9    37    Engine, 267/329    0    $112,375
2006    Golden Corral 500    2    18    Running, 325/325    2    $115,033
    †Bass Pro Shops 500    17    30    Running, 321/325    0    $125,258
2005    Golden Corral 500    1    14    Running, 325/325    5    $120,266
    Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500    1    23    Running, 323/325    1    $137,266
2004    Golden Corral 500    1    5    Running, 325/325    43    $120,467
    Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500    1    17    Running, 323/325    58    $138,092
2003    Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 I    1    10    Running, 324/325    21    $94,450
    Bass Pro Shops/MBNA 500 II    1    29    Accident, 320/325    13    $107,900
2002    MBNA America 500    2    10    Running, 325/325    15    $78,000
    *†NAPA 500    6    10    Running, 248/248    1    $92,900

* Race cut short due to weather.
† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.
× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.