Newman 4th at Richmond Moves to 10th in Standings

RICHMOND, Va. — Ryan Newman, who was a contender for the majority of Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race, took the checkered flag with a strong fourth-place finish at Richmond International Raceway.
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It was the second consecutive top-five finish for Newman, who posted a third-place result last week in Talladega, Ala. The stout performance on Richmond’s .75-mile short track moved Newman from 13th to 10th in the Sprint Cup driver point standings. The U.S. Army/Haas Automation driver is only 14 points shy of eighth place.

“We had a winning racecar and I think the guy out front typically had a winning racecar, but the bottom line was we didn’t get out front when we needed to,” said Newman. “It was a good run for the U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS. I told the guys if we keep doing this we’ll get what we want and obviously we want to be in Victory Lane.”

“We were inspired all weekend by the many Soldiers who attended the event and I am happy we gave them a strong performance,” added Newman. “We all feel that this Soldiers’ car will eventually find its way to Victory Lane.”

For the first 313 of the 400-lap race, Newman’s No. 39 Chevy was either leading or stalking the leaders. Newman led four times for 45 laps and put himself in position to capture his first win of the season. But on Lap 314 he lost valuable track position after being involved in a three-car incident with Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin. When the smoke cleared from the spinning cars, Newman found himself in 15th place. Though his car survived major damage, Newman was forced to play catchup for the remainder of the race.

“We had the leader strategy but got caught up in that accident,” explained Newman, who qualified 10th. “We all got jumbled up and I lost track position. But we showed that we could lead and we had a car that could race with Kyle (Busch – the race winner). We persevered and made it home with a strong finish.”

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, finished second, giving the new Stewart-Haas Racing team its first double top-five performance.

“A great effort for Tony Stewart and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing,” noted Newman. “We got two cars in the top five which was a first for us, and hopefully it’s a first of many.”

The Richmond performance was also Newman’s third top-10 finish in the three short track races this season. He finished seventh in Bristol Tenn. (March 22) and sixth in Martinsville, Va. (March 29)

The next race for Newman and the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation team will be the Southern 500 Saturday night (May 9) at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

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Richmond’s top-10 finishers:
1. Kyle Busch
2. Tony Stewart
3. Jeff Burton
4. Ryan Newman
5. Mark Martin
6. Sam Hornish Jr.
7. Jamie McMurray
8. Jeff Gordon
9. Casey Mears
10. Juan Pablo Montoya
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