CUP: Newman Is A New Man

Sprint Cup

CUP: Newman Is A New Man

Ryan Newman finally has a reason to smile...

Mike Hembree | Posted March 30, 2010 Martinsville, VA

The fourth place finish at Martinsville Monday was the first top ten for Ryan Newman this season. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Finally, Ryan Newman can see light at the end of the tunnel.

Newman’s team put together its first solid run of the season Monday at Martinsville Speedway, threatening to win and finishing fourth to score Newman’s first top 10 of the season and put new life into the No. 39’s search for a Chase spot.

Newman jumped from 26th to 22nd in the point standings after the season’s sixth race.

Newman was among the lead-group drivers who chose to stay on the track as a caution flew with nine laps remaining. That left him third on the lap-496 restart, and he quickly passed Matt Kenseth to move behind leader Jeff Gordon.

Two laps later, the caution appeared again, however, setting up a green-white-checkered finish, and Newman’s final-laps effort suffered because of his older tires. Still, he held on to fourth, giving his team a major positive in a season in which his previous best finish had been 16th (at Bristol the previous week).

“We needed a top five as a team,” Newman said. “The guys did a good job in the pits all day. I was just unlucky on the outside there on the last restart. To get a top-four out of that and on older tires, I can’t complain. Jeff (Gordon) couldn’t hold his line on the bottom, and he opened the door for everybody. Denny (Hamlin) drilled me in the bumper going into one and two. I’m amazed we got it back to the start-finish line.

“We’ve been trying to make improvements over last year. We were sixth here in the spring last year, and this year we were fourth. It was a good points day for us, which is obviously important to us.”

Newman had strong runs in Friday’s practices, but qualifying was rained out, placing him 26th on the starting grid as the lineup was set by owner points.

A series of chassis adjustments in the race’s first 200 laps put Newman in position to challenge for the win.

“Working our way up to the front – that was a lot of fun,” Newman added. “I just had an unlucky spot on that last restart. I don’t think anybody could have done it from the outside on the front row with old tires.”

Although Newman had a good day, his teammate and team owner Tony Stewart suffered through an afternoon of misery. Stewart had a strong start and ran in the top five early, but major handling issues resulted in a series of pit-road visits and adjustments, and Stewart finished 26th, two laps down. He fell three positions in points to eighth.

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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