FANTASY NASCAR Racin

a driver in the NASCAR Cup Series. He drove the #39 United States Army/Tornados/Haas Automation/Quicken Loans/Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet Impala for Stewart Haas Racing under crew chief Tony Gibson in 2011. Newman graduated from Purdue University in 2001 with a B.S. in engineering. In 2002, he was the Raybestos Rookie of the Year. Newman made his racing debut in 1993 in the United Midget Auto Racing Association and the All-American Midget Series, winning both Rookie of the Year and the championship. His 100 feature wins and two titles have him in the Quarter Midget Hall of Fame. Moving to USAC in 1995 running the C.E. Lewis #39 Drinan Chassis powered Brayton Motor, he was ROTY again in both the Midget Series and the Silver Crown in 1996. In 1999, he was the first driver to win in all three divisions while being the Silver Bullet Series champion in the #14 Beast Chassis powered Chevy. Newman began working for legendary racing icon Roger Penske in 2000, winning 3 of the five ARCA RE/MAX Series races he entered, and making his Cup debut at Phoenix International Raceway. In 2001, Newman continued in both ARCA and NASCAR, while attending Purdue. Newman ran 15 Xfinity Series races that season, winning poles in his 2nd and 3rd career starts and scoring his first career win at Michigan International Speedway in just his 9th career start. He also had a series-high 6 poles. Around this time, he would meet racing legend Buddy Baker, who would eventually become his mentor on super speedways. In 2002, Newman won a season-high 6 poles, breaking the record set by Davey Allison. In September,

he won his first career NASCAR Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after starting from the pole. Newman also became the second rookie since Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win The Winston, and beat out Jimmie Johnson for the Rookie of the Year award on the strength of rookie records in top-fives (14) and top-tens (22). Newman's sophomore season began with two flips, and one near flip at the 2003 Daytona 500 after contact with Ken Schrader, At Watkins Glen he spun and hit the foam blocks, sending him on his side. The near-flip was at the 2003 Aaron's 499 when getting turned, he got into the wall, sending it nearly on his side. Though finishing the season with a series-high eight wins and eleven poles, he also suffered seven DNF's, which left him sixth in points.

His number of poles during the season led to him being nicknamed "Rocket Man." In 2004, Newman qualified for the inaugural Chase for the Cup by finishing seventh in points with two wins and nine poles. He made the 2005 Chase as well, while returning to the Xfinity Series after a four-year absence, winning six out of the nine races he entered, including a series-record five straight. Newman endured his first win-less season in 2006, finishing a career-worst 18th in points, while his longtime crew chief, Matt Borland, left for Michael Waltrip Racing. His pole ratio between his rookie year and 2006 was one in every three races, tying him for fifteenth on the all-time poles list. In 2007, despite a streak of three consecutive poles, Newman again failed to win a race, including a near win at Lowe's Motor Speedway that was spoiled by a blown tire. His win-

less drought ended after he won the 2008 Daytona 500 on February 17, 2008. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for Penske. On July 15, 2008, Newman announced that he was leaving Penske at the end of the season, and a month later, it was confirmed he was joining newly-formed Stewart Haas Racing in 2009, in the number 39 (his number during his midget-driving years) Chevy Impala. U.S. Army signed on for a three-year sponsorship deal, though only for 23 races of the 2009 season. On September 12 at Richmond, Newman finished 10th and clinched a spot in the Chase for the first time since 2005. On November 1, 2009, at the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Newman was involved in a heavy crash on the back stretch in which he flipped over on top of Kevin Harvick entering turn three. He ended up on his roof, and because the roof was crushed, crews had to use the Jaws of Life to pry the roof off the car after NASCAR officials flipped it back over. Newman was unharmed. On April 10,

2010, Newman broke a 78 race win-less streak with a win in the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway. He only led 4 laps during the race. He got his first win of the season winning on a fuel mileage having enough to get the checkered flag at the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire, giving him his 3rd career win at the track. Tony Stewart finished second giving Stewart/Haas Racings first ever 1–2 finish. At the same track in September, Newman grabbed his third pole of the season at the Sylvania 300. The 49th pole of his career put him in a tie for 10th all time on career poles with Bobby Isaac. On April 1, 2012, at Martinsville Speedway,

Newman survived a wild finish to get the 16th win of his career. Newman made his Truck Series debut on October 25, 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, starting tenth in the #33 truck field driving Kevin Harvick's #2 Truck and passed his teammate Ron Hornaday with less than five laps to go to pick up his first truck series win in his first start making him the first driver to get their first Truck win at Atlanta and becoming the 4th driver to win in their first Truck race and joining the list of drivers who have won in all three of NASCAR's top series. From to 2009 through 2013 Newman wheeled a car for the new Stewart-Haas team. During that time he posted four wins. In 2014 he moved to Richard Childress Racing. He essentially swapped with Kevin Harvick, as Harvick moved from Childress to Stewart-Haas. The move proved fruitful for both drivers as Harvick won the Championship and Newman finished second by one point. Newman also made the Chase in 2015. 2016 saw a down-tick in performance for Newman and his Richard Childress Racing team mates. Newman ran poorly often because of poor handling and a seeming lack of power. He finished a disappointing 18 in the final points standings. He posted only two Top 5 finishes and finished off of the lead lap in eleven races. 2017 saw him stay with RCR driving the #31 Caterpillar Chevy; He pulled a major surprise winning at Phoenix in just the fourth race of 2017 and broke a 127 race win less streak. Newman had ran mid-pack the whole race; but with just a few laps to go Joey Logano blew a tire bringing out the final yellow. Everyone came in to pit for the big finish - everyone that is but, Newman, Ricky Stenhouse and Martin Truex. Kyle Busch had the best car all day leading 114 laps and was leading at the time of the yellow.

Stenhouse and Kyle Larson made contact on the restart and gave Newman the chance to slip away to the win. It also locked him into the Chase. Newman was only able to post five additional Top-5 finishes in 2017 and was eliminated from the Chase after the first round. He finished 16th in the points. For 2018 Newman returned to RCR racing along with team mate Austin Dillon. Newman had a disappointing season driving for RCR in 2018. He failed to qualify for the Chase and didn't even post a Top 5 finish. He ended up 17th in points; and may have led to his decision to leave RCR at the end of the season and spend the 2019 season driving for Roush Fenway Racing. Newman moved to Roush Racing to try and help the team get on it's feet and be more competitive. Roush had been struggling the last several years and his cars hardly ever

have a shot at winning. Newman made some progress in 2019. He wasn't able to win any races; but he finished more races on the lead lap; and he had three Top 5 finishes; along with 14 Top 10's. This is up from zero Top 5 and nine Top 10 finishes in 2018. Ricky Stenhouse was let go at the end of 2019 and Newman's new teammate was Chris Buescher. Newman made the Chase via points; but he was eliminated at the end of round one. He ended up 15th in the points standings. Newman's season got off to a horrific start. On the final lap of the Daytona 500 Newman was in the lead and went to block the second place car. The car run into his rear and turned him sideways; nose first into the outside wall. He crashed hard and flipped before getting hit in the drivers door while he was still upside down. Many feared he hadn't survived. As

everyone held their breath; safety crews got him out of the car and transported him to the hospital. Unbelievably only two days later he walked out of the hospital unaided. Here is a video of the crash. He missed the next three races being cleared from concussion protocol and during that time discussed his wild ride on the Today Show (video here). The NASCAR season was shut down due to the coronavirus; and two months later when it restarted Newman was ready to go racing again. He was still driving for Roush Fenway Racing and they have been struggling with their race program the last several years. This year was no different. Newman didn't have any Top 5 and only two Top 10 finishes. Over half of his finishes

came between 12th and 20th. Newman was back with RFR for 2021; but the team continued to struggle. In 2021, he ran most races mid-pack and never challenged for a win. His best finish for 2021 was a third place run at Daytona in August. His only other Top 5 finish came when NASCAR returned to dirt racing when they run Bristol, and he finished fifth. In all he had 24 finishes of 20th or worse. His team mate Chris Buescher suffered just 12 finishes of 20th or worse. Much of this is probably because of the down-turn at Roush Racing and their struggles to get back to running competitive. To try and remedy it’s performance issues; Roush Fenway Racing brought in a

new partner. Brad Keselowski has wanted to be owner / driver, so he went to Roush to drive the #6 Ford. The new team name became Rush-Fenway-Keselowski Racing. This left Newman without a full time ride; but he was offered a part time ride at Roush; and it was not known what he would do in 2022. Turns out; he didn't run a single race in any of NASCAR's top three series. After retiring from full time racing, Newman came back and raced part time in the Xfinity Series and also the Cup Series. He made just one start in the Xfinity Series, coming at Miami. He had bad luck as he had rear gear issues and fell out after only 27 laps. He made eight Cup starts; all driving for Rick Ware Racing. He was trying to help Ware assess his equipment and try to make it more competitive. His first start came in the Spring race at Darlington where he finished 28th. He ended up racing seven of the last 16 events. His best finish came at Homestead-Miami in the 4Ever 400 where he

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RYAN JOSEPH NEWMAN - 12/08/1977