Ryan Newman Mixes It Up in the Caterpillar/ Grainger Camaro ZL1 in the All-Star Race Before Hitting the Wall on the Final Lap
“This one is on me. I miscounted the green-white-checkered flag to end Stage 3 and I left off the gas too soon. It cost us a top-five on the final restart and instead we took the green in 11th. I hate it for the Caterpillar/Grainger team. We got off sequence on pit stops and the way the cautions fell from there, it really worked in our favor. I simply messed up. I did all I could do to regain the ground I had lost. On the final restart, we climbed back into the top five but unfortunately when we took the white flag, I made contact with the wall and lost all our momentum resulting in the 16th-place finish. We had nothing to lose so I went for for it in the end. There was a lot of jockeying for position throughout the race. The first stage we got as high as 11th, made some adjustments to loosen me up and I was way too loose to really contend for anything. We used the next caution to make adjustments, worked back up and then decided to gamble in Stage 3 by pitting with teammate Austin Dillon when most of the front runners stayed out. It paid off with the big crash and got us the track position we needed, but unfortunately we got bit in the end. It was fun out there. I hope the fans enjoyed the show we put on.”
– Ryan Newman