Ryan Newman – Talladega II Advance
Team: No. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
1000 Bulbs 500 – Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Newman at Talladega Superspeedway
· Newman will make his 36th Cup start at Talladega on Sunday. In 35 prior races, Newman has an average finish of 19.2 with 14 top-10s and six top-fives.
· His best finish at the track came just two seasons ago when he crossed the line second in the 2017 fall race. He also finished ninth last spring after starting 18th.
· After finishing seventh this April, Newman has three top-10s in his last four starts at the 2.66-mile track.
· He holds an average starting position of 14.9 with 11 starts inside the top-10. He has two career qualifying efforts of third or better, including third in 2005 and second in 2012.
· Newman also made one Xfinity Series start at Talladega back in 2009, where he qualified on the pole and finished second.
Scott Graves at Talladega Superspeedway
· Graves will call his seventh MENCS event at Talladega on Sunday. In six previous races atop the pit box, Graves has a best finish of third with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., back in 2013.
· He most recently finished seventh with Newman this spring and overall has an average finish of 11.2.
· Graves also called three Xfinity Series events at Talladega, all of which were top-10s. He led Chris Buescher to a runner-up result in 2014 and followed that with a sixth-place finish a year later, before finishing seventh with Suarez in 2016.
Last Time at Talladega
Despite getting caught up in an early incident, Newman came back and restarted within the lead pack at the end of the spring race to finish seventh.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Talladega:
“We’re looking forward to the opportunity in front of us at Talladega. Any time we got to a restrictor plate track we feel we have a chance, and I think we’ve shown that this year at Daytona and the first Talladega race. It’s always an odd ball because you never know what can happen on a Superspeedway, but we’re excited for the challenge and glad to have Wyndham Rewards back on the car this weekend.”
Recapping Dover
Newman crossed the line 22nd Sunday at Dover.
Driven for a Cause
Throughout the month of October, Roush Fenway Racing will show its support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month by running special pink numbers on its Ford Mustangs. In addition, Roush Fenway Fords will sport pink ‘Driven for a Cause’ ribbon decals on the C-Post all month long.