NEWMAN FOCUSING ON WINNING

Ryan Newman will make his 12th Cup start at New Hampshire International Speedway. It will be his 215th career start in the Cup Series.

 

Newman has an average start of 6.4 and an average finish of 11.3. Newman has four Bud Pole Awards and four other top-10 starts. His lowest start was 16th in July 2003.

 

Newman has two wins at NHIS and six other top-10 finishes, including three top fives.

 

Newman has led 518 laps in 10 races at Loudon. He has led at least one lap in each race except for last year's Sylvania 300. He has completed 97.9 percent of the laps possible at the New England track - 3,148 of 3,215 - since he made his Cup debut at the track in 2002.

 

Every September, when the NASCAR Cup Series visits Loudon, N.H., Ryan Newman and the No. 12 team make a stop at the St. Charles Children's Home in Rochester, N.H. This year, all three Penske teams will make the trek to Rochester and play with the children, eat dinner and make ice cream sundaes. Last year, the team and Mobil 1 donated numerous items to the children, including two DVD players [one for each side of the house], DVDs, CDs and a great deal of Ryan Newman merchandise, thanks to Motorsports Authentics and the Ryan Newman Fan Club. Mobil 1 even brought a show car just for the children and the sisters.

 

This year's visit will be on Saturday, Sept. 15.

 

Crew chief Mike Nelson and the Alltel team are taking chassis PRS-509 to New Hampshire as their primary car. It was tested at Charlotte in May, but has not been raced. The backup car is chassis PRS-519. It was the backup car Newman took to Richmond. It is new and it has never been on a track for a test or a race.

Newman On New Hampshire: "We didn't make the Chase, but we still have 10 races left. This team is not giving up by any means. We still have races to win and that's what we are going to focus on. We want to show everyone that just because we aren't running for the championship doesn't mean that we don't have just as much fire in us as those teams that are in the Chase."