Ryan Neman - CHICAGO/USG SHEETROCK 400 PREVIEW

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, will make his sixth Cup start at Chicagoland Speedway. It will be his 207th career start in the Cup Series.

Newman has an average start of 7.4 and an average finish of 21. All of Newman’s starts have been from inside the top 15 and he has three top-10s, including two from the top five and one Bud Pole Award.

Newman has two top-five finishes at Chicago, including a win in the 2003 event. His other three finishes have been 29th and lower.

Newman has led 163 laps in three races at Chicago. He has completed 91.9 percent of the laps possible at the Illinois track—1,230 of 1,338—since he made his Cup debut at the track in 2002.

Crew chief Mike Nelson and the Mobil 1 team are taking chassis PRS-108 this weekend as their primary car for Sunday's USG Sheetrock 400. The new car was tested last week in Nashville, Tenn. PRS-053 is the backup Dodge. Newman raced it in the All-Star event in May at Lowe's Motor Speedway.

On July 18, Ryan Newman will be one of the guests at a NASCAR benefit BBQ at the Bass Pro Shops on Bass Road in Atlanta, Ga. Newman will promote his book, "Pit Road Pets," for the Ryan Newman Foundation. Tickets for the 6 p.m. event are $30 in advance or $40 at the door. Anyone 15 years old and under will be admitted free with a paying adult.

Newman On Chicago: “Chicagoland is like a mini Michigan. We’ve had some success here in the past. We won here in 2003 and we’ve got one pole here as well. It’s getting down to crunch time for the Chase and we didn’t exactly have the run we were hoping for last week in Daytona, so everyone on this Mobil 1 Dodge team is hoping to have a little better weekend at Chicago before we get to enjoy our final off-weekend. I’m looking forward to the race in Chicago; we’re so close to getting back into Victory Lane and making our way back into the Chase field for 2007.”