NEWS ARTICLE
SOLID FINISH GOES UP IN SMOKE FOR NEWMAN AT KENTUCKY
SPARTA, KY. (July 02, 2012) -- Ryan Newman appeared to be on his way to a long overdue top-10 finish in the Kentucky 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race Saturday night at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta until an engine failure ended his run early, relegating the team to a disappointing 34th-place finish.
"I'm not really sure what happened out there, just something blew up," Newman said. "It was going to be a good night for the Tornados Chevrolet, maybe not a great night, but a good night. I really think we were going to get a good finish and have a good night points-wise, and finally get another top-10.
"I'm just proud of the guys because this had been a good weekend for us, and we had rebounded from the past few weeks up until that point. It's just a tough way for the night to end."
Newman, who qualified fifth for the Kentucky 400, was hoping to finally end his team's drought and score its first top-10 finish in nearly three months. And for most of the race, it looked like Saturday night would finally be the night for the No. 39 team to break through and get back in the top-10.
The Tornados Chevrolet was a fixture in the top-15 for much of the 267-lap race. The team had battled through handling issues and the changing track conditions as day turned to night, and Newman's car was coming to life when trouble struck, abruptly halting the No. 39 team's march to a top-10 finish.
At lap 208, Newman's engine expired, causing him to lose control of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet, which then shot up the racetrack and spun into the Turn 2 wall. Newman's night ended in 34th place.
Newman's SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet, finished 32nd.
Brad Keselowski won the Kentucky 400 to score his seventh career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Kentucky.
Kasey Kahne finished 4.399 seconds behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Denny Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five. Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Martin Truex Jr., A.J. Allmendinger and Kyle Busch comprised the remainder of the top-10.
There were four caution periods for 24 laps, with 11 drivers failing to finish.
With round 17 of 36 complete, Stewart continues to lead the SHR duo in the championship point standings. He dropped four spots to ninth and has 545 points, 88 back of series leader Kenseth and eight points ahead of 10th-place Keselowski with a 42-point advantage over 11th-place Carl Edwards. Newman fell to 15th and has 463 points, which puts him 170 points behind Kenseth and 74 behind Keselowski.
The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday, July 7 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 6:30 p.m.
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