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NEWS
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PHOTO GALLERIES ARE AVAILABLE FOR
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CHASSIS NOTES
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PRS-552:
This is a brand new car for Newman and
the No. 12 Alltel Dodge team. It will
turn its first laps at Las Vegas on
Friday.
PRS-513: The backup car is the same
No. 12 Alltel Dodge that served as the
backup at California Speedway last week.
The team tested with it at Las Vegas in
January.
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 Las
Vegas Motor
Speedway
Las Vegas, NV
Track Facts
Banking/Turns: 12
Distance: 1.5 miles
Shape: Tri-oval |
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Las Vegas Motor Speedway has the distinction of
being the first completely new superspeedway to be built
in the southwest region of the United States in more
than 20 years. The track features a 1.5-mile
superspeedway, a 2.5-mile FIA-approved road course, a
4,000-foot drag strip, paved and dirt short tracks,
motocross circuits, stadium truck racing facilities,
go-kart and Legends cars layouts as well as a Junior
Drag racing strip.
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Appearance
Schedule |
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TRACK
Stats |
| DATE |
START |
FINISH |
LAPS
COMPLETED |
MONEY WON |
| 2001 |
35 |
33 |
256/267 |
$49,675.00 |
| 2002 |
2 |
4 |
267/267 |
$162,125.00 |
| 2003 |
3 |
7 |
267/267 |
$128,025.00 |
| 2004 |
5 |
27 |
265/267 |
$114,117.00 |
| 2005 |
1 |
9 |
267/267 |
$148,511.00 |
| 2006 |
11 |
43 |
88/270 |
$112,125.00 |
| 2007 |
39 |
8 |
267/267 |
$143,225.00 |
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PIT
CREW |
| Crew Chief |
Roy McCauley |
Davidsonville, Md. |
| Team Engineer |
Travis Geisler |
Pittsburgh, Penn. |
| Car Chief |
Bryan Dilly |
Ringwood, N.J. |
| Front-tire Carrier |
Scott Reiniger |
Salisbury, N.C. |
| Front-tire Changer |
Ben Brown |
Charlotte, N.C. |
| Jackman |
Bryan White |
Knoxville, Tenn. |
| Rear-tire Carrier |
Trent Cherry |
Charlotte, N.C. |
| Rear-tire Changer |
Joe Piette |
Wausaw, Wis. |
| Gasman |
George Whitley |
Chocowinity, N.C. |
| Catch Can |
Britt Goodrich |
Gastonia, N.C. |
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 NEWMAN
SCORES TOP-15 FINISH AT VEGAS
Las Vegas, Nev. (March 2, 2008) – Ryan Newman, driver
of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, battled an
ill-handling race car throughout the day and fought his way to a
hard-earned 14th-place finish on Sunday in the UAW-Dodge 400 at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“We just couldn’t get a handle on our Alltel Dodge today,”
Newman said. “Junk was the word I used on the radio. We were a
top-10 car for part of the day, and then we weren’t and we just
never got it back. After the way the car handled, we’re
satisfied to come out with a top-15 finish. We have to keep
having solid finishes each week to make the Chase later in the
season.”
With his 14th-place result, Newman is third in the NASCAR Cup
point standings after three races, trailing series leader and
Las Vegas race winner Carl Edwards by 41 points.
Newman started the UAW-Dodge 400 in 15th place on Sunday
afternoon. Only four laps into the race, Newman radioed to his
crew that his Alltel Dodge was too loose. He also told crew
chief Roy McCauley that he didn’t like the feel of his left
front shock, which would hamper Newman’s efforts throughout the
day.
When the caution flag waved on lap nine, the Alltel pit crew had
their first of several opportunities to adjust the handling of
the race car. Newman, who was running in 16th place, came down
pit road for a track bar adjustment and fuel.
He restarted the race in the 18th position.
While Newman struggled to pick up spots on the race track, he
told his crew that the car didn’t have any grip. By lap 50, as
green flag pit stops began, Newman was in 11th place but he was
now dealing with a tight race car that was tough to handle.
The Alltel pit crew went to work on lap 55. The team changed
four tires, added fuel and made an air pressure and wedge
adjustment in hopes of helping the car. When the green flag
stops cycled through, Newman was shown in 16th place.
The adjustments appeared to help Newman’s difficulties with the
car as he worked his way up to 10th place on the track when the
yellow flag waved again on lap 69.
Newman told his crew that the car was now “a tick on the free
side.” But the 2008 Daytona 500 winner said his biggest problem
was that it didn’t feel like he was using the left front of his
car at all.
After pitting for two tires, fuel and another air pressure
adjustment, Newman returned to the track in ninth place.
The adjustments were not enough to help Newman gain any more
ground. The car remained a little too free and Newman slid back
to 11th place, so the team pitted once again under the caution
at lap 110. This time, the No. 12 crew changed four tires and
made an air pressure adjustment.
However, as Newman took to the track, the car once again was too
loose – especially when cars were behind him. Newman struggled
to find a line where the Alltel Dodge would perform at its best.
On lap 145, Newman pitted under caution for four tires, fuel and
air pressure and track bar adjustments. He returned to the race
track in the 11th position, but Newman radioed McCauley that the
car again was way too loose.
“You’ve got to tighten me up,” Newman said when the caution flag
waved for a wreck that happened directly behind the No. 12
Alltel Dodge a few laps later.
Newman returned to pit lane on lap 163. The Alltel crew changed
right side tires and made another track bar adjustment. Newman
was nearly pinned in his pit box by the No. 41 Dodge driven by
Reed Sorenson, who was in front of him. The problems in the pits
led to Newman restarting the race in 13th place.
The difficulties with the loose-handling car continued for
Newman.
“We’re going to get a good finish out of this,” McCauley told
his driver. “Just stay calm and find your rhythm.”
As the laps ticked away on the board, Newman told his crew that
his biggest problem with the car was that it was loose getting
into the turns. He still didn’t like the feel of the left front
shock and he was lacking grip, and the car was too loose to make
any moves on the race track.
The crew made a series of pit stops during the next 100 laps to
try and fix the car’s handling.
“I just don’t like the way it handles,” Newman told his crew at
lap 233 when he came in for yet another stop. This time, the
crew changed four tires, added fuel and made wedge and track bar
adjustments.
Following this pit stop, Newman was penalized by NASCAR for
being too fast entering pit lane. He was sent to the tail end of
the longest line and he restarted in 20th place with just 30
laps remaining in the race.
Again, Newman told his crew that the car didn’t really improve
with the changes. He was still loose getting into the corners
and he still couldn’t find any grip on the track. Newman was
running 19th.
When the caution waved for a wreck on lap 257, the team debated
coming down pit road to change the left front shock that Newman
had complained about during the course of the race. However, the
team called off the stop and Newman drove straight through pit
road. He restarted in 12th place on lap 262.
Just five laps later, Newman took the checkered flag in 14th
place for his third consecutive top-15 finish to start the
season.
“Thanks for the effort and for just hanging in there today,”
McCauley told Newman after the race. “I’m sorry we didn’t do a
better job adjusting the car for you, but this is something we
will work on.”
After two days of testing at Phoenix International Raceway on
Monday and Tuesday, the No. 12 Alltel Dodge will return to
action at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 9 for the
Kobalt Tools 500. The race can be seen on FOX beginning at 1:30
p.m. ET and heard live on PRN Radio
 NEWMAN TO START 15th IN
UAW-DODGE 400
LAS VEGAS, NV (Feb. 29, 2007) - Ryan Newman, driver
of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, will start 15th
in the UAW-Dodge 400 on Sunday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway.
Newman turned a lap of 180.355 mph (29.941 seconds). Pole winner
Kyle Busch in the No. 18 M&M's Toyota turned a lap of 182.352
mph (29.613 seconds).
"I under drove the car on my qualifying run," Newman said. "I
think we have a better Alltel Dodge than we showed in
qualifying, but with all the problems that guys were having
during practice, I was being conservative on my run. I think
that we will be more competitive in race trim."
Newman has one win (Daytona) and two top-10 finishes in the
first two races of the 2008 season. He is currently second in
the NASCAR Cup points standings.
The UAW-Dodge 400 will air live on FOX on Sunday, March 2, 2008,
beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET. The race will also be broadcast live
on PRN.
DRIVER: Ryan Newman
STARTING POSITION: 15th
PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES
9. Kurt Busch
20. Sam Hornish Jr.
ALLTEL “MY CIRCLE
500”
Alltel will once again sponsor the “My Circle 500”
sweepstakes, a national text-to-win promotion that puts race
fans in the driver’s seat for a chance to win a grand prize
of up to $500,000. From now until May 3, fans can enter the
Alltel “My Circle 500” by texting RACE to 38229 or by
logging onto
www.alltelracing.com.
The 10 sweepstakes finalists and their Circle of Friends
will win an all-expense-paid trip to Charlotte, N.C., May
23-26 to compete in the second annual Alltel “My Circle
500.” The finalists will get in the driver’s seat and take
two laps around the go-kart track. Then, it’s up to their
‘Circle of Friends’ to change four tires on the No. 12
Alltel Dodge. The fastest team will be declared the winner
and take home at least $200,000. The champions will receive
an additional $300,000 if they beat the time of 2008 Daytona
500 champion Ryan Newman and the Alltel pit crew –
increasing the grand prize purse to $500,000.
Notes
- Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel
Dodge Charger, scored his 100th career NASCAR Cup top 10
with a 10th-place finish at California’s Auto Club Speedway
on Monday afternoon. Newman has four top 10s to his credit
at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in seven starts. His best finish
was a fourth-place run in 2002, the year that Newman
captured NASCAR Rookie-of-the-Year honors.
- Newman comes to Las Vegas ranked second in the Cup
Series point standings after winning the 50th running of the
Daytona 500 prior to Monday’s finish at California. It is
the best start for Newman since 2002 when he finished
seventh at Daytona followed by a 14th-place result at
Rockingham in the first two races of the season.
- Newman has a good qualifying history at Las Vegas Motor
Speedway. He’s earned one pole (2005) and three other
top-five starts at the venue.
- Newman — along with crew chief Roy McCauley, car chief
Bryan Dilly, team engineer Travis Geisler and Penske
Racing’s Vice President of Operations Michael Nelson — will
travel to Alltel headquarters in Little Rock, Ark., on
Thursday before coming to Las Vegas. The team will be part
of a pep rally for Alltel employees, as well as a
celebration of the No. 12 Alltel team’s victory at the 50th
running of the Daytona 500.
- Following the race at Las Vegas, the No. 12 Alltel team
will travel to Phoenix International Raceway for a two-day
NASCAR test.
THE START OF THE SEASON: “ I couldn’t wait to get home
after the race at California. It has been a busy start to the
season for us, and it doesn’t look to be slowing down — but I’m
not complaining. After winning Daytona, we did a weeklong media
tour and came straight to California, so it had been two weeks
since I had been home. It was nice to get home, see my dogs,
hang around my house and just catch my breath. It’s the little
things that you miss. It’s been an amazing year for me so far,
and I am so honored to represent NASCAR as the Daytona 500
champion, but it was nice to just be at home for a few days and
get rested.
“This has been the best start to a year in my Cup career and
I hope the Alltel team can continue that this weekend at Las
Vegas. We have a lot of momentum and we don’t want to lose that.
We had a good test at Las Vegas. That track is about being fast,
getting the car to ride good and figuring out ways to create
advantages that are becoming fewer and fewer over other teams.
We learned a lot in the test and we need to keep working on it
in practice so we will be at our best for the race.”
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “The test was good for
us. I think the big question mark as we go into Las Vegas is
the tire. It’s a very hard tire, so I think that this race
will require a lot of pit strategy.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF TOP-10 FINISHES EARLY ON: “The
first five races of the year, you want to win as many as you
can. You don’t want to finish poorly because you want to be
able to build a points cushion. I’m not saying that you
can’t have problems and recover from them, I just think you
want as many top 10s as you can get to set yourself up for
that summer stretch before the Chase. History has shown that
that’s important.”
THE HECTIC SCHEDULE: “We were well-prepared
logistically, but I worry about the wear and tear on the
team. We have to remember it’s the people that make the cars
go around, so we have to take care of them. Our goal is to
make sure that our guys stay well-rested and we’ll make sure
that we are logistically prepared.”
For news about Ryan Newman's charity work and
special events visit
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NEWMAN FOUNDATION WEBSITE
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