Samsung 500
Sunday, April 06, 2008
Race 7 of 36
1:30 p.m.
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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-558:
The No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger serving
as the primary race car at Texas is one
of Penske Racing’s second generation COT
cars. It has never been raced. Crew
chief Roy McCauley said that more of the
new cars will be worked into the
rotation in the coming weeks.
PRS-552: Another brand new car
will serve as the back-up No. 12 Alltel
Dodge at Texas.
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 Texas
Motor Speedway
Fort Worth, TX
Track Facts
Banking/Turns: 24
Distance: 1.5 miles
Shape: Quad-oval |
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Appearance
Schedule |
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| DATE |
START |
FINISH |
LAPS
COMPLETED |
MONEY
WON |
| Apr-02 |
36 |
40 |
252/334 |
$57,025.00 |
| Apr-03 |
3 |
1 |
334/334 |
$406,500.00 |
| Apr-04 |
15 |
39 |
194/334 |
$110,742.00 |
| Apr-05 |
1 |
16 |
334/334 |
$118,725.00 |
| Nov-05 |
1 |
25 |
334/334 |
$149,266.00 |
| Apr-06 |
14 |
40 |
200/334 |
$124,283.00 |
| Nov-06 |
24 |
34 |
328/339 |
$138,483.00 |
| Apr-07 |
20 |
32 |
330/334 |
$122,625.00 |
| Nov-07 |
11 |
5 |
334/334 |
$214,125.00 |
| STARTS: |
POLES: |
TOP 5s: |
TOP 10s: |
WINS: |
LAPS
COMPLETED: |
MONEY
WON: |
| 9 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2,640/3,011 |
$1,441,774.00 |
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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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 DETERMINATION DRIVES
NEWMAN & TEAM TO FOURTH-PLACE FINISH
FT. WORTH, Texas (April 6, 2008) – Ryan Newman and
the No. 12 Penske Racing team overcame adversity during the
course of the Samsung 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday
afternoon to score a fourth-place finish. With this strong
result, Newman moved into a tie for eighth position with Greg
Biffle in the NASCAR Cup points standings, 164 points behind
points leader Jeff Burton.
Despite struggling with a tight race car all day and even
falling a lap down to the leaders at one point in the 500 mile
race, Newman and his Roy McCauley-led team refused to give up.
Their determination resulted in the team’s second top-five
finish of the 2008 season.
“Today was a good team effort for the Alltel/Samsung team,”
Newman said. “We didn’t have a great car at the start of the
race and we even struggled a little bit in the pits today, but
the guys kept working on the car and making it better all day.
“And in the end, I was at the right place at the right time to
pick up some positions. I’m really happy to come home with our
second top-five of the year."
Newman started the 500-mile race in fourth place, marking his
best qualifying effort of the season. Just five laps into the
race, Newman began sliding back through the field. He told his
crew that the No. 12 Alltel/Samsung Dodge was too tight coming
off of turn two and also tight throughout turns three and four.
The tight-handling condition caused Newman to fall back to 11th
place by lap 25.
The crew had their first opportunity to work on Newman’s
ill-handling race car when the caution flag waved at lap 28. The
team made a track bar adjustment, a tire air pressure
adjustment, changed four tires and added fuel. After the pit
stop, Newman restarted in 12th place.
Just a few laps into his post-stop run, Newman told his crew
that his Dodge was still too tight. The adjustments had helped,
but he needed more to help the car roll through the corners at
the 1.5-mile oval.
In an effort to keep up with tightening track conditions and
assist Newman’s handling, the team opted to make another track
bar adjustment and a tire air pressure adjustment under a green
flag pit stop at lap 82, also changing four tires and added
fuel. Following the pit stop, Newman returned to the track in
11th place.
“I’m still tight in the center and tight off (turn) two,” said
Newman, who had moved into the top ten by lap 105. “It’s getting
better, but the track is tightening up, too.”
A caution just laps later allowed the team to make additional
adjustments to the track bar and a tire air pressure change in
an attempt to help Newman’s handling. The team also changed four
tires, added fuel and Newman returned to the track in 13th
place.
Newman continued to battle a tightening race track and a tight
race car. At every opportunity, the crew worked on the No. 12,
making a series of track bar, wedge and tire air pressure
adjustments, to free up his handling condition.
Despite all the changes, Newman couldn’t keep up with the
leaders and fell one lap down at lap 293. However, a quick
caution gave Newman the “Lucky Dog” pass, putting him back on
the lead lap in 11th place at lap 299.
As the race laps ticked off the board, Newman tried to make his
way through lapped traffic to pass the cars in front of him. A
caution at lap 329 put Newman in the top ten and extended the
race beyond its original 334-lap scheduled distance.
McCauley opted to bring Newman down pit road for a track bar
adjustment and two tires in hopes of making a run in the closing
laps of the race. The team also added tape to the grill of the
No. 12 Dodge. This quick pit stop put Newman back on track in
seventh place for the restart at lap 337.
The late-race caution meant the race would end with a
green-white-checker finish. When the green flag waved, Newman
went to work on the cars in front of him and moved up to sixth
spot on the first lap. An accident on the final lap in front of
Newman moved the No. 12 Alltel/Samsung Dodge into fourth place
when the checkered flag waved.
“This is what happens when the whole team sticks with it,”
McCauley told the crew following the race. The fourth-place
finish was Newman’s third top-five at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It was tough out there today,” Newman said after the race. “The
cars are a handful. Our Allte/Samsungl Dodge was good for most
of the race – it was just tight and we were freeing it up all
day. At one point we got off and we went a lap down, but the
guys stuck with it and didn’t give up. We’re really working on
our intermediate program, and this finish shows the improvement.
Getting our second top-five of the year is huge.”
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action at Phoenix International
Raceway for the first Saturday night race of the season on April
12. The Subway Fresh Fit 500 begins at 8 p.m. EDT. The race can
be seen on FOX television and heard on the MRN radio network.
 NEWMAN TO START FOURTH
IN SAMSUNG 500
FT. WORTH, Texas (April 4, 2008) - Ryan Newman,
driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel/Samsung Dodge Charger,
scored a fourth-place starting spot for the Samsung 500 on
Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway.
Newman, who finished fifth at Texas Motor Speedway in last
year’s fall race, posted a fast lap of 189.043 mph (28.565
seconds). Pole winner Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88
National Guard/AMP Energy Chevrolet turned a lap of 190.907 mph
(28.286 seconds).
“It we keep doing what we are doing to the Alltel/Samsung Dodge,
we’re going to have a good piece for Sunday,” Newman said.
At Texas Motor Speedway, Newman has scored one win (2003), two
top-five and two top-10 finishes. Newman has one win (Daytona)
and two top-10 finishes in the first six races of the 2008
season. He is currently 11th in the NASCAR Cup points standings.
Samsung 500 will air live on FOX on Sunday, April 6, 2008,
beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. The race will also be broadcast live
on PRN.
PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES
- 17. Sam Hornish Jr.
- 23. Kurt Busch
Notes
- Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel
Dodge Charger, has two poles at Texas Motor Speedway. Newman
also has two top-five finishes at the 1.5-mile tri-oval,
including a win at Texas during the 2003 season. Last fall,
Newman scored a fifth-place finish at Texas.
- Newman is tied with Bobby Labonte for the most NASCAR
Cup pole positions at Texas Motor Speedway (two). Newman has
42 poles in his Cup career. He is still looking for his
first pole position of the 2008 season.
- Newman has two top-15 finishes on tracks similar to
Texas Motor Speedway already this season. The No. 12 Alltel
Dodge finished 14th at both Las Vegas and Atlanta.
- Crew chief Roy McCauley and Newman know what it takes to
get around Texas Motor Speedway. In the Nationwide Series
race in November 2005, Newman started on the pole and led
122 of the 200 laps in the race. An untimely caution flag
after a green flag pit stop left Newman one lap down. He
finished in 16th place.
- “We should have won that race,” said McCauley, who led
Newman’s Nationwide team that won six races in 2005. “We had
a great car that day, we just had some bad luck there at the
end. It would be nice to have another day like that at Texas
this weekend.”
RACING AT TEXAS: “I’ve always liked Texas. It’s a
smooth, fast race track and there are multiple grooves, so it is
fun to race. We won there in 2003, but we haven’t been that good
there since — until last fall when we finished fifth. We have a
good intermediate track program with the Alltel Dodge team, and
we have shown that already this year. We got a top 10 in
California and a top 15 in Las Vegas and Atlanta. In Atlanta, I
think we were probably a top-five car, but we were in the wrong
place at the wrong time and got wrecked while we were running
fifth.
“If we can keep our nose clean and stay out of other people’s
problems, I think the Alltel Dodge will have a solid run this
weekend at Texas and be able to make up some points. Our goal as
a team is to stay in the top 12 all season and I know this team
has the passion, the attitude and the ability to do that.”
THE KEY TO RUNNING WELL AT TEXAS: “At Texas, you
cannot get tight coming off the corners of turn two and turn
four. If you get tight coming off the corners, you lose all
your speed and become dead slow driving down the
straightaways and that is not something you want on a track
as fast at Texas.”
FINISHING WELL AT TEXAS: “Ryan likes Texas, but
the results just haven’t been there for whatever reason. The
Alltel team finished fifth at Texas last fall. So, we take
that fifth place run and move forward another step and
improve and evolve our intermediate program. We had a top-10
car at California and at Atlanta — we got the 10th place
finish at California and had we not been wrecked in Atlanta,
I think we would have had a top 10 there, too. We have a
good intermediate program, and we’re just going to build on
that, and I think we’ll have a top 10 car at Texas, too.”
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