Friday, April 24, 2009

Ryan Newman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ryan Joseph Newman
Born December 8, 1977 (1977-12-08) (age 31)
Hometown South Bend, Indiana
Awards 1996 USAC Silver Crown Rookie of the Year

1999 USAC Weld Racing Silver Crown Series champion

2002 Rookie of the Year

Sprint All-Star Race XVIII Winner

2003 Driver of the Year

2008 Daytona 500 winner
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics
Car #, Team #39 - Stewart Haas Racing
2008 Sprint Cup Position 18th
Best Cup Position 6th - 2002, 2003 (Winston Cup), & 2005 (Nextel Cup)
First Race 2000 Checker Auto Parts/Dura Lube 500 (Phoenix)
First Win 2002 New Hampshire 300 (New Hampshire)
Last Win 2008 Daytona 500 (Daytona)
Wins Top Tens Poles
13 107 43
NASCAR Nationwide Series Statistics
2008 NNS Position 81st
Best NNS Position 28th - 2001 (Busch)
First Race 2001 Alltel 200 (Rockingham)
First Win 2001 NAPAonline.com 250 (Michigan)
Last Win 2005 Ford 300 (Homestead)
Wins Top Tens Poles
7 22 11
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Statistics
First Race 2008 E-Z-GO 200 (Atlanta)
First Win 2008 E-Z-GO 200 (Atlanta)
Wins Top Tens Poles
1 1 0
Statistics current as of November 17, 2008.

Ryan Joseph Newman (born December 8, 1977 in South Bend, Indiana) is a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. He drives the #39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala for Stewart Haas Racing under crew chief Tony Gibson. Newman graduated from Purdue University in 2001 with a B.S. in vehicle structure engineering.[1], and is the only active NASCAR driver to have a college degree. In 2002, he was the Raybestos Rookie of the Year.

He enjoys driving and working on vintage cars, particularly 1950s Chryslers. Newman's car was featured on the cover of the 2005 EA Sports computer game NASCAR SimRacing, and he was actively involved in its development.

Contents

Racing career

Early days

Newman made his racing debut in 1993 in the All-American Midget Series, winning both Rookie of the Year and the championship. His 100 feature wins and two titles have him in the Quarter Midget Hall of Fame. Moving to USAC in 1995, he was ROTY again in both the Midget Series and the Silver Crown in 1996. In 1999, he was the first driver to win in all three divisions while being the Silver Bullet Series champion.

Beginnings with Penske

Newman began working for legendary racing icon Roger Penske in 2000, winning 3 of the five ARCA RE/MAX Series races he entered, and making his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix International Raceway. In 2001, Newman continued in both ARCA and NASCAR, while attending Purdue. Around this time he would meet racing legend Buddy Baker, who would eventually become his mentor on superspeedways.

"Rocket Man"

In 2002, Newman won a season-high thirty-seven poles, breaking the record set by Davey Allison, and won his first career Busch Series race. In September, he won his first career Winston Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after starting from the pole. Newman also became the second rookie since Dale Earnhardt Jr. to win the The Winston. He beat out Jimmie Johnson for the Rookie of the Year award.

Newman's 2008 Daytona 500 car, on display at the Daytona 500 Experience

Newman's sophomore season began with a flip at the 2003 Daytona 500 after contact with Ken Schrader. He and his team recovered and reeled off eight wins and eleven poles, both series highs, but he also finished with seven DNF's, which left him sixth in points. His number of poles during the season led to him being nicknamed "Rocket Man."[citation needed]

In 2004, Newman would make the inaugural Chase for the Cup, finishing seventh in points with two wins and 9 poles. The next year, Ryan made the Chase again, beginning with his second New Hampshire victory. He returned to the Busch Series after a four-year absence, winning six out of the nine races he entered, including a series-record five straight. Newman endured his first winless season in 2006, finishing a career-worst 19878th in points, while his longtime crew chief, Matt Borland, left for Michael Waltrip Racing.

His pole ratio between his rookie year and 2006 was one in every three races, tying him for 15th on the all-time poles list. He currently has 43 poles. In 2007, he again went winless, including a near win at Lowe's Motor Speedway before a blown tire ended his hopes.[2] [3] The streak ended after he won the 2008 Daytona 500 on February 17, 2008. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for Penske.

On July 15, 2008, Newman announced that he was leaving Penske. On August 13, 2008 it was confirmed he will drive for Stewart Haas Racing in 2009 in the number 39[4] Chevrolet Impala SS his car number in his early years in Midgets. US Army was named the official sponsor for Ryan Newman on October 9, 2008, but only for 23 races in 2009 and it was a confirmed three-year deal. [5]

While still driving for Penske Newman won the E-Z GO 200 Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, becoming the nineteenth, and latest, driver to win at least one race in all three major NASCAR racing series.

Charity

Newman and his wife, Krissie, operate the Ryan Newman Foundation, which primarily focuses on assuring that adequate care is provided for unwanted dogs and cats in shelters and pounds. He helped fund the construction of the Catawba County, North Carolina Humane Society shelter, in the county where he once lived.

Craftsman Truck Series

Ryan Newman made his Truck Series debut on October 25th 2008 at Atlanta Motor Speedway Starting 10th in the 33 truck field driving Kevin Harvick's #2 Truck and passed his teammate Ron Hornaday with less then five laps to go to pick up his first truck series win in his first start making him the first driver to get their first Truck win at Atlanta and becoming the 4th driver to win in their first Truck race and joining the list of drivers who have won in all three of NASCAR's top series. He was also one of four drivers who picked up a truck win on their first start.

Career NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Year Races Wins Poles Top 5 Top 10 DNF Finish Start Winnings Season Rank Team(s)
2000 1 0 0 0 0 0 41.0 10.0 $37,825 70th Penske Racing
2001 7 0 1 2 2 2 24.7 14.1 $465,276 49th Penske Racing
2002 36 1 6 14 22 5 14.5 9.8 $5,346,651 6th Penske Racing
2003 36 8 11 17 22 7 13.9 6.7 $6,100,877 6th Penske Racing
2004 36 2 9 11 14 9 16.5 7.5 $6,354,256 7th Penske Racing
2005 36 1 8 8 16 3 15.3 6.3 $7,259,518 6th Penske Racing
2006 36 0 2 2 7 3 20.6 11.6 $5,960,473 18th Penske Racing
2007 36 0 5 7 15 9 18.6 13.8 $5,815,466 13th Penske Racing
2008 36 1 1 2 8 2 20.3 16.2 $6,179,560 16th Penske Racing
2009 5 - - - - - 36.0 36.0 $295,252 33rd Stewart-Haas Racing
Totals 262 13 43 63 106 40 17.3 10.3 $43,599,084

Data as of February 24, 2009 [6]

Honors

On April 29, 2008, the St. Joseph County, Indiana Board of Commissioners dedicated a 0.5-mile (0.8 km) stretch of newly-rerouted Lincoln Way West (former U.S. Route 20) near the South Bend Regional Airport to Newman.[7]

References

  1. ^ "A Breed Apart". http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCH/is_1_32/ai_109579101.
  2. ^ "Newman Wins Third Consecutive Pole". http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/06/08/rnewman.pole.pocono.ap/index.html.
  3. ^ "Modern Era Pole Winners". http://www.nascar.com/kyn/nbtn/cup/data/pole_winners.html.
  4. ^ http://www.jayski.com/cupnews.htm#news39
  5. ^ Menzer, Joe (October 9, 2008). "Stewart-Haas confirms three-year deal with Army". NASCAR.com. http://www.nascar.com/2008/news/headlines/cup/10/09/army.sponsorship.rnewman.stewarthaas/index.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-10.
  6. ^ Ryan Newman Career Statistics
  7. ^ Sulok, Nancy J (2008-04-30). "Honor for NASCAR's Newman to stretch half-mile". South Bend Tribune. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/southbendtribune/access/1473588031.html?FMT=ABS. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.

External links

Preceded by
Kevin Harvick		 NASCAR Rookie of the Year
2002		 Succeeded by
Jamie McMurray
Preceded by
Kevin Harvick		 Daytona 500 Winner
2008		 Succeeded by
Matt Kenseth
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_Newman"
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