Catchfence

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 4, 2009) — Though he drove a wrecked car for more than half the race, Ryan Newman managed to pull off a 20th-place finish in Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 Sprint Cup race at Daytona International Speedway.

The result didn’t alter Newman’s position in the driver point standings. He remains seventh and actually increased his margin of being in Chase contention. He is now 134 points from the Chase cutoff (13th position). He came into the race 79 points ahead of 13th. It was a net gain of 55 points.

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, won the race and remains first in driver points.

Newman, who started the 400-mile event from the seventh position, got collected in a 13-car accident on Lap 78 of 160. His No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS suffered heavy left-side damage, which resulted in nine unscheduled pit stops throughout the race as the crew made continuous repairs to the crippled car.

“We were severely handicapped after the accident,” said Newman. “But we made the most out of what we had to work with. It was another never give up U.S. Army effort.”

After getting back on the lead lap following a caution on Lap 154, Newman’s tenacity paid off as he gained nine positions in the closing four green-flag laps.

“That late charge by Ryan earned us 27 points — and that could make a difference from making or not making the Chase,” offered crew chief Tony Gibson. “We had a lot of damage after the accident and the Army car was a handful for Ryan to drive. It wasn’t a great day, but it could have been a lot worse.”

The next stop for Newman and the No. 39 team will be Saturday night (July 11) at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill.

The top-10 finishers were:
1. Tony Stewart
2. Jimmie Johnson
3. Denny Hamlin
4. Carl Edwards
5. Kurt Busch
6. Marco Ambrose
7. Brian Vickers
8. Matt Kenseth
9. Juan Pablo Montoya
10. Elliott Sadler

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release