Sunday, June 01, 2008
Race 13 of 36
FOX 1:30 p.m.

Chassis Notes

PRS-519: The No. 12 Alltel Dodge at Dover is the same car that Newman qualified 12th and drove to a 14th place finish at Atlanta in March. The car has also served as a backup car at several other races this season.
PRS-558: The backup No. 12 Alltel Dodge is the same car that Newman drove to a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year. It was the backup at last weekend's Coca-Cola 600.

Dover International Speedway

Dover, DE

Track Facts

Banking/Turns: 24
Distance: 1.5 miles
Shape: Quad-oval
With a brand of racing that is as intimate as it is intense, there's no wonder why people continue to flock to "The Monster Mile." Dover, with seating for more than 140,000, is one of the most popular race destinations in the Northeast and hosts some of the biggest crowds to see a sporting event between New York and North Carolina.

Contact Information

P.O. Box 843
Dover, DE 19903
(800) 441-7223

Track Stats

NEWMAN SCORES TOP-15 FINISH AT THE 'MONSTER MILE'

DOVER, Del. (June 1, 2008) – Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge team ran solidly in the top 10 for most of the day on Sunday in the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway, including taking the race lead for six laps. However, late in the race a problem with a fuel system bracket, which made it difficult to fuel the car on a green flag pit stop, dropped Newman to a 14th-place finish.

Newman is currently 14th in the NASCAR Cup point standings, 29 points shy of the 12th-place cutoff for the NASCAR Chase for the Cup.

The Alltel Dodge was ok today," said Newman. "We got in the top 10 and we were able to stay there for most of the day - we even led a few laps. But we had a problem with a fuel system bracket. We ended up having to pit under green to fix it since there weren't any cautions, and that cost us our top 10 finish."

Newman qualified 11th for the Best Buy 400 and wasted no time moving into the top 10 once the green flag dropped. When the caution flag waved for a 10-car wreck on lap 16, Newman reported to crew chief Roy McCauley that his Alltel Dodge had no grip. Newman also said the car was tight in the center and exit of the turns.

The incident led to a 15-minute red flag period, stopping the race but not allowing crews to work on their cars until the race resumed under yellow. When the race went back under caution, Newman came down pit road for right side tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. He returned to the track and restarted in fourth place.

Just a handful of laps later, Newman fell back to fifth. He told his crew that the car was still tight in the center of the corners. A second caution at lap 66 gave Newman's crew the opportunity to work on his handling problems. Newman came down pit road for four tires, fuel and a wedge adjustment. Newman returned to the track in sixth place.

Back on track, Newman continued to battle with his car's handling. However, after the last round of adjustments, Newman said that his car was now too loose in the center and exit of the turns. By lap 140, when green flag pit stops began, Newman had fallen back to 10th place.

Newman pitted again under green for four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment. He returned to the track in 10th place. Despite the adjustments, Newman was still battling with the handling of his car, complaining of a lack of grip.

The crew made a series of pit stops and adjustments to help solve Newman's handling issues. With just 100 laps remaining in the race, Newman was still in 10th place. The car was tight, but McCauley told Newman that there was another problem, with a fuel system bracket, which would make it difficult to fuel the car on the final pit stop.

We're going to try to stretch it as long as we can, and hope for a caution," McCauley told Newman. "We've got a plan – we just have to hope for a caution."

Green flag pit stops began at lap 317 and Newman remained on track in hopes of getting a caution for his planned extended pit stop. Newman took over the race lead at lap 321 and led for six laps before he had to come down pit road under the green flag.

The Alltel pit crew devised a plan to fuel the No. 12 machine, but the additional time that was needed during the pit stop cost Newman two laps to the leader. He returned to the track in 14th place, which he where he finished.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, June 8 for the Pocono 500 at Pocono Raceway in Pocono, Pa. The race can be seen live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. EDT and coverage on MRN Radio begins at 1:15 p.m. EDT.

NEWMAN TO START 11TH AT DOVER

DOVER, Del. (May 30, 2008) - Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, qualified 11th for the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway on Sunday. Newman posted a lap of 152.782 miles per hour (23.563 seconds). Greg Biffle, driver of the No. 16 3M Ford, scored the pole position with a lap of 155.219 miles per hour (23.193 seconds).

"We had a top-10 car in most of practice today," Newman said. "I would have liked to have qualified better than 11th, but we'll take it. We're going to turn our focus to long runs tomorrow and hopefully we can get this Alltel Dodge back in the top five.

"Dover always has been one of my favorite tracks, and we've had a really good history here. We've had a difficult couple of weeks, and I can't think of any better place where we can turn things around."

On Sunday, Newman will try to capture his fourth victory at Dover International Speedway. Newman has three wins, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 12 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the one-mile concrete oval. Newman was the runner-up at Dover last June.

Coverage of the Best Buy 400 begins on the FOX television network on Sunday, June 1 at 1:30 p.m. EDT. The race can also be heard on the MRN at 1:15 p.m. EDT.

PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES

• 2 Kurt Busch
• 16 Sam Hornish Jr.

ALLTEL PIT CREW READY TO DEFEND TITLE

The No. 12 Alltel pit crew is set to defend its title in the NASCAR Pit Crew Challenge on Thursday, May 15 at 7 p.m. ET at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, N.C. Last year, the Alltel pit crew won the overall title as the fastest pit crew in the challenge when they edged the No. 43 team by .33 seconds to grab the championship and the $70,300 prize. Despite being assessed a five second penalty in the first round for excessive fuel spillage, the Alltel Dodge team was flawless for the remainder of the competition. In each of the final four rounds, the No. 12 team posted the top time. The team made the quarterfinal round in 2006 and the semifinal round in 2005. "This competition is a big deal for the teams," said Trent Cherry, the team's rear tire carrier and pit crew coach. "It's bragging rights for one team for the rest of the year. We've been working hard this season, and we want to win again."

ALLTEL "MY CIRCLE 500"

Alltel is once again sponsoring 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 one lap 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, has three wins, four pole positions, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 12 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Dover International Speedway.
• Newman swept both NASCAR Cup races in 2003 at Dover International Speedway. His most recent win at Dover came in the fall of 2004. Newman's average finishing position at the "Monster Mile" is 10th.
• Last June at Dover, Newman scored the pole, led 135 laps and finished second in the first "Car of Tomorrow" (COT) race at the one-mile oval.
• Newman has started outside of the top five only twice in 12 races at the "Monster Mile." In addition to four poles, Newman has started on the outside pole twice. His average starting position at the one-mile concrete oval is 7.2.
• Newman has two NASCAR Nationwide Starts at Dover, and scored the pole both times (2001, 2005). In 2005, Newman and current Cup Series crew chief Roy McCauley had a dominant race car as they started on the pole, led 193 of 200 laps and won the race.
• Penske Racing is just one win shy of reaching the milestone of 300 victories across a variety of racing series since 1966. Newman has claimed 24 of Penske Racing's win total.

Newman Quotes

• RACING AT DOVER: "Dover is one of my favorite race tracks. It's an awesome track to race as far as being able to pass cars. It's a blast to drive around Dover because of the speed and most importantly because of the banking. The fact that it's concrete doesn't hurt anything either because it makes the track more consistent, which is good for all teams. At Dover, the entry into the corners is the toughest part. If you don't get a good entry, you're not going to have a good middle or a good exit. It's a give and take race track, so it is a lot of fun for the drivers. We've done well at Dover with our Alltel Dodge in the past, and I don't expect anything different."
• QUALIFYING AT DOVER: "This is a fun track to drive for me. In qualifying, you have to hang it out. It's concrete, so it's on the edge and it's not very forgiving. But it's a lot of fun, too. It's a track that doesn't change a whole lot with the weather, which is kind of nice so your qualifying draw doesn't have a huge effect on where you qualify."

McCauley Quotes

• DOVER AS HIS HOME TRACK: "I consider Dover my home track, so I am always excited to go there. We have had a lot of success there as a company. Ryan has four wins there in Cup and one win there in Nationwide, and I can't even count the number of poles. I would like to win one for the team and for Alltel this weekend. There's a lot of home pride. It's about an hour and a half away from where I grew up. I know Ryan loves the track. We had a good car in Bristol this year, which is a little bit of a forerunner to Dover. So, we're looking forward to it." NOTE: McCauley hails from Davidsonville, Md. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in engineering.
• RACING AT THE "MONSTER MILE": "Dover's a funny place. You show up there on Friday and there's no rubber on the track. You can be good on Friday and all of a sudden on Sunday once the track rubbers up you can be in a world of hurt if you're not careful. Dover's a thinking man's track from a driver's standpoint and a crew's standpoint."