Bank of America 500

Bank of America 500
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Race 31 of 36
ABC 7:00 p.m.

Track Facts

Lowe's Motor Speedway

Concord, NC

Banking/Turns: 24
Distance: 1.5 miles
Shape: Quad-oval

Built more than four decades ago, the largest sports facility in the Southeast has 167,000 permanent seats, including 121 executive suites, and capacity for nearly 50,000 more spectators in the infield area. Lowe's Motor Speedway was the first superspeedway to host night racing in 1992 and was the first sports facility in America to offer year-round living accommodations when it released 40 condominiums for sale high above Turn One in 1984.

Contact Information

5555 Concord Parkway South
Concord, NC 28027
(800) 455-FANS

CHASSIS NOTES:

PRS-580: The No. 12 Alltel Dodge for the Bank of America 500 is the same car Newman competed with at the famed   Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. Newman started third and finished 13th in that race. The team tested the car at    Charlotte just a couple of weeks ago.

PRS-558: The backup No. 12 Dodge is the same car that Newman drove to a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

STATS

DATE

START

FINISH

LAPS COMPLETED

MONEY WON

May 2001

1

43

11/400

$90,864

Oct. 2001

4

19

332/334

$38,375

May 2002

4

41

100/400

$66,115

Oct. 2002

4

8

334/334

$80,800

May 2003

1

5

276/276

$186,850

Oct. 2003

1

2

334/334

$164,425

May 2004

2

35

390/400

$120,417

Oct. 2004

1

14

334/334

$136,117

May 2005

1

5

400/400

$238,191

Oct. 2005

2

7

336/336

$145,641

May 2006

18

35

369/400

$127,808

Oct. 2006

15

27

272/334

$107,658

May 2007

1

39

172/400

$156,100

Oct. 2007

1

28

333/337

$122,775

May 2008

38

21

399/400

$133,375

STARTS:

POLES:

TOP 5s:

TOP 10s:

WINS:

LAPS COMPLETED:

MONEY WON:

15

7

3

5

0

4,392/5,419

$1,915,511

NO. 12 ALLTEL DODGE PIT CREW

Crew Chief

Roy McCauley

Davidsonville, Md.

Team Engineer

Ben Atkins

Abingdon, Va.

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.

RYAN NEWMAN BATTLES LOOSE-HANDLING RACE CAR, FINISHES 21st AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY 

Ryan Newman and the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel Dodge team battled a loose-handling race car for most of the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Saturday night. Despite leading 10 laps and running in the top 15 for a large majority of the night, the team could never quite tame the loose race car.

An untimely caution with 80 laps remaining in the race led to Newman falling one lap down, which he could not make up. Newman ended the night in 21st place, one lap down to the leaders.

Newman is currently 15th in the NASCAR Cup Series driver point standings, 392 points out of 13th spot, with five races remaining in the 2008 NASCAR Cup season.

"It was not the night we had hoped for with our Alltel Dodge," Newman said after the race. "The car started out loose and it got looser and looser throughout the night. We just never got the handle on it that we needed to in order to get a good finish tonight."

Due to inclement weather at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Thursday night, the field was set according to 2008 NASCAR Cup Series owner point standings, and Newman started 16th.

Early in the 334-lap race, Newman radioed his crew that the Alltel Dodge was loose, which was the same problem that he had fought in two practices on Friday night at the 1.5-mile oval. Newman also told his crew that the car was very sensitive on the right rear spring especially when braking, which made it difficult to get into the turns.

The Alltel pit crew had their first opportunity to help Newman's handling problems when the caution flag waved at lap 43. Newman, then in 15th spot, pitted for four tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment and a wedge adjustment. Newman returned to the track in 21st place, as many cars in front of him had opted to take just two tires.

Within just a handful of laps, Newman came back on the radio to tell his crew that the car was still too loose. Newman was able to gain some ground, and by lap 100, he had moved back into the top 15, but he was still not happy with the handling of his car.

The yellow flag waved again at lap 102, and Newman pitted for significant adjustments in hopes of tightening up the No. 12 Dodge. The pit crew changed four tires, added fuel and removed the spring rubbers from the right rear of the car. Newman returned to pit road a second time for a wedge adjustment. When the race restarted at lap 108, Newman was in 24th place.

"We took a hit there in track position on that stop, but we needed to do it while we had the chance," crew chief Roy McCauley radioed Newman after the stop.

At lap 121, the caution flag waved again. Newman told the Alltel crew that the car was "definitely more driveable, but it was still loose." Since it had only been a handful of laps since the last pit stop, the 12 team opted to stay on the track.

Newman took over the race lead at lap 123 under the caution flag, and he was able to hang on to the lead under the green flag until lap 132. Even out front and in cleaner air, Newman told his crew that the car "was still a good bit loose."

By lap 160, Newman had fallen to seventh place. Because the team was about 14 laps off pit stop sequence from the other lead lap cars, Newman was forced to pit early. The pit crew changed four tires, added fuel and made a track bar adjustment. The green flag stop put Newman a lap down, but the No. 12 Alltel Dodge cycled back onto the lead lap at lap 180 in seventh place after the other lead lap cars completed their pit stops. Again, Newman relayed to the Alltel crew that the car was still too loose.

Another caution period on lap 186 gave the Alltel pit crew the opportunity to work on alleviating the No. 12's loose-handling condition. The team changed four tires, added fuel and made another track bar adjustment.  Newman restarted the race in 20th place. 

Over the course of the next 20 laps, Newman narrowly avoided two multi-car wrecks that happened around him. During the ensuing caution periods, Newman, like the other lead lap cars stayed on track.

Newman pitted under the green flag at lap 257 for four tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment and an air pressure adjustment to the left rear tire. An untimely caution just seven laps later put Newman and several other cars on the tail-end of the lead lap, in 14th place.

Newman was able to hang onto his lead lap spot for several laps, but at lap 285, he was overtaken by the leaders to go one lap down. Newman radioed his crew that the car was "the loosest it had been the entire race."

The team had one more opportunity to work on the car when the caution waved another time at lap 297. However, following the pit stop, Newman said the change had not helped. Newman fell back to 21st place, where he finished the event.

 "We were too loose all day," McCauley after the race. "We struggled trying to get it tightened. The last set of tires we put on were scuffs and it still didn't tighten it up enough."

Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Sam Hornish Jr. finished third and 22nd, respectively.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, October 19 for the Tums QuikPak at Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, Va. The race can be seen live on ABC at 1 p.m. EDT and coverage on MRN Radio begins at 12:45 p.m. EDT.

NEWMAN STARTS 16th AT LOWE'S MOTOR SPEEDWAY AFTER RAIN WASHES OUT QUALIFYING

 Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, will start 16th in the Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) on Saturday night after rain washed out practice and qualifying today. It is the eighth time that qualifying has been rained out in the NASCAR Cup Series this season.

Per the NASCAR Rule Book, the field was set by the 2008 owner points. The No. 12 Alltel Dodge team is currently 16th in NASCAR Cup Series owner point standings.

  "I'm disappointed we didn't get the chance to qualify tonight," said Newman, who has seven poles in 15 starts at the 1.5-mile track. Newman has qualified outside of the top four only three times in his career at LMS. "We had a really good test here, so I am looking forward to see how we do in two practices tomorrow."

Newman has three top-five and five top-10 finishes in 15 starts at LMS. He finished 21st at the Charlotte track in the May race.

Coverage of the Bank of America 500 begins on the ABC television network on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7 p.m. EDT. The race can also be heard on the PRN beginning at 7:25 p.m. EDT.

DRIVER: Ryan Newman

STARTING POSITION: 16th

POLE: Jimmie Johnson

PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES

19. Kurt Busch

36. Sam Hornish Jr.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

10/9: Ryan Newman will sign autographs beginning at 11 a.m. at the Dodge Display Unit at Concord Mills Mall in Concord, N.C. Dodge will hand out 100 tickets to fans prior to the autograph signing.

12/13:  The Ryan Newman Foundation Charity Fishing Tournament will be held at Queen's Landing in Mooresville, N.C. Fans are invited to join NASCAR stars, musical artists and professional fisherman for the charity event.  Registration in the tournament for a team of two competitors is $150 on or before November 13 or $200 after November 13. Fishermen may also enter a Big Fish Contest for $40 per team.  The maximum is 250 teams. For complete event details, tournament rules, to download a flier and registration form, or to register online, visit http://www.ryannewmanfoundation.org/.

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

As the 2008 NASCAR Cup season comes to an end, Alltel Wireless is featuring a new television spot on SPEED and ABC to thank 2008 Daytona 500 Champion and No. 12 Alltel Dodge driver Ryan Newman for his past eight years with the sponsor.

 "Alltel Racing Moments" showcases some of Newman's greatest achievements behind the wheel of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, including his historic win at the 50th running of the Daytona 500.  The television spot also asks fans to visit alltelracing.com to vote for their favorite moment. Along with the 30-second commercial, alltelracing.com features a series of three 60-90 second vignettes featuring various Alltel Racing moments such as wins, bloopers and more. At the end of the season, 100 people who voted for their favorite moment will be rewarded with an autographed piece of Alltel Racing memorabilia.

Notes & Quotes 

  • Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, has seven poles, three top-five and five top-10 finishes at Lowe's Motor Speedway (LMS) in 15 NASCAR Cup Series starts. Newman's best finish at the 1.5-mile track was a second-place effort in the fall of 2003.
  • Newman ran as high as ninth at LMS in the Coca-Cola 600 this past May. However, the No. 12 Alltel Dodge got caught up in an accident with just over 100 laps to go in the race. Newman ended the night in 21st place. He also finished sixth in the All-Star race at LMS in May.
  •  Newman scored the first NASCAR Cup Series pole of his career at LMS in the spring of 2001. The pole came in just his third Cup start, tying Mark Martin's record for earliest career pole. To date, Newman has 43 career poles and is tied for 10th with Buck Baker on NASCAR's all-time pole list.
  • Newman's No. 12 Dodge has been a common site on the front row at LMS. In 15 starts, Newman has claimed the pole position seven times, including both 2007 points races. He is tied with Jeff Gordon for the most poles at LMS among active drivers. Newman also has started on the outside pole twice, and he has qualified outside of the top-four only three times in his career at Charlotte.
  • Newman has two NASCAR Nationwide starts at LMS, both coming in 2005. Led by current crew chief Roy McCauley, Newman finished third in the spring (May 28) and won in the fall (October 14).
  • Two of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge pit crew members excelled on local high school football fields before making their way to pit road. Trent Cherry (rear tire carrier and pit coach) and Ben Brown (front tire changer) were rivals. Cherry was a standout quarterback at Providence Day High School and Brown was a star cornerback at Charlotte Latin High School.

RYAN NEWMAN QUOTES ON:

THE RECENT TEST AT CHARLOTTE: "I feel like I have probably logged more laps at Charlotte this year than anywhere since we have had two tests and two races there already. We tested there a couple of weeks ago, and it was one of the best tests we've had. There were a few hours where I felt we learned a lot about the car and how to make it handle just right at Charlotte. If we can take what we learned and transfer it over to the race, I feel like we should have a really good night Saturday. We came close to winning at Charlotte last fall. We were leading in the closing laps and had a problem with the car at the end that sent us into the wall and cost us a win. I guess that race is the one that got away. I sure would like to have the chance to be in the lead at the end of the race this time."

QUALIFYING AT CHARLOTTE: "I don't know why I have done so well at Charlotte when it comes to qualifying, but it is a place where I have always enjoyed taking those two laps. Charlotte is just a fun place to drive, and it has gotten better since they have repaved it as far as the surface and the grip are concerned. We didn't have a great qualifying run in the spring, and I want to go back there this weekend and get back to where I am used to starting - the front."

HIS FAVORITE MEMORIES: "With the season winding down and my time with Alltel and Penske Racing coming to an end, it's cool to look back on the past eight years just like the commercial that Alltel has been running does. One of my    favorite memories happened at Charlotte. It was my first win (2002) in the All-Star race. To beat everybody in their own backyard was incredible. It was a big win and a very special night for me."

ROY MCCAULEY QUOTES ON:

CHARLOTTE: "I think Ryan and I both agree that we had a really good test at Charlotte a couple of weeks ago. We were able to spend the extra time we needed on the car's handling to get it where it needs to be when we unload on Thursday. Based on our notes and what we learned, I think we have a good package for this race. Our first goal is to qualify well on Thursday. That has always been a strong suit for Ryan at Charlotte, and we want to continue that trend."