HAMPTON, Ga. – Feeding off the momentum of teammate Austin Dillon’s win in last weekend’s Daytona 500, Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman qualified second and took the early race lead in Sunday’s Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500.
Newman led the opening 17 laps in the event’s 325-lap race, but as the field approached the end of Stage 1, Newman suffered a flat tire in his No. 31 Liberty National Chevrolet and his day went downhill from there.
While the South Bend, Ind. native was able to continue on, the No. 31 team had to settle for a 22nd place finish in the second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season.
After finishing eighth at Daytona last weekend, Newman had hoped to lead the Chevrolet brigade with their new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 model to another strong weekend of competition. However, the Chevrolet bowtie struggled with just three Chevrolets finishing inside the top-15.
“I’m not sure yet what happened to our right-front tire,” said Newman. “It’s unfortunate for this Liberty National Team. I think we led more laps in this race than we did all year. We started on the front row and took the lead on the first lap and by the end of the first stage we were loose, but our Camaro ZL1 was fast.”
Newman insisted he wasn’t pushing the issue, especially knowing the history of Atlanta and its abrasiveness on tires.
“I wasn’t pushing it. There was no need to,” added Newman. “Our car was that good. We lost two laps the next run because of a tire issue and the damage we received from it. At that point, it was all about strategy and doing all we could to race back onto the lead lap with about 230 laps left.
“I want to thank all the Liberty National guests and fans who stayed with us through the rain. We had a fast Camaro ZL1. I just wish we had the finish to prove it, but it could have been worse and glad we were able to battle back for a top-25 finish.”
Sunday’s result dropped Newman from eighth to 16th in the Cup Series point standings heading to Las Vegas (Nev.) Motor Speedway, the first of three races in NASCAR’s West Coast Swing.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
