BRISTOL, Tenn. – Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers Trevor Bayne and Ryan Newman both experienced their share of setbacks during Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but when the checkered flag flew, both escaped the madness with top-10 finishes.
Newman was strong all weekend long and the top-performing Richard Childress Racing entry. After qualifying 13th, Newman hovered inside the top-15 through the end of Stage 1, finishing 12th.
Strategy and a well-balanced race car kept Newman climbing the runner order and when Stage 2 ended, Newman finished fourth. Newman’s night, however, was nearly unraveled following the seventh caution of the night which sent much of the lead lap cars to pit road.
Newman was tagged for speeding entering pit road on Lap 398 and was sent to the rear of the field. With a fast No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet underneath him, Newman used the remaining 102 laps to climb back into the top-10 and claimed eighth for his ninth top-10 performance of the year.
It was the third top-10 finish for Newman in the last five races dating back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. Earlier this season, the No. 31 team clinched a playoff spot with a win at Phoenix Raceway.
“I got too fast on pit road, which cost us, but guys did a good job in the pits which is a nice change,” said Newman. “Overall, I’m proud of the team effort.
“Fought hard and kind of got lucky there with the tires. I don’t know that we had a sixth-place car, but we did tonight.”
Bayne boasting a special paint scheme for Ford executive Tim Duerr bounced back from a Lap 344 crash in Turn 2 to finish seventh after starting 20th.
“Here at Bristol, Roush Fenway always gives us good cars and we’ve had really good runs the last four or five races,” said Bayne. “Our Ford was fast tonight at the end when it mattered. At one point we blew a tire, hit the fence. I thought we were going to get lucky and get back on the lead lap. Got on the lead lap, got a caution and put new tires on it and started passing cars.
“Jimmie (Johnson) had a pretty epic battle there for a minute. We were able to get to seventh and pretty happy about that. We’ll keep working on it. Obviously, we need to win. That’s what our goal is. Seventh is great but we have to get there.
“Really proud of these guys and the gains we’re making. Thanks to Advocare, Liberty National and Ford Performance. It’s been a rough time through the summer but we’re coming back now.”
Bayne mentioned that his team has been able to build some momentum after finishing fifth last Sunday at Michigan International Speedway. He attributes the strong finishes to execution.
“Just execution,” said Bayne about his team doing right at this point of the season. “I feel like the last month we had strategy, things went our way and we’ve gotten results from it.”
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
