HOMESTEAD – Tagged as the underdog for nearly the entire Chase for the Sprint Cup, Ryan Newman and his Richard Childress Racing team had the deepest starting spot of anyone of the championship contenders on Sunday at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway, but the South Bend, Indiana vowed to show that didn’t matter.
It almost paid off.
In his first year of driving for Richard Childress Racing, Newman finished second in Sunday’s season-finale, racking up his fifth top-five finish of the season, but more importantly proved that consistency is what put him in position for his first ever championship bid.
“We were in a good spot and just didn’t have the best tires,” said Newman. “We did that on purpose. That was our strategy. Luke (Lambert, crew chief) did an excellent job calling that shot. Kevin was a little bit faster than us, especially on the shorter runs. But I’m proud of these guys and proud of everyone. The Sprint Cup Series was fun this year. Hopefully we can have more fun and be one spot better next year.”
Newman steadily climbed from his 21ststarting position, climbing to inside the top-15 by Lap 13. Just thirty laps later, the driver of the No. 31 CAT Chevrolet SS found himself inside the top-10 along with the other Chase contenders.
Early in the Ford EcoBoost 400, Newman showed speed that many didn’t expect and when his rally began to fade 57 laps from the finish, some thought that the winless driver was done for good.
A bad pit stop on Lap 208 seemed to put the nail in the coffin for the RCR bunch, dropping the No. 31 team outside the top-10, but Newman and his team weren’t going down without a fight.
When the ninth caution of the race waved on Lap 222 for debris, Newman and his team made up for their previous setback, picking their driver up three crucial spots on the racetrack and planting themselves fifth for the restart.
A tight No. 31 CAT Chevrolet SS dropped the 36-year old to sixth before being scored seventh when the 10th caution flag waved for an incident in Turn 1 with A.J. Allmendinger.
Soon thereafter, another caution flag waved which sent the 17-time Sprint Cup Series winner to pit road for the final time. Lambert elected for two right side tires on Lap 249, which put him fourth on the restart.
Despite worn left side tires, Newman’s fight paid off as he marched into third on Lap 253. A couple laps later though, the yellow flag waved, setting up for another nerve-racking restart.
Newman restarted second on Lap 259 in a torrid battle with Chasers Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick. Hamlin and Newman though would be no match for Harvick, as the Stewart-Haas Racing driver had fresher tires than them both.
When the caution flag waved for the final time on Lap 262 for debris in Turn 1, Newman knew he had one more chance at overpowering Harvick on the restart.
Giving it all he had, Newman made his best effort to steal the show from Harvick and others, but he finished 0.500 seconds behind Harvick to earn his best career championship finish.
“The game changer for us I think really was the one caution that was before Gordon pitted that I think Denny was leading, and we were in a better situation than they were on tires,” Newman explained. “We had rights and they had stayed out, which I think was the right call for them at the time had the race gone green. But it had a couple late race cautions. I didn’t see why, but in the end, I’m just so proud of our team. Caterpillar Chevrolet was good all day. Luke and the guys did an awesome job.
“We came back for the entire season to make our best finish our last finish. It is disappointing, don’t get me wrong, but there’s no point in being a sore loser. It’s some motivation, some momentum for the off‑season to get started for Daytona, and just look forward to the opportunity for next year.”
Previously, Newman finished a championship-best sixth, three times, the latest in 2005 for Team Penske.
Newman wouldn’t have found himself giving Richard Childress Racing an opportunity to net their first championship in 20 years, if not for a bold maneuver on Kyle Larson during last weekend’s Sprint Cup event at Phoenix (Ariz.) International Raceway.
Running 12th on the last lap, Newman body-slammed Larson in the final corner, shoving him into the wall and elevating Newman to 11th, the spot he needed to knockout Jeff Gordon and put the No. 31 Cup team into one of the final four vying spots.
Many wondered if Newman would pull a similar move in Sunday’s finale in order to win his first Cup championship.
“If I was closer on the last lap I would have thought about it, but I just couldn’t keep up with him,” Newman admitted. “We were good at the end but we weren’t quite good enough. We made a lot of adjustments on the race car today. There’s a lot to be said about that; the guys did an awesome job.”
“I drove my heart out; there’s no doubt about that.”
Indeed, Newman did drive his heart out. But it was that worthy performance of what sometimes makes a champion. In this case, Newman came up just one spot short.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
