JOLIET, Ill. – He’s at it again.
Winless NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Ryan Newman finished fourth in Sunday’s 15th annual myAFibRisk.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway and put himself in good position to solider through the first round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
Newman’s No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet wasn’t the fastest on Sunday, but Newman used a late race restart to his advantage.
With the lead being settled between Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards, Newman rocketed from his 14th place restart position with five laps to go, passing 10 cars for his best finish since a fifth at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in April.
“We had a really good car. We were good most of the race and then that one caution came out after we pitted we went a lap down,” Newman said. “The next restart we had a bad restart and it
looked like we were done and that was it.”
Seeded eighth in the Chase with two rounds remaining before the cutoff, just nine points keep the South Bend, Indiana native from 12th held by Jeff Gordon.
It was a similar type effort on Sunday that catapulted the 17-time Cup winner through all four rounds of NASCAR’s playoff system last year which saw Newman battle former RCR driver Kevin Harvick for the championship on the last lap of the season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.
Seemingly enough, Newman’s 50 point penalty earlier in the season for alleged tire tampering by the team following Auto Club (Calif.) Speedway in March hasn’t been as costly as initially thought.
“We’ve had a lot things we’ve had to endure this season and kind of rebuild from and I feel like the experience we’ve had over the last year-and-a-half has got us to where we are now – which is a better team than we’ve ever been,” said crew chief Luke Lambert.
Newman finished 11th at NHMS in July and a similar effort by the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet team will easily make his goal of returning to the Championship round at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway that more achievable.
Follow Chris Knight on Twitter @Knighter01.
