DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 17, 2019) — In his debut with Roush Fenway Racing, Ryan Newman had to battle through some adversity in a wild Daytona 500, but brought home his No. 6 Oscar Mayer Deli Fresh Ford Mustang 14th in Sunday’s Great American Race.
Newman, the 2008 Daytona 500 Champion, lined up 19th for the 2019 season opener. After a fairly calm first two stages, the action got more intense with a combined two red flags in the final 10 laps, one of which involved the No. 6.
To start the 200-lap event though, the team took a fuel-only stop in the opening laps. Soon after, the South Bend, Indiana, native got up to 11th 25 laps in, before getting shuffled back to 21st to end stage one.
With a four-tire stop just prior to the stage break, Newman stayed out gaining valuable track position and restarted ninth for stage two. Newman maintained the track position throughout the stage before finishing 19th.
Newman would pit for four tires and fuel during the stage break, but the team was assessed a penalty for an uncontrolled tire. The penalty put Newman back to 30th to begin the final stage, but he quickly worked his way up back inside the top-20 with 40 to go.
After a caution that involved a host of cars, including teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., crew chief Scott Graves took fuel only for the No. 6 Ford. However, Newman was caught speeding on pit road putting him to the tail end of the field.
He would rebound from restarting 27th with 33 to go, improving all the way to eighth by lap 180. With nine to go, the big one ensued, collecting multiple cars including Newman’s. The red flag was displayed before the team went to work on repairs on the front end and right side. Newman lost a lap once the red was lifted, before another incident occurred just three laps later.
Another yellow and eventual red flag was displayed at lap 198 for another multi-car crash, this time awarding Newman the free pass to get back on the lead lap. Despite heavy front end damage, he was able to cross the line 14th.
Newman and the No. 6 team head to Atlanta for the second stop on the NASCAR circuit next weekend. Race coverage from Atlanta Motor Speedway begins at 2 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX and PRN.
