Ryan Newman – Michigan Advance
Team: No. 6 Coca-Cola Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Firekeepers Casino 400 – Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Newman at Michigan International Speedway
· Newman will make his 36th Cup start at the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway this weekend. In 35 prior events, Newman has two wins, nine top-10s and six top fives. He has an overall average finish of 16.4 and starting spot of 13.5 with one pole.
· Newman’s pair of wins at MIS came in back-to-back races back in 2003 and 2004. Newman led 32 laps en route to his fifth of eight wins that season, holding off Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart. The next event he led 22 laps after starting fourth to earn the win under yellow.
· Newman’s most recent top-10 came in the fall race in 2017 where he finished fourth. He has earned finishes of 22nd, 15th, 11th, 18th and 15th in the previous five opening Michigan races dating back to 2014.
· Dating back six events, Newman has qualified 11th or better four times, including a sixth-place effort last August. His lone career Cup pole at MIS came back in 2005 before going on to finish 15th.
· Newman also made four Xfinity Series starts at MIS, winning his first two events (2001, 2005) with a combined 126 laps led.
Scott Graves at Michigan International Speedway
· Graves will be atop the pix box for his seventh MENCS race at MIS. In six prior events – two with Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and four with Daniel Suarez – Graves has an average finish of 22.8.
· Graves also won an Xfinity event with Suarez at the 2-mile track in 2016, defeating Kyle Busch to lead the final two laps en route to one of his three career NXS victories with Suarez.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Michigan:
“I’ve always loved racing at Michigan, a track that I’ve been coming to for a long time. We’ve been fortunate to have some pretty good success here in years past. It’s always been a fun track to drive since it’s so wide, which can make for some exciting side-by-side racing. We’re looking forward to the weekend in our Coca-Cola Ford Mustang.”
On the Car
Coca-Cola makes its 2019 debut on Ryan Newman’s Ford Mustang this weekend at MIS. Newman, a longtime member of the Coca-Cola Racing Family, will run a scheme promoting the ‘Enjoy Coca-Cola’ campaign.
· For the first time in six years, Coca-Cola is introducing a new summer program called, “Enjoy Coca-Cola,” encouraging people to enjoy a delicious ice-cold Coke with friends and family and make the most of summer.
· Coca-Cola invites fans to grab any ice-cold Coke, Coke Zero Sugar or Coke Flavor can, bottle, or mini-can and look for the Sip & Scan icon. Simply use a phone to scan and fans will unlock access to more than 150,000 exclusive Coca-Cola prizes and experiences all summer long.
· When fans peel the wristband off the label, they will be surprised with six unique Coca-Cola designs. Each wristband displays the Sip & Scan icon, giving people endless opportunities to win experiences from concert, movie, and sports tickets, to VIP experiences at some of the hottest events of the season. The more times a person scans the more chance they have to win.
Recapping Pocono
Newman earned valuable stage points by finishing fifth in stage two before going on to record a 16th-place finish at Pocono.
