Ryan Newman and his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing team fell 0.007 seconds of a possible surprise victory at Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon. Newman made a late race surge to the front out of Turns 3&4 and had quite the run coming to the checkered.
Newman came to the right side of eventual race winner Ryan Blaney, but didn’t want to force Blaney below the yellow line coming to the finish. Still, the Roush Fenway driver kept his second place finish but was disappointed after coming close to snapping a two-year losing streak.
“I guess, I left the 12 (Blaney) enough room, I don’t know,” Newman said to MRN Radio. “I thought he was inside of me more than he was and didn’t want to run under the yellow line, and disqualify myself with the rules and how they work here. Just proud of the team effort, crazy race no doubt, kind of expected that. Good run for our Wyndham Rewards Ford and we’ll keep digging, we needed some momentum.”
The third place finish was Newman’s third top five of the season.