LINCOLN, Ala. (Oct. 4, 2020) – In yet another wild ending to Sunday afternoon’s 500-mile race from Talladega Superspeedway, Ryan Newman survived the chaos and made a charge in the final lap of the race to bring home the Guaranteed Rate Ford home fifth.
Staying true to his typical Superspeedway racing strategy, Newman kept his machine near the back most of the day, which proved to be prescient as a record-setting 13 caution flags flew at the 2.66-mile track. Coming to the first of three green-white-checkered attempts at lap 187, Newman lined up 13th but advanced to ninth before a multi-car incident occurred just behind his Mustang.
Following an extensive red flag, Newman pitted for fresh tires and fuel and restarted 19th for the second attempt. Yet again, a yellow occurred behind Newman, and he stayed out as one of the only cars on track with enough fuel to finish the race. That would set him up sixth on the final restart – three spots behind teammate Chris Buescher – for the final two-lap shootout. Newman weaved his way through a dicey pack coming to the line, crossing the line seventh before ultimately being scored fifth after the finish went under video review.
Newman began the day from the 19th spot, and avoided three early yellow flags within the first 12 laps. He ran 34th at the lap 25 competition caution before the stage ran green right up until the scheduled end at lap 60, when the South Bend, Indiana, native collected some nose damage in a multi-car incident.
The 2008 Daytona 500 Champion finished 14th in the stage and after repairs on pit road lined back up 29th for stage two. After a flurry of additional cautions – one of which he narrowly avoided at lap 108, the red flag was displayed for one of three times on the day, before he went on to finish 12th in the stage.
Newman and the No. 6 team return to the track next weekend at the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Race coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage can also be heard on PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
