Team: No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Race Format: 500 laps, 263 miles, Stage Lengths: 130-130-240
Xfinity 500 – Sunday, Nov. 1 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Quick Turnaround to Martinsville for Sunday Cup Race
· Just four days removed from a rare Wednesday night finish after a long weather-delayed race in Texas, the NASCAR Cup Series will battle once again for 500 miles at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday, with just two races left in the 2020 campaign.
· Sunday’s starting lineup will be set by three competition-based metrics, rewarding both season-long and single-race performance, and will be announced later in the week.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.
Newman Historically at Martinsville
· Newman – a former winner at Martinsville – will make his 38th Cup start at the .526-mile track on Sunday. In 37 prior events, he has an average finish of 14.7 with 17 top-10s and eight top fives.
· Newman won the spring race back in 2012, leading the final 12 laps after starting fifth. He has completed more than 97 percent of the laps, and finished top-10 more than 45 percent of the time.
· Dating back two races, Newman has finished 10th (fall 2019) and 12th (summer 2020), and has an average finish of 10.5 in the last three fall events overall.
· Outside of his win in 2012, Newman’s other top finishes include a runner-up result in 2007 and two third-place finishes (2004, 2014).
· Newman has an average starting spot of 11th at ‘The Paperclip,’ with three career poles (2002, 2004, 2009).
Scott Graves Historically at Martinsville
· Graves will call his ninth Cup race at Martinsville this weekend, where he is coming off two-straight top-12s including a best finish of 10th last fall with Newman.
· Prior to 2019, Graves had a best finish of 15th with Daniel Suarez in 2017.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Martinsville:
“I’ll be glad to get back to a short track this weekend, one where we have strung together a pair of good runs in the last two races. After a not so solid spring race last year, we fought back for a top-10 last fall, and backed that up with another solid run just a few months back. We’re excited to once again improve and see what we can do, in what should be an exciting short-track race come Sunday.”
Last Time Out
Newman battled back from starting middle of the pack in the extended race at Texas to finish 19th in the Guaranteed Rate Ford.
Where They Rank
Newman is 25th in driver points after 31 points races in his 2020 campaign. In owners’ points, the No. 6 is 23rd.
On the Car
Guaranteed Rate returns to Newman’s Ford at Martinsville, as part of the overall 12-race schedule for the brand to close out the 2020 slate.
About Guaranteed Rate
Guaranteed Rate is one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the Company has more than 5,000 employees in nearly 350 offices across the U.S., and is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its founding in 2000, Guaranteed Rate has helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances and funded more than $30 billion in loans in 2019 alone. The Company has cemented itself as Positively Different by introducing innovative technology, such as the world’s first Digital Mortgage, by offering low rates and by delivering unparalleled customer service. Honors and awards include: Top Lender for Online Service for 2018 by U.S. News & World Report; No. 3 ranking in Scotsman Guide’s Top Retail Mortgage Lenders 2019; Top Lender 2016, 2017 and 2018 by Chicago Agent magazine; Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces list for seven consecutive years; and Best Online Mortgage Lender, Best Mortgage Lender for VA loans and Best Conventional Mortgage Lender by NerdWallet in 2019. Visit rate.com for more information.
