Official Release

Ryan Newman and the Caterpillar Team Lead the Field to the White Flag En Route to Runner-Up Finish "Today was a good kind of crazy, but that's the nature of speedway racing. I'm proud of the guys on this Caterpillar Chevrolet, and everyone who is a part of RCR and ECR, for accomplishing what we did. We tried to play it smart and in the end we were close, but not close enough. I got double-teamed with the No. 2 and the No. 22 (Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano). That was the difference."

The 18 points earned by Blaney in the early stages of Sunday’s Alabama 500 at Talladega Superspeedway added a very positive element to an otherwise disappointing day to the race for Blaney and the Quick Lane team.

PAUL WOLFE: FORD SWEPT THE RESTRICTOR PLATE RACES THIS YEAR. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “Well, to your point there, Ford sweeping the speedway races, hats off to Doug and all the guys at Roush Yates. They continue to work hard and bring us great power, and these Fords aerodynamically are great on these speedway races. Individually all the different teams are able to get a lot of speed out of these things.

Trevor Bayne overcame two separate incidents in the final stage that badly damaged the nose of his Liberty National Ford Fusion in Sunday afternoon’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) event at Talladega Superspeedway to earn a third-place finish. Bayne, who took the final restart from the eighth position, charged toward the front on the final lap and utilized a three-wide move to score the top-three finish. The result is Bayne’s best finish of the 2017 season and his best finish at the famed Alabama superspeedway.

Ryan Newman scored a second-place finish Sunday in the Alabama 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race to lead Team Chevy’s efforts at Talladega Superspeedway. Newman’s No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS was one of 14 cars running at the end of the wild 188-lap, 500-mile race.

Despite being involved in a late-race crash that took Ryan Blaney and the Quick Lane Ford Fusion out of the top 10 in the Alabama 500 to an 18th-place finish, they were strong all day here at Talladega Superspeedway and leap-frogged from 11th to seventh in the NASCAR Playoff standings going into the Round 2 cutoff race next weekend at Kansas Speedway where only the top eight advance.

Martin Truex Jr.’s victory last week at Charlotte Motor Speedway loomed even larger after the Furniture Row Racing driver was involved in a race-ending accident Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. He was credited with a 23rd-place finish.

Denny Hamlin was the top-finishing Toyota with a sixth-place result in Sunday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway. Camry driver Gray Gaulding also earned a top-10 finish with an eighth-place result at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd - ON THE RACE. "I don't know that it was a good kind of crazy, but that's the problem we are in. Proud of the guys on this Caterpillar Chevrolet with RCR and ECR to do what we did. We tried to play it smart and in the end we were close, but not close enough. I got double-teamed with the No. 2 and the No. 22 (Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano). That was the difference."

With most of the focus on the Camping World Truck Series playoff picture, Spencer Boyd patiently managed the Talladgea draft to finish 13th, a career high. Boyd has spent the latter part of the season running in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for SS Green Light Racing in the No. 07, but had an opportunity to run his 3rd Truck race this year in DJ Copp’s No. 83.