06/09/2021
Ryan Newman – All-Star Advance
NASCAR All-Star Race – Sunday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
Another Historic, New-Look All-Star Race on Deck
- After holding the NASCAR All-Star Race in Charlotte for many years prior to 2020, the annual invitational event moves to its third track in as many seasons with the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway set to host the 2021 event.
- Outside of the 1986 event in Atlanta, the race had been held in Charlotte every season. Due to implications from COVID-19 a season ago, NASCAR officials moved the event from Charlotte to Bristol. And this season it moves again, this time to TMS.
- Also new to this season’s version of the ASR is a six-round, 100-lap bout that will see the winner collect $1 million, and an additional $100,000 will be presented to the fastest pit crew in a mandatory pit stop near the end of the race.
- For the All-Star Race itself, the overall starting lineup will be set by random draw. The format and procedures are below:
- Round 1: 15 laps. After this round, the field will be inverted starting anywhere from the eighth through 12th positions, to be selected by a random draw.
- Round 2: 15 laps, with entire field inverted after this segment.
- Round 3: 15 laps, again the field will be inverted starting anywhere from the eighth through 12th positions, to be selected by a random draw after this round.
- Round 4: 15 laps.
- Round 5: 30 laps. The lineup for this round will be determined by cumulative finish from the first four rounds, with the best cumulative finisher starting from the pole. All cars must enter pit road for a mandatory four-tire pit stop during this round. The crew with the fastest stop will pocket $100,000.
- Round 6: 10 laps. Cars will line up according to their finishing position from the previous round for the final segment.
Newman Historically in the All-Star Race
- Newman will make his 20th All-Star Race start on Sunday. He is eligible by way of his 2002 victory in The Winston, a race he won after also winning that event’s qualifying race just prior.
- Outside of the victory in 2002, Newman has two additional top five finishes, including second in 2004 and fifth in 2006. He most recently finished 19th in last season’s non-points race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- Newman is one of 17 drivers locked into the All-Star Race, while the rest of the field will compete in the NASCAR Open qualifying race two hours prior.
- The 2003 Driver of the Year started on the pole once back in 2004, and had two second-place starting positions in 2004 and 2012.
- Overall at Texas, Newman has 35 starts with one win, three top fives and six top-10s for an average finish of 18.4. He has finished 11th, 15th, 13th and 19th in the last four events at TMS.
Scott Graves in the All-Star Race
- Graves will be atop the box for his third All-Star Race after finishing 13th and 19th each of the last two seasons with Newman.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing in the All-Star Race:
“I think the opportunity to move the All-Star Race around and do as they started to do and have it at Texas versus where it’s been in the last 20-plus years in Charlotte is a good thing. The format, it’s like a recipe. You can make cookies many different ways and in the end you still have a cookie. Not everybody is gonna like that cookie, but there’s a chance you’re gonna like it. I really don’t know that I have one, to stop talking about cookies and making myself hungry, I know that the way I won it eliminated the competition, but, in reality, that competition is eliminated anyway. You’re not gonna go from 20th to first in 10 laps. It just doesn’t happen, so it kind of is what it is and we deal with the ingredients that NASCAR provides for the All-Star Race going into it and you just do your best to try to make up for what you’re lacking, whether it’s track position, starting position, things like that and make a good day out of it.”
Last Time Out
Newman was on the wrong end of a last-turn incident Sunday at Sonoma and finished 33rd in the Guaranteed Rate Ford.
Where They Rank
Newman is 23rd in points through 16 events.
On the Car
Wyndham Rewards returns to Newman’s No. 6 machine for its second race of 2021.
About Wyndham Rewards
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