Newman crashes on lap 11, goes many laps down
By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
May 27, 2001
7:57 PM EDT (2357 GMT)
CONCORD, N.C. -- Young Ryan Newman shocked the NASCAR world Thursday evening by earning the Bud Pole for today's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, but his glee was prematurely terminated when he wrecked just 11 laps into the 400-lap race.
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Newman paced the field into Turn 4 on lap 11 when his car Ford got loose just ahead of Jeff Gordon, spinning the back end around and into the outside wall. Newman suffered severe damage to the rear end of his car and has yet to return to the track.
Gordon somehow managed to elude Newman's assent up the track and currently holds a commanding lead.
Newman feels as if he got a bit too anxious.
“Impatience, that’s what I’d say happened,” said a disgusted Newman from the cockpit of his car following the wreck.
Newman, 24, coursed the 1.5-mile LMS oval Thursday night in 29.155 seconds at 185.217 mph, nipping second-place Gordon by five-hundredths of a second.
Although Newman’s lap raised eyebrows throughout the garage, it shouldn’t have.
Newman set the overall track record for stock cars last season in an ARCA machine, rounding the 1.5-mile LMS oval in 28.911 seconds at 186.78 mph. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., set the Winston Cup track record at 29.027 seconds (186.034 mph) in 2000.
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