RCR driver credits perseverance for his spot in the Championship Round
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DORAL, Fla. -- Of the four compelling individuals competing for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship this weekend, Ryan Newman might have had the most intriguing route to the position he's in. The one thing he's not doing is apologizing for how he got there.
Instead of hemming and hawing Wednesday through the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship Media Day at Trump National Doral Miami, Newman has instead embraced the road to his most realistic title shot in his 13 full-time seasons at NASCAR's highest level in his first year with Richard Childress Racing's No. 31 Chevrolet team.
The postseason path has been one of consistency instead of amassing visits to Victory Lane, but in each instance, Newman has done just enough to advance through each round of eliminations in this season's new Chase format. That includes going for broke on the final lap of the next-to-last race of the season last weekend at Phoenix, roughing up rookie Kyle Larson to gain the one position needed to make his reservation among the Championship 4.
That doesn't mean he has reservations.
"I didn't know Cinderella was a race car driver," Newman said, making light of his presumed underdog status. "… What really matters is racing each other, and we've had a lot of fun getting to this point, and we need just to keep doing what we're doing on the 31 side. It's really a storybook, I guess in some form or fashion. But hopefully we can get through Sunday and write our own book."
If Newman does turn in an effort of literary proportions come Sunday in the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 (3 p.m. ET, ESPN), he's already written a thrilling preface. At Phoenix, Newman's RCR crew had told him over the radio that he needed just one spot to advance and that Larson stood in the way.
After his broadside move gave him 11th place at Phoenix and a one-point margin, Newman was matter of fact about how the pressure of the championship race almost mandated such a maneuver. He said that Larson, who careened into the wall and limped under the checkered flag, understood as much when he reached out to him Monday evening, a day after the Eliminator Round finale.
"He said he was mad for about 10 minutes and then it kind of hit him what all was on the line," Newman said. "My reassurance to him was two things, that someday when I'm in that position and he's in that position, I said he can use my four tires and make eight if he wants to, because I understand. The second part of it was, and the quite frank part of it was, I could've just gone in there and just dumped him. I chose, and hopefully had enough class in people's eyes, that I didn't do that. I did it the best way I could in order for him to be able to finish the race, too."
Newman has himself made a habit of finishing, with only one DNF all season. Though he has no wins and just four top-five finishes through 35 races, his performance has improved in the playoffs. In the nine Chase races, Newman's average finish calculates to a 9.8 against his season-long average of 13.0.
Consistency has been the hallmark, but the lack of wins hasn't come from a lack of trying. Newman said a win or at least a top-three effort Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway will likely clinch the championship, but that it's not an absolute requirement.
"I would love to win," Newman said. "I'd love to go out there and lead every lap, win and talk about how we saved the best for last, but it doesn't have to be."
Math might be on Newman's side, but to hear the driver tell it, so is desire. He said it's what drove him to get physical in the final mile at Phoenix and what will sharpen his focus this weekend at Homestead.
No wins? No problem. For Newman, it's all about having a puncher's chance in a one-race showdown.
"Perseverance, I guess. My dad likes to call it relentlessness, but it's all about just not quitting," Newman said. "That was something that's always been in the back of my head. Everything that I've done in my life, I don't quit. I won't quit at all the entire weekend this week -- and not just in the race but in practice, qualifying and whatever. It's all about going out there and giving it 100 percent. You can give it 110 percent, but 100 percent is the best that you can possibly do."
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