Posted on by Holly Cain

With win, Newman 20 points out of final Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup berth

Related: Race results | Updated standings | Full coverage

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — “It sure didn’t hurt.”

That sentence — or rather understatement — was Ryan Newman’s refrain, his mantra and his reality this weekend from his native Indiana.

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WILD CARD STANDINGS

Pos Driver Wins Pts Pos Pts from 10th
1. Tony Stewart     1 11th      —
2. Martin Truex     1 12th      -5
3. Ryan Newman     1 16th      -25
4. Brad Keselowski     0 13th      -6
5. Kurt Busch     0 14th      -13
6. Jamie McMurray     0 15th      -22
7. Aric Almirola     0 17th      -30
8. Joey Logano     0 18th      -35
9. Paul Menard     0 19th      -39
10. Jeff Burton     0 20th      -60
11. David Ragan     1 28th      -207

It’s what he said after winning the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Crown Royal presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at the Brickyard powered by BigMachineRecords.com at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series record qualifying effort. And it’s what he repeated late Sunday afternoon after scoring one of the most popular victories ever in one of NASCAR’s biggest races.

It was a huge two-week turnaround for Newman, who found out by phone on July 10 that he needed to find a new job for 2014. That weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, team owner and good friend Tony Stewart announced Newman wouldn’t be returning to Stewart-Haas Racing and then Newman was crashed out of the Camping World RV Sales 301, inciting a short-lived but public war of words with Kyle Busch.

“The emotions have been an absolute roller coaster,’’ Newman said shortly after joining his family in the traditional kissing of the bricks at the fabled track’s finish line.

“Loudon was a disaster. We got crashed out, everything that was said. We got through all that stuff.

“The weekend off (last week) was good timing to be able to hit control-alt-delete. And (crew chief) Matt (Borland) did an amazing job to come here with a fast race car and give me what I needed.’’

The victory Sunday in his No. 39 Quicken Loans/Smurfs Chevy made Newman the biggest winner of the day in the championship standings, moving him up three positions to 16th with six races remaining in the Race to the Chase that sets the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field.

Newman is now only 25 points from a guaranteed top-10 position and back in the running for a wildcard, 20 points behind 12th place Martin Truex Jr. Importantly, he now possesses a win that no one ranked between him and Truex owns.

“We’re not out of this Chase, we’re not out of this chance for a championship,’’ Newman said. “We’ve just got to keep our nose to the grindstone. There’s still a ton of racing left.

“Another three wins before the Chase starts would be great,’’ he added with a laugh.

Of course that would be the ultimate audition tape for a 2014 ride.

But Newman has maintained that his mindset and motivation remain unchanged from even before finding out he needed to find a new team for next year.

He has steadfastly maintained that his desire to win was just as intense prior to the news as it’s been since, that there is no sense of urgency.

Joking after winning the pole Saturday — his 50th but first in two years — he said he simply had waited for “a special moment.’’

Newman said he’s always had confidence his team was behind him.

“I got fired a couple weeks ago, come back here, win the pole and win the race,’’ Newman said. “It’s all because of hard effort. It’s all because they haven’t given up. They want to win just as bad as I do.’’

Echoed his crew chief Matt Borland, “There’s not one person on that team that doesn’t try to win every week and make that car better every week. No one expects him to quit (on the season), no one expects me to quit, no one expects anyone on the team to quit.

“They all do a fantastic job.’’

And while Newman, who concedes he’s not the most emotional guy in the NASCAR garage, didn’t want to overstate what the victory Sunday meant. His team owner and fellow Hoosier Stewart was more than willing to.

“Even before Ryan came and drove for us, we were friends,’’ a heartfelt Stewart said. “So that made that decision (not to retain him in 2014) and that made that phone call of telling him that much harder.

“It’s not just winning with a driver that drives for us, it’s my friend out there that won the race today, too. That’s what makes this more gratifying at the same time.

“I guess it’s extreme to extreme. I mean, it’s on the good end of the extreme this week.

“It’s a dream. It’s a dream to be where he’s standing right now at the end of the race. We know the history of this place. Ryan can tell you more stats about here than I can, but we know, we understand, we appreciate the history of this sport, the great drivers and teams that have raced and won here.
“That’s a big deal to us being from here.”

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Two-time Camping World Truck Series champ brings wealth of experience to Tricky Triangle

Two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Todd Bodine will make his debut for Turner Scott Motorsports at Saturday’s Pocono Mountain 125 (1 p.m. ET, SPEED) at Pocono Raceway. Bodine, who captured both the 2006 and 2010 NCWTS titles, will pilot TSM’s No. 30 entry, the same truck number he drove to both championships. The No. 30 Chevrolet Silverado will be crew-chiefed by Jimmy Villeneuve and sponsored by Whelen Engineering/Team Fox for the one-race deal.

“I am very excited to have the opportunity to drive for Turner Scott Motorsports," said Bodine. "It’s not very often that you have the opportunity in a one-off race situation to drive for an organization and team that has continued to have such great success.”

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Bodine, who will be making his 220th NCWTS start this weekend in Pocono, has tallied 22 wins, seven poles, 92 top-fives and 124 top-10s in his illustrious career. The Chemung, N.Y., native made his first NCWTS start in the series’ debut season in 1995, running his first full-time season in 2005. Bodine has three previous NCWTS starts at Pocono, with two top-10 starts and two top-15 finishes to his credit. The 49-year-old also has 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the Tricky Triangle, where he’s earned one pole and two top-10 finishes.

"We’re very happy to have two-time champion Todd Bodine behind the wheel of one of our trucks," said team co-owner Harry Scott Jr. "Todd has been one of the strongest competitors the Truck Series has ever seen, and he is a true example of a series veteran. This is a big weekend for Todd with Pocono being the home of the Onion Slice Open, and we’re proud to be a part of it."

The No. 30 truck has competed in five previous events this season. Kyle Larson drove the No. 30 Chevrolet Silverado to TSM’s first win of the season at Rockingham Speedway in April, in addition to earning the team a runner-up finish last week at Eldora Speedway. Ryan Truex, Nelson Piquet Jr. and Cale Gale have also been behind the wheel for one event each in 2013.

"Owner Sonny Whelen has been a family friend for a long time and has been a big supporter of the Bo-Dyn Bobsled Project and the Onion Slice Open since day one,” said Bodine. “He knows how important the race at Pocono is to me, and when he found out we didn’t have a ride for that event, he stepped up to make it happen. Unfortunately, he has recently developed Parkinson’s disease, and has become very involved in Team Fox for Parkinson’s Research. We’re very proud to have both organizations on the truck, and I’m also very excited to be returning to the No. 30, which has meant a lot to my career."

 

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Newman wins at the Brickyard; Stewart, Logano also excel

At one of the most historic tracks on the NASCAR circuit, the Coca-Cola Racing Family had one of its best collective showings of the season.

At the forefront was Ryan Newman, collecting his first victory of the season and 17th of his career in his hometown state. His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate (and owner), Tony Stewart, himself finished fourth while Joey Logano rallied from two poor outings to take 15th.

All in all, it was a great day for the group, which now heads to Pocono Raceway.

A roundup on the Coca-Cola Racing Family in order of how they finished at Indianapolis:

Ryan Newman (No. 39)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Newman’s win was emotional in many ways. It came in his home state, at a historic track, for one. And it came weeks after Stewart-Haas Racing announced Newman would not return for the 2014 season. For a guy without a job right now, Sunday’s win goes a long way to ensuring Newman’s Cup career will continue somewhere. He won the 50th Coors Light Pole of his career the day before the race and asserted himself as a legitimate contender for Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Quotable: “I know it’s an amazing feeling. I was more emotional (Saturday) after winning the pole than I was two laps after doing my donuts and everything else today. I’m not sure why. I took an emotional hit. Just an awesome day. … Probably the best racecar I have ever driven in my entire life. I watched Jimmie (Johnson), kept quiet. I wanted to see who I was placing. Thank Quicken Loans, Chevrolet, Sprint, all the sponsors we have. Tony Stewart, Stewart Haas Racing, they gave us all the tools we needed all weekend and all year.”
His standing: Newman is 16th in the standings with 534 points.
Outlook: There’s a few different ways Newman can get into the postseason. The practically guaranteed way is to win another race, which would give him two for the season and vault him to the top of the Wild Card standings. If Jeff Gordon (currently in 10th) slips out of the top 10 and either Tony Stewart or Martin Truex Jr. climb into that spot, then Newman would also be in the postseason — provided no one ranked higher than him outside the top 10 steals a victory.

Tony Stewart (No. 14)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Stewart didn’t capture his third career win at the Brickyard, but he did finish fourth to creep closer to the top 10 in the standings. Perhaps more than that, ‘Smoke’ watched good friend Ryan Newman celebrate in Victory Lane. The two remain close, even though Newman won’t be retained by the team Stewart owns.
Quotable: “Oh my God, what a dream. I’ve been waiting for the day we could get Ryan in victory lane at a big one like this. Man, it’s just awesome. Ryan did an awesome job getting on the pole and an awesome job all day. He and Matt Borland (crew chief) and everyone on the Quicken Loans team executed perfectly. I’m proud of all of our guys because we had a solid day too. Our Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevy was quick. We had great Hendrick horsepower. You look up at the board there and see six cars in the top-seven that are Hendrick engines. That pretty much tells you where the power is.”
His standing: Stewart is 11th in the standings with 558 points.
Outlook: As new drivers continue to win, it might behoove Stewart to get into the top 10 in the standings. Certainly, that’s the goal — along with picking up another win or two. Maybe it’ll come this week. Stewart typically does well at Pocono and has three consecutive top-fives at the Tricky Triangle. You can, at the least, expect a good finish. In his 29 starts, Stewart has 21 top-10s.

Joey Logano (No. 22)

Penske Racing, Ford

Recap: No pesky tire issues for Joey Logano this week. As a result, the young driver finished eighth at Indianapolis after consecutive 40th-place finishes due to blowing tires in consecutive races. He needs to continue to gain points, and almost certainly needs to win. He has a win at Pocono, where the Cup Series heads this week.
Quotable: “We just weren’t quite as fast as we needed to be. We led some laps but the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) was just so fast plus he had new tires. We lost a little there and then we had some issues on pit road today that cost us about three or four spots. I feel like we could have finished in the top five and am proud of the effort the guys put into this car. We weren’t really sure how we were going to be. I am glad we got a decent finish again and hopefully we get these troubles out of the way and get back on a top-10 streak and make up the points we’ve lost the last two weeks.”
His standing: Logano is 18th in the standings with 524 points.
Outlook: Yes, Logano is 18th in the standings right now. The standings are tight, though. He’s less than 40 points behind 10th-place Jeff Gordon and just 10 points behind 16th-place Ryan Newman. A win, and Logano is right back in this thing.

Denny Hamlin (No. 11)

Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota 

Recap: Hamlin can’t catch a break. He finished 18th at Indianapolis despite starting fourth and having what appeared to be a quick No. 11 Toyota. But it didn’t take long for Hamlin to slide back through the field. On a positive note, the finish was Hamlin’s best in the past six races. Then again, that’s not very good at all.
Quotable: Hamlin was unavailable for comment.
His standing: Hamlin is 25th in the standings with 388 points.
Outlook: Hamlin has repeatedly said he won’t have season-ending back surgery. Expect the No. 11 team to try and grind out this season, and perhaps steal a win along the way.

Greg Biffle (No. 16)

Roush Fenway Racing, Ford 

Recap: The Biff has a win in his back pocket, but he still can’t slide too far down the standings. He remained eighth place in the overall points race following a 24th-place effort, but many thought this could be a race where Biffle moved up in the standings. He usually runs well at Indianapolis, but his team just missed it this week. While Biffle didn’t lose ground in his position, he’s only seven points ahead of 11th-place Tony Stewart, his Coca-Cola Racing Family teammate.
Quotable: Biffle was not available for comment.
His standing: Biffle is eighth in the standings with 565 points.
Outlook: The No. 16 team should welcome the circuit’s return to Pocono. Biffle’s runner-up finish at the Tricky Triangle halted a six-race skid, and he followed that up by winning at Michigan.

Danica Patrick (No. 10)

Stewart-Haas Racing, Chevrolet 

Recap: Patrick had great success at Indianapolis while driving for IndyCar, but that didn’t translate over to Cup competition — at least not on her first attempt. Danica finished 30th and was never really in the race.
Quotable: “I just kind of kept with it and hoped to catch a break somewhere, or that the car would get a lot better, and it just kind of stayed real steady. We took two tires on one of the stops and we got track position out of it but, unfortunately, it just didn’t run very well. So, we tried something, it just didn’t work, and that’s that. It just was what it was. When we came into this weekend, I said ‘OK, I’m not going to try to take anything from the car that it doesn’t really have’ and, unfortunately, that’s what we had today. Or, that’s what I had today. I said it all week, that this is a special place and always will be. It would have been nice to have a better day than this and be able to march forward. We just didn’t. And that’s just all there is to it. Sometimes, these are just the days you have. So, that’s all right. We’ll roll on to Pocono and hope for better.”
Her standing: Patrick is 26th in the standings with 364 points.
Outlook: Danica returns to Pocono with a notebook full of information from her first trip there, where she finished 29th.

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Posted on by Zack Albert

Celebration goes from dirt to asphalt; plus Chase breakdown, quotes and video

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Tony Stewart finally took a breather late Sunday afternoon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, capping a whirlwind week of playing the roles of track promoter, race-car driver and team owner. Remarkably, he was able to claim success on all three fronts.

Stewart was buoyant at the Brickyard with good reason, watching Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Ryan Newman prevail in the Crown Royal presents the Samuel Deeds 400 at the Brickyard, notching his first victory at the historic 2.5-mile track in his home state. The win came one day after Newman scored the 50th Coors Light Pole Award of his career, making it two straight days that he got the better of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart wound up fourth in Sunday’s 400-miler, marking his sixth straight top-10 finish at Indianapolis. By moving up two spots to 11th in the standings, he also heads to next week’s event at Pocono Raceway at the top of the class in the race for the two Wild Card berths in the 12-driver Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup postseason.

“I think we still have some work to do. It’s proof that we can do it,” Stewart said after posting his fifth top-five finish in 20 races this season. “Ryan is proof that our organization can do it. We’ve just got to hit on it. Even though we ran fourth today, it’s a confidence boost for us on the 14 team, as well, to know we have the tools in place of accomplishing the goal. It’s just a matter of getting there.”

Stewart’s weekend at Indy began with a head of steam after his overwhelmingly raved-about hosting of the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on dirt, held Wednesday at Eldora Speedway, a half-mile track he owns just two hours from Indianapolis in Rossburg, Ohio.

Sunday’s race was the final Brickyard for Stewart and Newman as teammates, a hard decision the team owner announced two weeks ago at New Hampshire. Although Stewart wasn’t able to convert his Sunday drive into a third Brickyard victory, watching fellow Hoosier and longtime friend Newman enjoy his first Indy triumph was a true prize without a consolation.

“I didn’t think it would feel this good as an owner,” Stewart said. “Because it’s Ryan and a good friend of mine, that’s the gratifying part.”

Tear down

Dramatic drop: Clint Bowyer was barely a factor in Sunday’s 400 at the Brickyard, leading a single lap and coming home 20th as one of the last cars on the lead lap. While he kept his second-place ranking in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series standings, his deficit to race runner-up Jimmie Johnson grew from 56 to 75 points. If Johnson is able to add 21 points to his advantage next week, he’d be able to take two races off and still retain at least a share of the points lead.

Pendulum swing: Jeff Burton’s third-place finish in the series’ most recent race at New Hampshire left him recharged and announcing his long-shot candidacy for a Chase berth. Sunday at Indy, the wind fell from Burton’s sails after he slowed with a mechanical failure in the drivetrain, relegating him to last in the 43-car field.

Big mover: Martin Truex Jr. claimed one special distinction Sunday at Indianapolis as the biggest gainer from qualifying on race day. He started 38th and drove all the way to an 11th-place finish, a feat made even more noteworthy by the lack of opportunities to gain track position through caution periods.

Inside the numbers

49: The number of consecutive races without a Sprint Cup victory for Ryan Newman before Sunday’s win in the Samuel Deeds 400. Newman was also stuck on 49 career poles before collecting his 50th Coors Light Pole Award in Saturday’s qualifying.

3: The number of drivers who have won NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races from the pole position at Indianapolis. Newman added his name to a list that includes Kevin Harvick (2003) and Jimmie Johnson (2008).

4: The number of top-10 finishes this season for Juan Pablo Montoya, who drove to a ninth-place effort Sunday. The quartet of top-10s is double the total that Montoya scored all last season in the No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

They said it

“It’s a dream come true. It won’t hit you in five minutes, it won’t hit you in five hours, but maybe in five days come back to me.” — Ryan Newman

“Second is never fun, especially at the Brickyard. Bummed out with that, but stuff happens.” — Jimmie Johnson

“If you want to see passing, we can go out on (Interstate) 465 and pass all you want. If you can tell me that’s more exciting than what you see at IMS, the great race-car drivers that have competed here … this is about racing. This is about cars being fast. It doesn’t have to be two‑ and three‑wide racing all day long to be good racing.” — Tony Stewart

Chase watch

Two-car push: As if aerodynamically linked, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart each made a synchronized two-position leap in the Sprint Cup points standings to 10th and 11th respectively. Gordon now holds the final berth for the 10 automatic qualifiers for NASCAR’s playoffs; Stewart holds the top Wild Card spot, with a win in hand from Dover earlier this year helping his cause.

Hello, Newman: The victory did more for Ryan Newman than provide boosts in prestige, bragging rights and emotion. It also helped him gain three positions in the Sprint Cup standings up to 16th place. Further, Newman also jumped to third in the Wild Card race, behind leader Stewart and second-place Martin Truex Jr., a winner earlier this season at Sonoma Raceway.

Coming up

NASCAR’s premier series makes its second trip this season to Pocono Raceway, where Jimmie Johnson dominated the first time around, leading 128 of 160 laps to win from the pole position. The Nationwide Series will make its second trip of the year to Iowa Speedway on Saturday night, while the Camping World Truck Series will hold its only race of the season on the triangular Pocono layout Saturday afternoon.

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After winning dirt race and Dash 4 Cash bonus, Dillon looks to bolster lead

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It was a big week for Austin Dillon. In a span of seven days, the former Camping World Truck Series champion pocketed his second $100,000 Nationwide Series Dash 4 Cash bonus of the year, won the inaugural MudSummer Classic truck race at Eldora Speedway and took over the Nationwide Series points lead.
 
He will carry a six-point advantage into this week’s U.S. Cellular 250 (ESPN2, 8 p.m. ET) at Iowa Speedway, thanks to a 12th-place finish July 27 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
 
“We weren’t really happy with our run … but it turned out OK for us … we took the points lead,” Dillon said.
 
Dillon finished third on July 21 at Chicago, the highest finishing eligible driver in the Dash 4 Cash program. Three nights later in Rossburg, Ohio, he became the first driver in 42 years to win a NASCAR national series event on dirt with the Eldora victory.
 
And while he wasn’t content with his finish in the Indiana 250 at IMS, he avoided the problems that curtailed the efforts of former points leader Sam Hornish Jr. and second-place Regan Smith.

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Overheating issues slowed both Hornish and Smith. Hornish fell by the wayside after 64 laps, while Smith completed the race but wound up 19th.
 
“At the end (of the race), they said it was going to be a good points day,” Dillon said of radio conversations with his crew. He was told “just make it through these last restarts and salvage what you can.”
 
Richard Childress Racing teammate Brian Scott finished second, nearly snatching the win from Kyle Busch in the final laps. “It’s nice to have a team that’s running well,” Dillon said of Scott’s charge, “so you can push each other.”
 
Dillon admitted his own group will need “better days … to win the championship, but we’ve definitely had great cars all year long.
 
“We … just got caught in the wrong position,” he said. “Just keep fighting hard and hopefully we’re holding that Cup at the end of the year.
 
Smith, who led the Nationwide points standings for 10 consecutive weeks before slipping to second at Chicago, said the closeness of the points race isn’t surprising. Only 28 points separate the top five positions. Elliott Sadler sits third, 13 points behind Dillon while Hornish is now fourth (minus-14) and Brian Vickers is fifth.
 
“We keep making a big deal out of it, and this is what I said it was going to be at the beginning of the year,” Smith said. “This is truly what I felt it was going to be — you’ve got a lot of companies that optimize these cars, you’ve got a lot of talented drivers that are going to battle and this is how it’s going to continue to be until we get to Homestead. I believe that.
 
“So you have to put yourself in the best position you can and capitalize on the opportunities.”
 
That he was able to salvage a top-20 finish at Indy, he said, was a testament to the Hendrick Motorsports program and the engines it provides to the JR Motorsports organization.
 
“There’s no reason that thing should not have blown up,” he said. “I can’t tell you the last time I saw a motor smoke like that and not hand grenade.
 
“So as much as I’m really bummed out because we had a car that was probably capable of finishing somewhere in the top five, depending on how it shook out, I’m also very thankful and very happy that it held together. That shows the durability of the Hendrick motors.”

 

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Take a quick glance at times, dates and TV coverage of events

All times ET

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2

ON TRACK
— 9-11:20 a.m. ET, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series final practice (Get results)
— 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. ET, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, Delayed until 1 p.m. ET on SPEED (Get results)
— 3:10 p.m. ET, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying, SPEED (Get results)
— 4:30-5:50 p.m. ET, NASCAR Nationwide Series practice (Get results)
— 7-8:20 p.m. ET, NASCAR Nationwide Series final practice (Get results)

PRESS CONFERENCES
WATCH LIVE
— 10 a.m. — Jeff Burton
— 10:15 a.m. — Ryan Newman
— 10:30 a.m. — Jimmie Johnson
— 1:45 p.m. — Martin Truex Jr.
— 2 p.m. — Jeff Gordon
— 4:45 p.m. — Post-NSCS qualifying

GARAGECAM
WATCH LIVE
— Sprint Cup: 11 a.m.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3

ON TRACK
— 9-9:50 a.m. ET, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice, SPEED (Rained out)
— 10 a.m. ET, NASCAR Camping World Truck Keystone Light Pole Qualifying (2 laps), SPEED (Lineup)
— 11:30-12:20 p.m. ET, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series final practice, SPEED (Rained out)
— 1 p.m. ET, NASCAR Camping World Truck Pocono Mountains 125 (50 laps, 125 miles), SPEED / 12:30 (Get results)
— 5:05 p.m. ET, NASCAR Nationwide Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying (2 laps) (Get results)
— 8 p.m. ET, NASCAR Nationwide Series U.S. Cellular 250 presented by The Enlist Weed Control System (250 laps, 218.75 miles), ESPN on air at 7:30 (Get results)

PRESS CONFERENCES
WATCH LIVE
— 2:30 p.m. — Post NCWTS race

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4

ON TRACK
— 1 p.m. ET, GoBowling.com 400 (160 laps, 400 miles), ESPN (Get results)

PRESS CONFERENCES
WATCH LIVE
— 4:15 p.m. — Post NSCS race

MORE:
Note: Links will be added as information becomes available.

Sprint Cup: Season schedule | Standings | Entry list | Qualifying order | Pit stall assignments | Lineup | Results
Nationwide: Season schedule | Standings | Entry list | Qualifying order | Pit stall assignments | Lineup | Results
Camping World Truck: Season schedule | Standings | Entry list | Qualifying order | Pit stall assignments | Lineup | Results

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Entry list for the Pocono Mountains 125

Read the entry list for the Pocono Camping World Truck Series race, Saturday, Aug. 3

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Entry list for the U.S. Cellular 250 presented by The Enlist Weed Control System

Read the entry list for the Iowa Nationwide Series race, Saturday, Aug. 3

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GoBowling.com 400 slated for Sunday at the Tricky Triangle

Click here to see this week’s entry list.

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Faith in Newman pays off at Indy

NASCAR FANTASY LIVE: CLICK HERE TO CHECK YOUR TEAM OR START A NEW ONE

Ryan Newman delivered for Stewart-Haas Racing — and his fantasy owners — by winning the Samuel Deeds 400 on Sunday at the Brickyard. Newman and Jimmie Johnson battled throughout the day, and although Johnson scored more fantasy points (111 to 101.5) in the NASCAR Fantasy Live game, it was Newman who was the bigger bargain — and bigger surprise.

That’s because Johnson entered the race with an average weekly score of 103.1 fantasy points (tops in the game) while Newman came in at 43.73 (19th). Johnson cost $28.50 while Newman’s price was $22.

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NASCAR FANTASY LIVE TOP 15
*Fantasy Finish=FF
*Race Finish=RF

FF Driver Points RF
1. Jimmie Johnson 111 2nd
2. Ryan Newman 101.5 1st
3. Kasey Kahne 85.5 3rd
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 74.5 6th
5. Matt Kenseth 73.5 5th
6. Kyle Busch 70.5 10th
6. Martin Truex Jr. 70.5 11th
8. Jeff Gordon 70 7th
9. Tony Stewart 69.5 4th
10. Joey Logano 66.5 8th
11. Paul Menard 59 12th
12. Jamie McMurray 52.5 15th
12. Juan Pablo Montoya 52.5 9th
14. Kurt Busch 46.5 14th
15. Kevin Harvick 45.5 19th

It was easy to expect Johnson to make a run at an unprecedented fifth victory at Indy, but not so easy to put one’s faith in Newman. However, Newman took two tires on a late pit stop while Johnson took four. A seven-second gap ensued and the No. 48 could not overcome it, though he did shave the gap down to under three seconds by race’s end.

We wonder how many fantasy owners took advantage of Newman, though. Because even though he won the Coors Light Pole in qualifying, he entered the race with just two top-10 finishes in 12 races at his home-state track.

But it became clear as the race wore on that Newman had the only car that was worthy of a battle with Johnson. And for owners who had Johnson and Newman on their team, well that’s the beauty of fantasy. There is no loser in that situation. In fact, many of the owners with that combination had a leg up on winning their leagues.

Key Fantasy Moment: Just 12 laps into the race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. had to head to pit road with a loose tire. That knocked Junior off the lead lap and could have been disastrous in fantasy, especially for a fantasy driver priced as high ($26.25) as he was entering the weekend. But by Lap 60 Junior was back on the lead lap and was able to end up in sixth place. That effort made him the fourth-highest fantasy scorer of the day with 74.5 points.

Best Value: Newman was the best value, but Juan Pablo Montoya provided some bang for the buck, too. The $18.50 you spent on Montoya wasn’t bad, considering he finished tied for 12th in fantasy points with 52.5. That was better than some more high-priced drivers, such as Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards, who all ended up with worse scores.

Biggest Bust: Greg Biffle entered Indy with a stellar history at the track, including five straight top-10 finishes, so when Biffle qualified 27th it was understandable to view him as a potential mover in place-differential points. But Biffle’s team struggled throughout the race and he finished in 24th place as the first car off the lead lap. Biffle ranked 23rd in fantasy points after that effort, just a point ahead of Casey Mears. The problem is Biffle cost $25.50 while Mears went for $10.75.

Tip to take forward: Although playing the place-differential game did not work for Biffle owners, it sure did for those who took the plunge on Martin Truex Jr., who qualified 38th. Truex Jr. drove like a man on a mission to move up through the field, and he finished in 11th. That gave Truex Jr. a whopping 27 points in place differential and was a big reason he was the sixth-highest scorer of the week.

Kudos to NASCAR.com’s Alan Cavanna for suggesting Truex Jr. in his Fantasy Update video on Sunday morning. Balancing your lineup with a driver who can move up in place differential is something to consider each week.

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READ MORE:

READ: Complete coverage
from Eldora

READ: Complete coverage
from Indianapolis

READ: Memorable moments
of the first half

READ: Paint Scheme Preview:
Indianapolis, Eldora