Ryan Newman (racing driver)

Ryan Joseph Newman (born December 8, 1977), nicknamed "Rocket Man", is an American professional stock car racing driver that competed in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2000 to 2023. He claimed 18 official wins including the 2008 Daytona 500 and 2013 Brickyard 400, as well as 117 top-fives, 51 pole positions, and a non-points win at the 2002 Winston. Newman was runner-up in 2014, and ranked sixth in 2002, 2003, and 2005. Newman currently competes in the SMART Modified Tour for Coulter Motorsports.

Early career

Newman made his racing debut in 1993 in the United Midget Auto Racing Association and the All-American Midget Series, winning both Rookie of the Year and the championship. His one hundred feature wins and two titles have him in the Quarter Midget Hall of Fame. Moving to USAC in 1995, running the C.E. Lewis No. 39 Drinan Chassis powered Brayton Motor, he was ROTY again in both the Midget Series and the Silver Crown in 1996. In 1999, he was the first driver to win in all three divisions while being the Silver Bullet Series champion in the No. 14 Beast Chassis powered Chevy.

NASCAR career

Cup Series

Penske Racing (2000–2008)

Newman began driving for icon Roger Penske in 2000, in order to transition to stock car racing. Newman ran the No. 27 Alltel-sponsored Ford for Penske Racing in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. Newman won three of the five ARCA races he entered, and made his Winston Cup debut at Phoenix International Raceway in the No. 02 Alltel-sponsored Ford for Penske. In 2001, Penske planned for Newman to run at least 23 combined events in both ARCA and NASCAR while Newman attended Purdue University. In addition to five ARCA events, Newman ran fifteen Busch Series races that season, winning poles in his second and third career starts and scoring his first career win at Michigan International Speedway in just his ninth career start. He also had a series-high six poles. Around this time, he would meet racing legend Buddy Baker, who would eventually become his mentor on superspeedways.

In 2002, Newman won a season-high six poles, breaking the rookie record previously set by Davey Allison. Newman joined Dale Earnhardt Jr. as the second rookie to win The Winston all-star race. At Watkins Glen later that summer, Newman led eleven laps and finished second behind Tony Stewart. However, the race ended in controversy, as it was discovered that Stewart had restarted the race too early and jumped the restart. Despite a protest by Penske, NASCAR upheld Stewart's win. In September, he scored his first career Winston Cup win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway after starting from the pole. Newman beat out Jimmie Johnson for the Rookie of the Year award on the strength of rookie records in top-fives (fourteen) and top-tens (22), even though Johnson had more wins, finished higher in the points standings, and led the standings at one point.

Newman's sophomore season began with a flip at the 2003 Daytona 500 after contact with Ken Schrader and Bobby Labonte. At Watkins Glen, he spun and hit the foam blocks, sending him on his side. He had a near-flip at the 2003 Aaron's 499, when he blew a tire mid-pack and nearly turned on his side in turn one, sparking a 27-car crash. Newman's 2003 season was pretty inconsistent. He would win one race but wreck in the next. Though finishing the season with a series-high eight wins and eleven poles, along with 17 top-fives and 22 top-tens and an average finish of 13.9, Newman also suffered seven DNFs, which left him sixth in points. His number of poles during the season led to him being nicknamed "Rocket Man".

In 2004, Newman qualified for the inaugural Chase for the Cup by finishing seventh in points with two wins and nine poles. He made the 2005 Chase as well, an addition to returning to the Busch Series after a four-year absence, where he won six out of the nine races he entered, including a series-record five straight.

Newman endured his first winless season in 2006, finishing a career-worst eighteenth in points, while his longtime crew chief, Matt Borland, left for Michael Waltrip Racing. His pole ratio between his rookie year and 2006 was one in every three races, tying him for fifteenth on the all-time poles list. As of November 2020, Newman has 51 poles, placing him ninth all-time.

In 2007, despite a streak of three consecutive poles, Newman again failed to win a race, including a near win at Lowe's Motor Speedway that was spoiled by a blown tire. His winless drought ended after he won the 2008 Daytona 500 on February 17, 2008. It was also the first Daytona 500 win for Penske. Newman failed to make the Chase from 2006 to 2008. In the points standings, he finished 18th in 2006, thirteenth in 2007, and seventeenth in 2008.

Stewart–Haas Racing (2009–2013)

On July 15, 2008, Newman announced that he was leaving Penske at the end of the season, and a month later, it was confirmed he would be joining Haas CNC Racing for 2009, in the No. 4 Chevy Impala, the number was later changed to 39 due to Morgan–McClure Motorsports owning the number. The team was renamed Stewart–Haas Racing before the season.

Despite a slow start, Newman earned a pole, five top-fives, fifteen top-tens, and an average finish of 14.0, his best since his 8-win season in 2003. On September 12 at Richmond, Newman finished tenth and clinched a spot in the Chase for the first time since 2005. On November 1, 2009, at the Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, Newman was involved in a heavy crash on the back stretch in which he flipped over on top of Kevin Harvick entering Turn 3. He ended up on his roof, and because the roof was crushed, crews had to use the Jaws of Life to pry the roof off the car after NASCAR officials flipped it back over. Newman was unharmed.

On April 10, 2010, Newman broke a 78-race winless streak with a win in the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway. He only led four laps during the race. The win was the first in NASCAR history for a car numbered 39. In September 2010, he was chosen as "honorable mention" in a list of the smartest athletes in sports by Sporting News.

Newman began his 2011 season by leading the most laps in the Daytona 500, but crashed twice late and finished 22nd. He got his first win of the season, winning on fuel mileage, having enough to get the checkered flag at the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire, giving him his third career win at the track. Tony Stewart finished second, giving Stewart–Haas Racing their first-ever 1–2 finish. At the same track in September, Newman grabbed his 3rd pole of the season at the Sylvania 300. The 49th pole of his career put him in a tie for 10th all-time on career poles with Bobby Isaac.

On April 1, 2012, at Martinsville Speedway, Newman survived a wild finish to get the sixteenth win of his career, driving the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse car. The finish involved a controversial caution with three laps to go involving the No. 10 of David Reutimann, which set up a green-white-checkered finish. Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson dominated the race, but on the restart, they crashed with Clint Bowyer, and Newman came through unscathed en route to the win.

Newman's 2013 campaign started with a fifth-place finish in the Daytona 500, but his momentum changed with two crashes at Phoenix the following week. He finished 38th at Las Vegas, but recovered with a 7th-place finish at Bristol. Newman collected two more Top 10 finishes in the next three races, but during that span, he also had a controversial 31st-place finish in Martinsville. After a puncture, Newman appeared to stop deliberately and was penalized three laps. Two mediocre races at Kansas and Richmond followed before the series went to Talladega. There, Newman was initially running well but finished 32nd when he and his teammate Danica Patrick were caught up in a spectacular late crash that saw Kurt Busch flip over and land on top of Newman. Newman, however, recovered well to collect two consecutive Top 10 finishes at both Darlington and Charlotte, displaying a large performance difference between the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

At Dover, Newman was running well until a pit road accident. There, he nearly tapped Jimmie Johnson after locking up his wheels when coming into pit road. He was penalized for a speeding violation resulting from the locked wheels and was one lap down after the penalty. Not long after the penalty, Newman was involved in an accident with David Gilliland, ending his race.

The following week at Pocono Raceway, Newman led nineteen laps and finished fifth after running most of the race on an off-sequence pit stop strategy.

Newman strung together three unimpressive races at Michigan, Kentucky, and Sonoma before finishing tenth at Daytona after a crash at the finish line. This made him, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. the only three drivers to sweep the top-ten at Daytona in 2013 (with only Johnson sweeping the top-five by winning both).