Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Ryan Newman says patience the key to Martinsville success

Ryan Newman won at Martinsville in 2012.
This Week’s Grainger Chevrolet SS at Martinsville Speedway … Ryan Newman will pilot car No. 490 at the half-mile oval. This is the first time this season the car will be in action for Sprint Cup Series competition.

Newman at the Paperclip …Newman will make his 517th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start when the series embarks on its first short-track race of the season. In 28 Sprint Cup Series events at Martinsville Speedway, Newman visited victory lane at this event in 2012. The Rocket Man also owns three pole awards … all happening in the fall events in 2002, ’04 and ’09. In total, he owns eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes along with 196 laps led in competition. The South Bend, Ind., native has an average start of 9.3 and average finish of 15.2.

About W.W. Grainger, Inc…. W.W. Grainger, Inc., with 2015 sales of $10 billion, is North America’s leading broad line supplier of maintenance, repair and operating products, with operations also in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

RYAN NEWMAN QUOTES:

What is the key to getting around Martinsville?

“It’s really about being patient at Martinsville. That’s one of the biggest things. Speed wise, it’s about getting off the corners in Turns 3 and 4 at the end of a run as well as getting into the corners is equally important at the start of a run. Martinsville is a very demanding track. You have to be patient and you have to make sure in case of an accident, you don’t let road rage get the best of you.”

What is the hardest thing to figure out about that place?

“From what we’ve seen in the last couple of races, it’s important not to be the bi-product of someone’s misfortune. There’s been a couple of big crashes there in the backstretch a couple of different times during different events. You just want to try and not get caught in someone else’s mess.”

What do you enjoy about short-track racing?
“I just like it because it’s fun. It’s being able to use the brake pedal and making a difference or impact on the performance of your car that’s nice. It’s something we can look forward to with this new package which shouldn’t have as much of an effect at Martinsville as other faster race tracks, but it all adds up.”

How do you feel your season has gone so far?
“I think we’ve had a fairly competitive car. Our finishes have been horrible. Phoenix was a big letdown with the tire failure. We had another failure at Atlanta with a few laps to go. That was a big deal. We had a top-five Chevrolet there. We have not finished where we’ve been running and that’s very disappointing. It’s still so early. We are down in points but I still feel like we’ve had a good start to the season and a good package to work with. For us, it’s about overcoming the early adversity and keeping the fight going which this team has always been good at doing. In this sport, you have to be able to do that. We also have to keep building faster race cars and qualifying better. Qualifying is the key. Starting up front and staying there is so important to us right now, especially at tracks that produce long, green-flag runs.”

- Richard Childress Racing

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