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| Ryan Newman runner-up at Talladega last fall. |
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Race Format: 500 miles, 188 laps, Stage Lengths: 60-60-68
Geico 500 – Sunday, June 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
NASCAR Returns to Action
· NASCAR’s return to racing continues at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend, with the first superspeedway race since the Daytona 500. The 500-mile event from the 2.66-mile track was originally set for April 26.
· Despite the horrific last-lap crash in the Daytona 500 in which RFR was potentially in line for a 1-2 finish, RFR has fared particularly well in superspeedway races as of late. Newman finished a close second last fall at Talladega, while teammate Chris Buescher finished third in February in Daytona.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed.
Homestead Recap, Talladega Preview
· Newman was unable to overcome a mountain of obstacles – including multiple on-track incidents and a late speeding penalty – to finish 30th at Homestead.
· In the original schedule for Talladega, there was one practice session for teams on Saturday. That has since been removed, meaning the Cup Series’ first on-track action will be when the green drops for the 500-mile race.
· The starting lineup will once again be determined by a random draw based on teams’ order in owners points. Newman – 20th in points – will draw for a spot in the 13-24 group. The draw takes place at 6 p.m. ET Thursday on NASCAR RaceHub on FS1.
Newman Historically at Talladega Superspeedway
· Newman makes his 37th Cup start at Talladega on Sunday. In 36 prior starts, he has an average finish of 18.7 with 15 top-10s and seven top-fives.
· Newman is coming off a second-place run in the sixth-closest finish in NASCAR history — .007 seconds – where last fall he secured his second runner-up result in the last three years.
· In the past five races alone at Talladega, Newman has just one finish outside the top-10. He also finished seventh in the 2019 spring event, a year after crossing the line ninth in the 2018 spring race.
· Newman has one Xfinity Series start at Talladega, which came back in 2009, where he qualified on the pole and finished second.
Scott Graves at Talladega Superspeedway
· In just seven Cup starts atop the pit box, Scott Graves has an impressive 9.9 average finish with only one result outside the top 15 dating back to 2013. Outside of the pair of top-10s in 2019 with Newman, Graves also has a third-place run with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (2013), and a top-10 with Daniel Suarez in the spring of 2018.
· Graves also called three Xfinity Series races at Talladega, all of which were top-10s. He led Buescher to a runner-up result in 2014 and followed that with a sixth-place finish a year later, before finishing seventh with Suarez in 2016.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Talladega:
“Sunday is a big day for both me personally, as well as our race team. I don’t think there’s any doubt we’ve shown what we can do at a superspeedway track. We were right there last fall and just missed it, and obviously felt good going into the last lap in Daytona in February. As always, being one of the ones left at the end will be key, and we hope to be one of those come Sunday in the Castrol Ford.”
On the Car
Castrol returns to Newman’s No. 6 machine this weekend at Talladega. The high-performance lubricant brand signed as the team’s official oil partner in January and will serve as the primary for select races in 2020.
About Castrol
Castrol, a global leader in lubricant technology, serves customers and consumers in over 140 countries in the automotive, marine, industrial and energy production sectors. Our branded products are recognized globally for innovation and high performance through our commitment to premium quality products, highly responsive services and cutting-edge technology. To find out more about Castrol products and programs, please visit www.castrol.com/us.
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