Newman, 12 crew working their way back with another top 10

JIM UTTER / The Charlotte Observer

Sunday, May. 13, 2007

• Sunday slideshow | Action at the track
• Slideshow | A rainy Saturday at Darlington Raceway
• Darlington slideshow | Dale Earnhardt Jr., Clint Bowyer and many more

DARLINGTON, S.C. – Ryan Newman believes he’s had good cars all season.

But for the rest of us, seeing is believing.

Newman and his No. 12 Penske Racing South team are beginning to silence some doubters, particularly after he registered his third consecutive top-10 finish on Sunday, finishing fourth in the rain-delayed Dodge Avenger 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Not only did Newman run well Sunday, he also made his first serious challenge for a victory, leading 30 laps in the race and ran second to race winner Jeff Gordon until the final 10 laps.

In the season’s first 10 races, Newman led a grand total of three laps.

“We were racing for the lead for a few times there, but just not when the checkered flag fell,” Newman said.

“I was ready to get back into victory lane today. It’s Mother’s Day and I wanted to give my mom the best Mother’s Day present possible.

“I tried hard. She knows that. (In the past three races) we went from ninth to sixth to fourth, so it’s going in the right direction. It’s just a matter of time in my opinion.”

A win was even closer than the final results show.

Virtually the whole time he was running second to Gordon, Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet was spewing steam and even the driver thought his engine was about to blow.

Gordon and Newman were also among a half-dozen cars that stayed on the track on older tires on the next-to-last pit stop. Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin, two of the lead lap cars that pit for new tires, eventually made their way past way Newman, but the extra time it took likely helped Gordon’s cause as his engine held up.

“We only had four laps on our tires and it’s a race where you hope everybody else takes the track position, and they did,” Newman said.

“That last caution flag we had gave everybody a chance to bunch back up the field with their new tires. That helped them a lot.”

Newman’s last Nextel Cup win came at the September 2005 race at New Hampshire – a drought now extended to 56 races. But right now, perhaps more so than all of last season, Newman appears on the verge of ending that streak.

“Our guys are doing a great job. The Hendrick guys are obviously tough, but we’re showing what we’re capable of. We’ve just got to keep following through,” Newman said.

“It’s not the Chase (for the Nextel Cup) right now. We’re just working our way to it. We’ll just keep building on it.”

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