After three races Ryan Newman, the driver of the No 39 Chevrolet of Stewart-Haas Racing finds himself in 32nd spot in the standings, not a position that he likes.
Even though bounced back, from a similar start last year, to make the Chase and finish ninth in the Sprint Cup standings he’s not ready to call the rest of this year a comeback.
“Honestly …we've got ourselves in a hole. I wouldn't call it a comeback, but we've got some work to do to get ourselves in position. We've got a long time before that issue becomes pressing,” Newman explained.
“So, I feel confident that we've made some big gains with our racecars this year. Vegas, we actually were off a little bit. But California we had a really fast racecar and lost an engine. Daytona we were working our way up through the pack and got crashed. I feel like we've been more competitive in general. In saying that, we've still got more work to do. We're not sitting here having won two of the last three races like Jimmie Johnson has.”
Considering the ground he has to make up and considering the unknowns -- in particular transitioning back to a spoiler from the rear wing later this spring -- Newman has a big job ahead of him as the series heads in to the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
He’s usually fast at the high-banked 1.5-mile, oval, with seven poles. He’s just one away from tying Buddy Baker for the record there. The only issue is that, in 16 starts, he has only two top ten finishes there. On the other hand he did finish ninth last fall’s race.
“I've been very successful there in qualifying, fortunately. I've had some unsuccessful moments in racing. So, you know, you just take it with what you can. It's all about hard work and effort.”
Can he turn his season around? Newman thinks that, like last year, a streak of top five finishes will overcome the deficit he faces now.
“From our standpoint, we rebounded pretty quick last year. I don't know when we were first inside the top 12 after being 33rd three races in. I know there's plenty of potential and there's a lot of season left. The law of averages works out for everybody except for Jimmie Johnson.”
“You know, I think we'll have our opportunities’” he added “But I think if you look at 2009, when we rebounded, we didn't keep that performance going. We had I think four or five top fives in a row, and then we fell off. We maintained an 8th-to-10th place position for the next 10 races or so, which was not ideal.
“We left ourselves a lot of room to get better, which is a good thing, even though we made the Chase. I think if we can improve upon last year, then talking about 33rd at this time won't be an issue, you know, for the rest of the season.”
photo:NASCAR Getty Images
Even though bounced back, from a similar start last year, to make the Chase and finish ninth in the Sprint Cup standings he’s not ready to call the rest of this year a comeback.
“Honestly …we've got ourselves in a hole. I wouldn't call it a comeback, but we've got some work to do to get ourselves in position. We've got a long time before that issue becomes pressing,” Newman explained.
“So, I feel confident that we've made some big gains with our racecars this year. Vegas, we actually were off a little bit. But California we had a really fast racecar and lost an engine. Daytona we were working our way up through the pack and got crashed. I feel like we've been more competitive in general. In saying that, we've still got more work to do. We're not sitting here having won two of the last three races like Jimmie Johnson has.”
Considering the ground he has to make up and considering the unknowns -- in particular transitioning back to a spoiler from the rear wing later this spring -- Newman has a big job ahead of him as the series heads in to the Atlanta Motor Speedway.
He’s usually fast at the high-banked 1.5-mile, oval, with seven poles. He’s just one away from tying Buddy Baker for the record there. The only issue is that, in 16 starts, he has only two top ten finishes there. On the other hand he did finish ninth last fall’s race.
“I've been very successful there in qualifying, fortunately. I've had some unsuccessful moments in racing. So, you know, you just take it with what you can. It's all about hard work and effort.”
Can he turn his season around? Newman thinks that, like last year, a streak of top five finishes will overcome the deficit he faces now.
“From our standpoint, we rebounded pretty quick last year. I don't know when we were first inside the top 12 after being 33rd three races in. I know there's plenty of potential and there's a lot of season left. The law of averages works out for everybody except for Jimmie Johnson.”
“You know, I think we'll have our opportunities’” he added “But I think if you look at 2009, when we rebounded, we didn't keep that performance going. We had I think four or five top fives in a row, and then we fell off. We maintained an 8th-to-10th place position for the next 10 races or so, which was not ideal.
“We left ourselves a lot of room to get better, which is a good thing, even though we made the Chase. I think if we can improve upon last year, then talking about 33rd at this time won't be an issue, you know, for the rest of the season.”
photo:NASCAR Getty Images