Revenge of the Fallen not enough for Newman in NASCAR Banking 500

October 18, 9:25 PMIndianapolis Motorsports ExaminerJeff Norris

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Poor performance in the pits kept Newman from the top ten at LMS
Photo by Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images North America

With a special "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" paint scheme on the the Stewart-Haas Racing #39 Chevy Impala, Ryan Newman was looking to get revenge on his fellow chase contenders at the NASCAR Banking 500 on Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. His eleventh place finish put him ahead of six other Chase contenders at the checkered flag. This advanced him two positions in the Sprint Cup standings from tenth to eighth, but he ultimately lost more ground to Championship leader and race winner Jimmie Johnson.

Newman ran most of the race in the top ten following poor performances from his pit crew that set him back early in the race.

“We had a good car,” said Newman. “The Transformers Chevrolet was doing pretty well, but we really struggled in the pits tonight. It’s just disappointing. I thought we should’ve finished better than that. We had a better car than that.”

Pit work might be one of the areas Stewart-Haas Racing can look to improve in the off season. Last year at this time this was still the Haas CNC team that was not only not in contention for the Chase, but they were struggling to stay in the top 35 in points. After Tony Stewart took part ownership in the off season, the team was re-organized as a Hendrick satellite team with access to Hendrick chassis, motors, and engineeing. With top of the line equipment and drivers now, the pit crew seems to be the weakest link, at least for the #39 team.

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