Newman's NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase hopes are like dust in the wind at Kansas

October 2, 6:31 AMIndianapolis Motorsports ExaminerJeff Norris

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Newman competes at Knoxville on Saturday (Campbellphoto.com)

Ryan Newman is going into the third round of the Chase for the Sprint Cup stuck in 7th in the standings, 110 points behind the Chase leader Mark Martin.  While the gap from the Chase leader is widening, Newman only sits 45 points behind Juan Pablo Montoya in third place. Looking at the Chase from a historic perspective, Champions have come from further back in the standings at this point, but Newman will have to start adding some wins to his streak of top tens if he wants to stay in contention going forward.

This weekend's Price Chopper 400 at Kansas Speedway takes place at another track where Newman had success early in his career but has struggled the past several years. After starting out with three finishes in first or second, Newman has only cracked the top twenty once in the last five races held at Kansas Speedway. Like dust in the wind, there is no telling where Newman will go in the standings after Sunday's race.

Speaking of dust in the wind, Newman and teammate Tony Stewart are expected to race in Saturday's 6th Annual Knoxville Dirt Late Model Nationals at Knoxville Speedway in Iowa. Qualifiyng for this event was rained out Thursday night, but that shouldn't put a damper on the Stewart-Haas duos plan on getting some dirt late model racing in this weekend.  Newman's car will feature country music singer Bridgette Tatum on the hood.

Here are highlights from last year's Knoxville Dirt Late Model Nationals found on Youtube.

Click here for our extensive Chase coverage with reports on all 12 drivers in this years Chase!