“The car is not bad, ” Newman relayed to his Kodak Dodge crew. “It’s not as strong in (turns) three and four as it is in (turn) one, but if I get a little track position, I think I’ll be gone. “
Newman received four tires and fuel only on the second stop, but 19 cars had pitted on the previous caution period, leaving Newman to restart in 25th. After falling back one spot on the restart, Newman began making his way through the field, picking up five spots in five laps. Then came the spin.
Tony Stewart was in the process of passing Newman when he began running into the Kodak Dodge, beating and banging on the No. 12 car until Newman backed off. However, the damage had already been done and the left-rear tire was cut on Newman’s car, causing him to spin.
Newman had to pit for new tires, but after putting on fresh rubber, the Kodak Dodge team had to bring the car back onto pit road because debris from the cut left-rear tire had wrapped around the axle and caught fire.
When Newman came back to his stall, rear-tire changer Larry Robinett got the tire off the car and tried to pull the burning rubber off of the axle, but the fire was so intense that fire crews had to extinguish the blaze. Robinett and rear-tire carrier Dustin Coonfield worked together to remove the rubber, but the fumes from the extinguisher hampered their efforts. When new tires were finally on and the damage to the left-rear quarter panel had been repaired, Newman was one lap down in 38th.
The green flag waved on lap 72, but two laps later the yellow came out again, giving Newman the Lucky Dog Award and his lap back. Gimbel brought the car back down pit road just to make sure all of the damage to the car had been repaired.
On lap 79, Newman restarted the race in 36th. By lap 95, Ne wman was up to the 18th position, gaining 18 spots in 16 laps.
Newman continued moving towards the front until the yellow flag hampered his drive on lap 112, leaving Newman in the 11th position.
“I need a good stop guys, ” Newman rallied his Kodak crew. “This will be the last one. “
After four tires, fuel and one round up on the right-side track bar, Newman remained in 11th for the restart. One more caution period occurred before Newman finally made it back into the top 10. However, by that time, there were only 20 laps left and no one planned to pit again. Newman would have to battle his way to the front.
Unfortunately, during the race’s closing laps, Kevin Harvick passed Newman to take away the Kodak Dodge’s top-10 finish. Newman ended up 11th in Friday night’s race.
Newman won’t be back in the No. 12 Kodak Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Busch Series until the USG Durock 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in July.
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