Ryan Newman was truly “Rocketman” behind the wheel of his No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet today at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He started on the pole, led a race-high 119 out of 301 laps and was in front of his Stewart-Haas Racing team owner and teammate Tony Stewart, No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet as the closing laps of the race clicked off.
But, it wasn’t as easy as it sounds as crew chief Tony Gibson told him they were very close on fuel and to save as much as he could and hope there was no green-white-checkered finish in their future.
Everything went his way as he took the checkered flag for his first win of the 2011 season, the 15th victory of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) career and his third victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The victory moved him to eighth in the standings and marked the first time Stewart-Haas Racing has started and finished 1-2 in a NSCS event.
Newman’s victory extended Chevrolet’s lead in the NSCS Manufacturers’ Cup standings to 17 points with eight victories to-date this season.
Stewart also started where he finished. The two-time NSCS champion led twice for a total of 48 laps. He remains 11th in the standings with 19 races in the books and seven races remaining until the start of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Five-time defending NSCS Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, rallied from a pit-road penalty and a late-race spin to finish fifth. He jumped three positions in the points to second, just seven points out of the top-spot.
Denny Hamlin – 3rd (Toyota) and Joey Logano – 4th (Toyota) complete the top-five finishers.
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 2 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 4 20 Joey Logano Toyota 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 6 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 7 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 8 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 9 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 10 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 12 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 13 99 Carl Edwards Ford 14 6 David Ragan Ford 15 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 16 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 17 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 18 16 Greg Biffle Ford 19 0 David Reutimann Toyota 20 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 22 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 23 38 J.J. Yeley Ford 24 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 25 34 David Gilliland Ford 26 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 27 7 Scott Wimmer Dodge 28 71 Andy Lally * Ford 29 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 30 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 31 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 32 32 Mike Bliss Ford 33 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 34 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 35 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 36 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 37 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 38 13 Casey Mears Toyota 39 46 Erik Darnell Chevrolet 40 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 41 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 42 60 Mike Skinner Toyota 43 55 Jeff Green Ford
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