Newman Finishes 13th at Pocono

It was a bleak outlook on Ryan's situation going into Pocono. Rains had poured upon the north-eastern part of Pennsylvania and practice was limited for Ryan and the rest of the Mobil 1/ALLTEL team.

Ryan only got one practice in, and that was Friday morning before qualifying. Ryan ended up qualifying 30th (one of his worst starting positions) and the practices were scrubbed for Saturday due to rain.

In the beginning of the race, Ryan was having problems with the handling of his race car. He would shuffle back in forth in the 30's, then pitting for an adjustment and tires, then pitted early again when he thought he had a flat tire. During a restart, when Ryan was a lap down, Ryan started in the lead lap line, and was black flagged and had to take a drive-thru penalty. Cripes -- two laps down.

Finally, the car came around. Ryan benefitted from the "Lucky Dog" rule, when there's a caution, the first car a lap down or more will get a lap back. Ryan got back on the lead lap and made the charge forward to finish 13th.

Overall, a stressful day. Ryan was in 10th place in the points, only 100 ahead of Jeremy Mayfield. There will be 6 more races until the cut-off, when the Top 10 in points will move to "The Chase for the Championship," starting at Richmond. Ryan looked at danger throughout most of the day, especially when Mayfield had a great car, finishing Top 10, and if Ryan would have finished 30th or worse, his lead over 11th place would be cut from 100 to 40. But there were so many cars in the Top 10 that had problems, like Kevin Harvick (engine overheated), Kurt Busch (tranmission), Bobby Labonte (crash) and Tony Stewart (crash). Ryan ended up moving to the 8th spot in the standings, but still maintains a 100-point lead over the 11th place person, Mayfield. It's a confusing point system at times, but it'll make for some exciting racing for the last ten races.

Next week, the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis. The Crown Jewel Race for the Summer. Ryan placed 11th there last year after started 2nd. Harvick won the race.