Newman Salvages a 14th Place Finish at MIS

The race I watched was again a frustrating one, especially when I could hear everything on the scanner.

First, Ryan had to go to the back of the field for some reason, so he went from 12th to 43rd. Then, it was just his luck that for three times, he got trash stuck on the grill of his car, raising the water temperature of his engine up near 260 degrees (well above boiling point) and he had to pit each time to remove that trash. Ryan was lucky enough to keep winning the "Lucky Dog" award during the cautions and he did make up some ground, but not the ground that ne NEEDED to make up to stay in the Chase for the Championship.

After it was all said and done, he finished 14th. In the points, he slipped from 12th to 13th, after drivers like Jeremy Mayfield, Kasey Kahne, and Mark Martin had really good runs that moved them up a little bit. Three more races remaining for Ryan for his chance to get into the Top 10 in points -- upcoming race in Bristol on Saturday night, then California and New Hampshire.