Tough Night for Newman, 14th at LMS

Ryan Newman (#12) and Kasey Kahne (#9) run side-by-side during the running of the UAW-GM Quality at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC on October 16, 2004.

Ryan had a great, great car going into Lowe's Motor Speedway Saturday night -- especially after we won the pole on Thursday.

As the night wore on, Ryan was up and down, fighting a loose condition for most of the night until Lap 313 (out of 344), when Ryan's teammate Brendan Gaughan had a flat tire. Ryan and other driver Mark Martin were fighting for 2nd place, with lap-car Jimmy Spencer right in front of them. Spencer hit Gaughan, and in turn, Martin slammed into Spencer, with Spencer's car brushing Newman's front bumper, causing minor damage. But it was that damage that really slowed him down, since this track depends so much on aerodynamics.

Ryan re-started 5th after the caution, but the damage tightened his car up so bad that by the time the race was over ... he finished 14th.

Ryan is hurting BIG TIME in the points championship, dropping one spot to 9th overall and he currently sits 271 points back from leader Kurt Busch.

Next week, Martinsville.