Newman Blows Engine Late at Darlington, Out of "Chase"

Ryan Newman

Being a Ryan Newman fan and having high expectations for him and the rest of the ALLTEL/Mobil 1/Sony crew after his impressive 8-win season in 2003, it is a disappointing thought to know that Newman is now mathematically out of the running for the first-ever NEXTEL Cup Championship.

This past Sunday, Newman and 42 others suited up at the "grand-daddy" of the superspeedways in Darlington, South Carolina for the last-ever running of the Southern 500. Darlington has always been a favorite of Ryan's, always running very well until something comes up to bite him.

Newman, starting 7th, was going for the lead early. He was trying to pass Kurt Busch on Lap 21, then a tire blew. Newman limped back around the track to pit road and fell a lap down (this was then I left to go pheasant hunting).

Listening to the race on the radio, Jimmie Johnson became the dominant car, leading the most laps and going on to win the race. Newman did make it back on the lead lap and was passing cars left and right, until with about 30 laps left in the race -- Newman's engine blew (while he was in the Top 5) and he had to settle with a 34th place finish.

Newman still sits in 7th in points, but he's so far back now that he won't make a difference. There's one race left -- next Sunday at Homestead-Miami -- for the last race of the 2004 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup season.

Then, withdrawl until SpeedWeeks.