An ill-handling car forced Ryan Newman to a 23rd-place finish at Martinsville Speedway Sunday afternoon in his Acorns Ford Mustang.
Newman rolled off the grid 20th but battled loose conditions early on and never recovered in the 500-lap event. By the point of the first yellow flag at lap 67, Newman ran 25th and had just went a lap down to the leaders, but was awarded the free pass. After restarting 24th, he went on to finish in that spot at the end of the 130-lap opening stage, reporting his car was too sensitive.
Following adjustments on the No. 6 Ford, the 2008 Daytona 500 Champion lined back up 23rd for the second segment and battled up to 19th by lap 153. The remainder of the stage would run caution-free, putting Newman a lap behind in 24th by lap 260.
He went on to restart the final stage in 26th one lap down, and following another long green-flag run he went two down, but took the wave around at lap 312. With 150 to go Newman ran 25th before eventually going on to record a 23rd-place result.
Newman and the No. 6 team return to action next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Race coverage begins Sunday at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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