Ryan Newman appeared poised for a strong run in Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600, having powered his No. 6 Roman Ford inside the top 10 before a faulty battery dropped the team off the pace just over halfway through the race. With only four cautions over the final 150 laps, Newman and the team continued to battle, but were unable to gain back the valuable positions lost — settling for a 28th-place finish in the 600-mile event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
For NASCAR’s longest race of the season, Newman qualified 18th in an afternoon time-trial session, just a spot ahead of teammate Chris Buescher. With a competition caution set for lap 20, teams were able to complete early service, before rain set in by lap 50, forcing a red flag that would last just over an hour.
With a quick dry of the 1.5-mile track surface, Newman rolled off 14th for the green again at lap 51, and fought his way to 11th when the caution flew at lap 96 ending the stage. After pitting for service on his No. 6 machine, the Indiana native restarted 10th.
He worked his way to eighth just a few laps into stage two and pitted from the 10th spot when green flag stops cycled at lap 156. He would end the stage in 15th, reporting his balance was neutral aboard the Roman Ford.
Newman fired off 14th at lap 208, before a few laps later reporting a battery issue at lap 230. He went on to pit at lap 236 to replace the battery, putting his machine three laps down after stops cycled through. The yellow would wave again at lap 275, when Newman waved around to get back to two laps down in 25th.
He would maintain that spot through the remainder of the stage, ending it in 25th, but hitting pit road for fresh tires. With three additional cars on his lap, Newman worked his way to the front of his group by lap 348 in the 22nd spot. When the ensuing caution came out, he took the wave again to get back to one lap down.
Newman was eventually forced to pit road for fuel at lap 374 due to being off pit cycle, before battery issues again arose with just 10 laps remaining, again sending him down pit road for repairs. The caution flew one final time with two laps to go shaking up the lead pack as Newman crossed the line 28th.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Charlotte Motor Speedway Wednesday for a 310-mile (205-lap) event, scheduled for 8 p.m. ET (FS1, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90).
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