In a chaotic elimination race at Martinsville Speedway Sunday afternoon, Ryan Newman showed speed early on with a 10th-place finish in the second stage before ultimately placing his Guaranteed Rate Ford 18th in the 500-lap event.
Newman fired off for the race 21st, but quickly moved his way forward. With the competition caution at lap 60, Newman – a 2012 winner at ‘The Paperclip – ran 15th, and reported he was mostly happy with the balance in the opening run.
With a pair of cautions falling just past lap 100, Newman restarted 13th with 10 laps remaining in the opening stage and drove to an 11th-place result. After rolling off 15th for stage two, Newman maintained the spot for much of the run, reporting he was a little free in the corners in the Guaranteed Rate machine.
Restarting outside the top-15 later in the stage, Newman again powered his way back up through the field, ultimately driving to a 10th-place run in stage two. He would fire off from the same spot to begin the third stage, before tires came into play late in the going. With a caution coming at 100 laps to go, Newman pitted and the team put on scuff tires, leaving one last set in the pit stall.
When the final caution was displayed at lap 441, Newman again pitted – this time for fresh tires – to restart 18th in what resulted in a green-flag run to the end of 51 laps before Newman finished 18th.
The 2020 NASCAR season comes to a close next weekend out West, where Phoenix Raceway hosts the season finale on Sunday. Race coverage begins at 3 p.m. ET on NBC. Coverage can also be heard on MRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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