Ryan Newman battled an ill-handling machine and had to overcome a pair of mishaps in the 500-lap night race at Bristol Saturday night to finish 25th in the Guaranteed Rate Ford. The race featured just five total cautions as multiple cars finished off the pace in the final race in the round of 16 for the NASCAR Playoffs.
Newman drew the 25th starting spot for the 500-lap event. The first yellow flag would come out at lap 28 just prior to a scheduled competition caution, with Newman running 27th and reporting the handling was tight all the way through in his No. 6 machine. Following service on pit road, the South Bend, Indiana, native was caught speeding leaving pit road, putting him tail end of the field on the restart.
The track position made it difficult to move forward, leading to Newman finishing 30th and one lap down at the end of stage one. He rolled off 29th for the stage two restart, with just one yellow flag separating the stage at lap 233. He went on to take the wave around under that break, putting him back to one lap off the pace in the 25th position.
As the second stage came to a close, the No. 6 was spun from behind, ending the stage for Newman in 27th. With just one remaining yellow in the closing 200 laps, the deficit was too deep for Newman to overcome as he finished 25th.
Newman and the No. 6 team return to the track next weekend on the West Coast at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Race coverage Sunday night begins at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. Coverage can also be heard on PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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