06/27/2019
Newman and the No. 6 team striving for consistency
CONCORD, N.C. (June 27, 2019) – Ryan Newman and the No. 6 team are fresh off their fifth top-10 of the season. As he gears up for the second half of the season, he has a couple of key goals in mind – making the playoffs and securing a win.
“Our finish got us into the top-16 (playoffs,)” Newman told SiriusXM’s Claire B. Lang. “Which is the goal, but far from what we want.”
Last weekend’s race at Sonoma actually went better than Newman expected. The team didn’t earn any stage points, but the driver maintained track position and had a solid day on pit road. He credits his crew chief for pushing the team for the best result.
“Scott (Graves) did an awesome job to get us into track position,” Newman said. “My pit crew was flawless on pit road, top-five on average and that made a big difference. Those road courses are sometimes outliers when it comes to having a good or a bad day. When you’re one of the cars that has the good days it just pays dividends in the points.”
The South Bend, Indiana, native returns to the Midwest this weekend for a race in the windy city. To date, Newman has one win, four top-five finishes, nine top-10’s and one pole award at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I’m looking forward to getting to Chicago, a 1.5 mile oval,” Newman explained. “We had a chance to actually do a Goodyear tire test up there and get the Oscar Mayer Ford in a better position than we’ve had it at 1.5 mile racetracks.”
The No. 6 team’s focus is to win. Newman agrees that top-five and top-10 finishes are a step in the right direction, but he also believes that they can do more.
“I’ve been around the sport long enough to know that just top-10s are good,” Newman said. “I’m not in it to be good, I want to be great. Scott Graves and all the guys on the team have the same mentality. We just have to pull together and do better. And we are.”
To hear the full segment, listen below. Be sure to tune into “Jack’s Garage” on “Dialed In” every Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Newman returns to the track this Sunday, June 30 at Chicagoland Speedway at 3 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
