Images Courtesy of RCR
Ryan Newman took a hit in the points standings on Sunday after being involved in two late-race incidents. Ryan started 6th and finished 31st in the ‘The Combat Wounded Coalition 400’. Ryan reported to Luke Lambert that the car was bad in the dirty air. Despite these handling issues Ryan raced outside the top-10 the majority of the day. The race was uneventful as Kyle Busch put on a dominating performance leading 149 of the 170 laps. As the race approached 30 laps to go, the restarts were crazy as the drivers knew it was their only opportunity to make a move on Kyle Busch. The phrase, ‘cautions breed cautions’, would stand true in the closing laps. It appeared as though Ryan was on his way to a top-5 finish. However, for the second week in a row, Carl Edwards made contact with Ryan causing a multi-car accident. During the restart, Edwards drifted up the track into Ryan. The contact sent Edwards hard into the wall and Ryan into the grass. Ryan’s car then slide backward up the track into Ryan Blaney. The race was red flagged during the clean up. The 31 car had heavy damage to the front and rear. The team elected to patch the nose of the car. Ryan reentered the race in the 16th position in the hopes of salvaging at least a top-15 finish. The cars would line up once more for what we thought was the final two laps. On the restart, however, Jamey McMurray took a hard left to an opening on the inside line, in front of Tony Stewart. The cars made contact sending McMurray up the track body slamming Ryan. Ryan sustained more damage to the left front. With only three wheels turning, Ryan would limp the car to pit road. The race would go into its second and final overtime as the battered Grainger Chevy sat on pit road. Ryan would finish a disappointing 31st, dropping to 13th in points.
