The Fourth of July may fall on Thursday, but the annual celebration at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway will last throughout the weekend. For Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse Chevrolet SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), he’d like nothing more than to cap off that celebration by scoring his first “Bloomin’” win of the 2013 season at Daytona.
Until recently, there hasn’t been much to celebrate for Newman and the No. 39 team at the 2.5-mile superspeedway. In fact, it’s been a series of wrong-place, wrong-time incidents that have either put Newman out of the race for good or have caused so much damage to his racecar that he could do little more than limp to the checkered flag.
Since joining Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009 – the season after Newman celebrated the greatest moment of his racing career at the historic racetrack by winning the 50th running of the Daytona 500 – Newman’s best finish at Daytona was 20th in the July 2009 Coke Zero 400, and he’d endured three finishes of 34th or worse. But, his Daytona fortunes seemed to change for Newman beginning with this race last year.
On that night, Newman was able to overcome a pit-road incident that resulted in a heavily damaged racecar and survived a mad dash and a rash of wrecks in the closing laps to earn a hard-fought fifth-place finish. And in the 2013 season-opening Daytona 500, Newman overcame starting at the back of the field and aerodynamic issues to record another fifth-place finish at the “World Center of Racing.”
This Saturday night would be the perfect time for Newman to return to his winning ways at Daytona, as it would undoubtedly help the No. 39 team’s chances as they hope to earn for a spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
With nine races to go before the 12-driver, 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup begins Sept. 15 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Newman is 18th in points. Only the top-10 in points are locked into the Chase. Positions 11 and 12 in the Chase are wild cards, awarded to the two drivers between 11th and 20th in points with the most wins. Although he enters Daytona just 31 points behind the 10th and final guaranteed spot, earning a victory would help the No. 39 Outback Steakhouse team’s chances in securing at least one of the two wild-card berths into the Chase if it is unable to crack the top-10.
With Outback Steakhouse making the second of three 2013 appearances as primary sponsor of Newman’s No. 39 Chevrolet this weekend at Daytona, memories are evoked of his most recent win at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in April 2012. When he pulled into victory lane, he did so with the Tampa, Fla.-based steakhouse’s logo across the hood of his racecar.
Outback Steakhouse has been celebrating Newman’s top-10 finishes since last season with a free Bloomin’ Onion® for its customers on Mondays. Come Saturday night, Newman would like nothing more than to relive last year’s April success at Martinsville – by scoring his first “Bloomin’” win of the 2013 season at Daytona.
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