Ryan Newman and the No. 6 team battled back from some early weekend adversity and ran inside the top-10 for much of the day Sunday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway, before crossing the line 11th in the Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang.
“Despite not finishing top-10, we had a pretty solid and promising day in our Wyndham Rewards Ford,” Newman said. “Our car definitely showed some speed and I was happy with it most of the day. We had to come back from the rear which is always a challenge, but the guys did a great job in the pits all day long to bring home a much needed result.”
Newman began the weekend by qualifying 18th in a wild qualifying session Friday afternoon. However, he would start from the rear after the car failed pre-race inspection twice Sunday morning. He didn’t last there long, getting inside the top-20 just 30 laps in for the long 500-mile race.
After a quick yellow was displayed just 14 laps in, Newman restarted 24th and moved up to 19th by lap 30. Once a long green-flag run commenced, Newman made his way to eighth by lap eight as some cars made their stops under green. He would pit from the third position at lap 81 just prior to the stage break, before finishing the stage 22nd.
Newman earned the lucky dog and restarted 19th, back on the lead lap, before breaking back into the top-10 by lap 150. With the balance decent on his No. 6 Ford, Newman pitted under yellow from the eighth spot and lined back up sixth for a 12-lap shootout to the end of the stage, where he finished sixth earning valuable stage points.
The 2008 Daytona 500 Champion would line up fourth for the final stage before pitting again under green at lap 222. After stops cycled he was shown in seventh and ran ninth when the caution came out at lap 254. Crew chief Scott Graves called him to pit road for two right side tires at lap 257 before he restarted 10th at lap 260.
The remainder of the race ran caution-free as Newman would pit one final time for fuel-only at lap 318, before finishing 11th.
Newman and the No. 6 team return to action next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Race coverage begins Sunday at 2 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM Channel 90.
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