Team: No. 6 Roush Performance Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Race Format: 310.6 miles, 208 laps, Stage Lengths: 55-60-93
Alsco Uniforms 500 – Wednesday, May 27 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
ADVANCE NOTES
NASCAR Returns to Action
· NASCAR continues its return to racing Wednesday with the fourth Cup Series event in a 10-day span as Charlotte Motor Speedway hosts its second consecutive race – this time a condensed, 310.6-mile shootout.
· From Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 to Wednesday, cars will turn nearly 1000 miles this week alone as the series is slated for its eighth points race overall of 2020, and fourth in the return of the sport. Following Wednesday’s race, the NCS will then hit five different tracks from May 31 – June 21 in the remainder of the announced scheduled so far.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed.
Sunday Recap, Wednesday Preview
· Newman fought battery issues inside his Roman Ford in Sunday’s long Coca-Cola 600, putting him off the lead lap for the second half of the event. Despite the issues, Newman had fought his way inside the top-10 early on with one stage point after the first segment.
· Wednesday’s starting lineup will once again be set by an invert of the top-20 cars, with cars 21-40 starting in their respective finish positions from Sunday, meaning Newman will be gridded 27th.
Newman Historically at Charlotte Motor Speedway
· Sunday marks Newman’s 38th start at the oval of Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has an overall average finish of 18.4.
· Newman has turned in 15 career top-10 finishes at CMS including seven from 2013-17.
· Newman has an impressive nine poles at CMS dating back to 2001, by the far the most of any active driver at the 1.5-mile track and tied for second-most of any driver in NASCAR history. Only David Pearson has more with 14, while Newman and Jeff Gordon are tied for second. He swept the pole awards in 2003 and 2007, and also secured the top spot in 2001, 2004, 2005, 2009 and 2010.
· Newman has five Xfinity Series starts at CMS with one win (2005) and finished top-10 in each race. He also made one start in the truck series there in 2009 finishing fourth in a Kevin Harvick-owned truck.
Scott Graves at Charlotte Motor Speedway
· Graves will call his ninth NCS race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday. In eight prior starts he has an average finish of 17.1 with one top-10 (sixth – 2017).
· He also has sixth starts in the NXS atop the pit box, earning four top-10s and one top five. He finished third with Suarez in 2016, and also earned three top-10s with Chris Buescher in 2014 and 2015.
QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on the Wednesday’s race:
“We’re looking to rebound Wednesday night after an unfortunate turn of events on Sunday. The battery bug bit us throughout the Coke 600, which isn’t a race you want that to happen at. Despite that, we drove our way into the top-10 early on there and were feeling good about the balance. We’ll regroup and get after it again on Wednesday in a much shorter race.”
