NASCAR legend Ryan Newman will be racing in the North-South Shootout for the first time in his career this Saturday at Southern National Motorsports Park.
Newman has been a staple in Tour Type Modified racing since his retirement from NASCAR, with six career wins and a second place points finish in the SMART Modified Tour, but this will be his first attempt at the historic North-South Shootout. He wanted to race it this year after being at Caraway for the event last year where his daughter, Brooklyn Newman, competed in the 602 Modified race.
“I was there at the North-South Shootout last year for my daughter and I watched the tour race,” Newman said. “In my opinion, it was a disaster of a tour race, so I really look forward to the change [in venue] and hopefully, the flow of the show and the satisfaction of the fans there make it repeatable. I think it was time for a change and I’m excited to be a part of it and to bring my daughter down to race a 602. It’s just another opportunity to win. That’s why we do what we do is to win. I mean, not everybody does that. Some people do it just to show up and say they did but my goal is for us to win.”
Even though he hasn’t competed at Southern National, he feels confident in his ability to learn the track quickly. Plus with rain in the forecast for Friday, officials decided to cancel practice that was planned to take place on Friday and condensed everything into a one-day show.
“I’ll show up and race,” Newman stated. “I ‘ve got enough experience that I don’t think it’s an issue for me. It’s gas on the straightaway, brake in the corner, gas on the straightaway. I think it’s more complex than that, don’t get me wrong, but I know how to adapt once I see it and what the character is and just look forward to the opportunity.
“I think it’s going to be new for a lot of us, especially with the weather and not getting to practice on Friday. We’re going to have to have our ducks in a row, so to speak, after the rain to be fast and be competitive and have a car that’s good for the end of the race.”
Newman is also excited to get to spend a weekend where both he and his daughter will be competing.
“That’s been a whole lot of fun,” Newman said about competing and also helping his daughter. “It’s fun for me to get to race and it’s also fun for me to get to watch a race and then we can connect those two together with, just like the North-South Shootout, but with the SMART Tour as well and the Carolina crates piggybacking off the schedule. That was eight of 15 races this year, so more than half of them, we get to spend race day together at the same racetrack talking about the same bumps and grip and the changes to the racetrack and, you know, just how to adapt and have fun racing. So I try to teach her what I can without being too pushy but, at the same time, she’s willing to listen and we have fun doing it together.”
The 24th Annual North-South Shootout will be the first time the event has been held at Southern National Motorsports Park after starting at the now closed Concord Speedway in 2003, and also being at Caraway from 2011 to 2014, and from 2020 up to last year, as well as a one-off at Hickory in 2019.
The green flag is scheduled to fly at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, with Legends, Chargers, Any Cars, and Vintage Modifieds & Sportsman also racing alongside the 75-lap 602 Modified feature and 125-lap Tour-Type Modified main event.
Tickets are available online at snmpark.com as well as at the gate on race day. The race will also be available as a pay-per-view broadcast on Ultra Broadcasting.
