Ryan Newman reflects on first CARS Late Model Stock start

ROUGEMONT, NC – Ryan Newman is one of the most versatile and accomplished drivers in recent history, with wins in the NASCAR Cup Series and in the SMART Modified Tour, along with his illustrious Sprint Car racing background.

On Saturday night, Newman added a new discipline to his resume when competing in Saturday’s zMAX CARS Tour race at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina.  Newman was filling in for Tristan McKee, who had prior commitments on the road racing circuit.

Newman qualified 12^th and finished 14^th in a race where track position was premium.  Despite what he considered a struggle, the former Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 winner was all smiles in the pits.  After the race, he was letting young fans take pictures with him and take pictures in the Matt Piercy Racing prepared car he piloted.

“I wish I had a helmet hose, but it didn’t fit with my big old head,” Newman told Short Track Scene.  “I just want to thank Dale Jr and the CARS Tour and High Rock and Capital Auto Group for giving me the opportunity and it was fun.  I wish we had done a little bit better, but I think we were respected out there and respectable in our finish for the first race.”

Newman has been competing regularly in the SMART Modified Tour, winning a race at Orange County earlier this month.

The SMART Modified Tour cars are a very different experience, however, from the CARS Tour.

“Matt Piercy and his guys did a great job, building and bringing a good race car,” Newman said.  “We just lost track position there to start, just me being a rookie, and struggled to get it back.  I think, if you could plug us in at the top-eight, we could have run in the top-eight.  Track position was very important out there and we knew that going in.  I just got hung up on the bottom and started the race and wasn’t aggressive enough to move guys up out of the way and lost a bunch of stuff.”

In the closing stint, Newman was able to regain some positions.

“We steered clear of some wrecks and were able to pass a bunch of guys going back to the front,” Newman continued.  “I think we finished in front of a lot of good cars that are top-five cars and competitive cars, so I’m proud of the effort.”

When asked if he would race some more in the CARS Tour, Newman left it open-ended, saying, “We’ll see, we’ll talk about it.”