Ryan Newman Plays Spoiler and Wins NASCAR Whelen Modified Race

by Mary Jo Buchanan

Ryan Newman exercised one of the perks of being an elite NASCAR Cup driver, returning to his roots to race in the Whelen Modified Series at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Ryan not only raced, but fought an epic battle with Modified regulars Ted Christopher and Bobby Santos to capture the checkered flag. Newman drove the No. 7 Aggressive Hydraulics/Menards car in the New England 100. The car is owned by Kevin “Bono” Manion, crew chief in the NASCAR Cup Series for Jamie McMurray. “It was a good one,” Newman said of his race win. “Any chance you can race Bobby Santos and Teddy Christopher and obviously all of the rest of the guys too. But those two guys were there at the end.” View race photos

“To have a race and slide job it back and forth like we did at the end, that’s what fans love to see,” Newman said. “I’m proud to put a show on for them there at the end and I thank Teddy for racing me clean there at the end.” “I’m glad to get a victory and proud to represent No. 7,” Newman said. “I know what that represents here in the northeast.”

Newman was making his fifth career start in the Whelen Modified Series. But his previous best finish had been eighth, which he scored at the Magic Mile last September. “We’ve been close,” Newman said. “We’ve had fast race cars and been caught up in wrecks and I spun the car out myself. Either way, we got it done today.” Newman said that the high line is really where you wanted to be on the race track, as that was where the grip was. “It’s totally different in the Modified than it is in the Cup or Nationwide car because of the tires I guess,” Newman said. “When you committed yourself to the bottom to pass somebody,
you didn’t get it done. That was the same for everybody.”

On the epic battle, swapping the lead back and forth with Christopher, Newman had nothing but kind things to say about the way Christopher raced him. “He’ll run it in hard and he’s not afraid to use the nerf bars,” Newman said. “When he nerfed me up out of the way eight laps in, I didn’t appreciate it a whole lot. But he didn’t do it at the end.” “I respect him,” Newman said. “That’s what’s cool about Teddy.” Christopher thought Newman was equally as cool. Christopher, driving the No. 36 Al-Lee Installations car, scored the runner up spot to Newman.

“It was definitely interesting,” Christopher said. “We fell back there and then started digging.” “I ran him down,” Christopher said of Newman. “We had some good laps running side by side and swapping the lead.” “I have a lot of respect for him,” Christopher continued. “He’s a fun, fun guy to race with.”

Newman also had good things to say about racing with Bobby Santos, who came in fourth in the Modified race.
“Bobby Santos is a heck of a race car driver,” Newman said. “He’s real smooth, he’s real aggressive, he’s pretty mild mannered.” “He’s a pavement specialist like when I grew up,” Newman continued about Santos. “He’s built quite a resume for himself and it’s fun racing with him.”

Ryan Preace, driver of the No. 3 Cape Cod Copper/Mizzy Construction Chevrolet, came in third, tying his previous best finish at the track. This was Preace’s third top-5 finish in his 2010 starts. “I wish we had ten more laps so me and Bobby Santos could have got together to catch up to Teddy and Ryan,” Preace said. “It’s a good day for us and hopefully it will be a start of a string of top-fives and wins coming along this season.”

In addition to Newman, Christopher, Preace and Santos, Ron Silk rounded out the top five finishers at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Newman will next race in the Whelen Modified Series in Bristol and then return to New Hampshire in September.