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Infineon Raceway

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NEWMAN SCORES TOP-10 FINISH AT INFINEON RACEWAY
SONOMA, Calif. (June 22, 2008) - Ryan Newman and the No. 12 Penske Racing Alltel Dodge team scored a seventh place finish at Infineon Raceway on Sunday in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. It was the team's sixth top-10 finish of the season.

"Our strategy got off a little bit, and we had to pass a whole lot more cars than swe should have had to," said Newman. "There at the end we got a little help to gain some ground with the wrecks. We're happy with the finish - it's a top 10, and that's what we need right now.

"The Alltel Dodge was pretty good today. It was a little loose in the esses and I struggled with a couple of turns, but I was able to pass and make up ground on the track, which was important. All in all, it was a good day, and we are looking forward to New Hampshire next week."

Newman is currently 16th in the NASCAR Cup point standings, 105 points shy of the 12th place cutoff for the 2008 NASCAR Chase for the Cup.

On Friday, Newman qualified the Alltel Dodge in ninth place. With the drop of the green flag on Sunday afternoon, it didn't take long for Newman to find the passing zones at the 1.99-mile road course. By lap four, Newman had already made his way into the top five.

As Newman battled to stay in fifth place, he radioed crew chief Roy McCauley that the car was too loose coming off of turns two and four. He was also too loose in the esses.

Despite the loose-handling condition, Newman was in seventh place when green flag pit stops began at lap 25. As the team prepared to pit under the green flag for his first pit stop of the day, an untimely caution flag waved at lap 30. Under the caution, the team pitted for four tires and fuel, as well as an air pressure and track bar adjustment. McCauley told Newman the track bar adjustment would help him with the loose condition in the esses.

Because several other cars had already pitted under the green flag prior to the caution and did not have to stop during the yellow, Newman restarted in 14th place.

Over the course of the race's second long green flag run, Newman was able to gain two spots on the track. While running in 12th place at lap 66, he told his crew that the car had been tight at the start of the run and had gotten loose as the laps went by - specifically in turn six and off of turn eight.

At that point, it appeared to the Alltel team that the final stop of the day would be under green flag conditions. As fuel mileage is a key to a solid finish at the 11-turn road course, the team opted to stretch their time on the track as long as possible under the green flag so they would not have to stop again. Newman had moved up to third-place during the green flag run at lap 69, when McCauley told him to pit on the next lap.

For the second time in the race, the team was bitten by an untimely caution flag which waved before Newman could pit. He pitted under the caution flag for four fresh tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Since many of the other competitors had already pitted prior to the yellow, Newman returned to the track in 22nd place at lap 74.

With just over 30 laps to go in the race, Newman had his work cut out for him and he wasted no time gaining spots on the race track. Newman made multiple passes and was turning some of the quickest laps of the day. By lap 85, Newman had moved into the top 15. Just laps later, he had moved into 13th place and was quickly gaining on the three competitors in front of him.

On lap 105, a multi-car incident directly in front of the 12 car in turn seven helped Newman gain even more ground, up to the eighth spot.

Newman was able to pick up one more position on the final lap of the race to finish in seventh place.

The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action next Sunday, June 29 for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. The race can be seen live on TNT at 12:30 p.m. EDT and heard on MRN at 1:15 p.m. EDT.

NEWMAN TO START NINTH AT INFINEON RACEWAY
SONOMA, Calif. (June 20, 2008) - Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, qualified ninth for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on Sunday. It is the first of two road course races this season.

Newman posted a lap of 91.519 miles per hour (78.279 seconds). Kasey Kahne, driver of the No. 9 Budweiser Dodge, scored the pole position with a lap of 92.153 miles per hour (77.740 seconds).

"I lost a lot of my time in turn two," Newman said after the lap. "I stayed on the track but missed the corner, and it definitely cost me some time out there. Then, I got a little loose in the esses, but overall it was a good lap.

"The Alltel Dodge was competitive today, and we're happy with the lap. We'll do some more work on it tomorrow in practice to make it better, and we'll look forward to the race on Sunday."

Newman, who is currently 17th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, has four top-10 finishes in six starts at Infineon Raceway. His best finish was a second-place effort at the 1.99-mile road course in 2006. Newman is 123 points out of 12th-place in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings, the cutoff for the Chase for the NASCAR Cup.

Coverage of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 begins on the TNT television network on Sunday, June 22 at 3:30 p.m. EDT. The race can also be heard on the PRN at 5 p.m. EDT.

PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES

• 3. Kurt Busch
• 17. Sam Hornish Jr.

ALLTEL RACING PODCASTS

Notes

• Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger, has two top-fives and four top-10s in six NASCAR Cup Series starts at Infineon Raceway.
• Newman's best effort at Infineon Raceway came in 2006. Newman qualified in fourth-place and led 11 laps during the 110-lap event before finishing in the runner-up position.
• Newman has completed 100 percent of the laps (660 of 660) in his six starts at the Sonoma, Calif., 1.99-mile road course.
• Newman traveled to NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary and his victory in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500 on Feb. 17. At the event, Newman was presented a green racing flag that was flown aboard space shuttle Atlantis' STS-122 mission to the International Space Station this past February. At the event, Newman also toured the crawler-transporter, the huge tracked vehicle that carries space shuttles to the launch pad. He also drove the van that takes the astronauts to the launch pad just prior to lifting off into outer space.
• "I had been to Kennedy Space Center before, but it was an honor to go back for this event," Newman said. "Winning the 50th Running of the Daytona 500 was a dream come true for me, my family and my entire team at Penske Racing. Being presented with a flag that was flying in space during the race is really cool."

Newman Quotes

• ROAD COURSE RACING: "I like hustling the car around the track in road course races. It's a challenge for the driver and the team and a lot of times, the race comes down to the strategy that you play during the course of the race. We had a top seven car last year at Sonoma, and our pit strategy was different so we finished 20th. All in all, we've had some good runs at Infineon in the past, and I hope to duplicate those runs this weekend. To me, there are a few keys to Infineon. Basically there are three really heavy braking zones – turn five, turn six and turn 11. The biggest part of the race track is just pure braking, having good braking. The second most important part is being good through the esses on the backstretch and carrying so much speed down through there. There's a lot of lefts and rights. One of the hardest parts of the track is cresting what I call turn three up over the hill to the right and not getting off the race track on the left hand side."
• COUNT DOWN TO THE CHASE: "We have had some tough days the past few races, but our goal is still making the Chase. We are in a good position to do that. We would like to be in a better position than we are, but I am confident. We have some good tracks coming up for us, and I think we can make up some points we have lost and get back in the thick of things."

McCauley Quotes

• ROAD COURSE RACING: "Ryan's pretty good at hustling the car around Sonoma. The key for Ryan and any driver at a road course is to keep all four tires on the asphalt. Four tires on the pavement is better than no tires on the pavement. For the crew, the most important thing is to have good braking characteristics with exceptional forward traction. Being able to turn the car through the center of the corner is an absolute necessity. But for us, the real focus is going to be making sure that Ryan has good braking on entry to the corners and good forward bite on exit. We need to make up some ground, so we're hoping to have a solid run this weekend."