Not Just A Fluke

If you haven’t been paying attention, you will be soon. Ryan Newman is
definitely the one to watch in 2002. Not only is he a contender for the 2002
Raybestos Rookie of the Year, but if he stays on the roll that he’s on now, he
may also be involved in a thrilling title contention.

Rookies aren’t supposed to be this good, are they? Obviously, Ryan Newman
doesn’t know that. Over the past two years, he’s drawn attention and criticism
for his driving style, but still manages to awe the media, but most importantly
his on track rivals, and he has yet to compete in a full season.

In 2000, Ryan Newman made his first NASCAR Winston Cup appearance at Phoenix.
After qualifying 10th, many were opening their eyes to the new kid in town. In
2001, he followed up his qualifying effort with a Bud Pole award and a career
best second place finish in just seven Winston Cup events. And after just three
races of this year’s 36-race schedule, it’s pretty clear he has no plans of
letting up.

After winning the pole at Charlotte last year, Newman was eligible to race in
this year’s Budweiser Shootout. After doing so, he made history by becoming the
first Raybestos Rookie contender to compete in the 70-lap event.

As if that wasn’t enough for one week, during the season opener Daytona 500,
Newman muscled his Alltel Ford up to seventh after starting the race 23rd.
Although Daytona was full of hard times, such as the usual "big
wreck", he was able to avoid trouble and finish solidly in the top 10. The
following race at Rockingham was a little more harsh on the 24 year old, who
fell two laps down early on, but regained the deficit and finished 14th. Newman
even surprised himself with that run. "That was pretty impressive to me to
be able to get two laps back here at Rockingham. We had to earn it, but that was
impressive." And at Las Vegas this past weekend, it seemed that Newman was
one of the top contenders to beat after running in the top five throughout the
day and leading for 50 laps. Newman ended the race in the fourth position, and
moved up to second in the points standings behind leader Sterling Marlin.

With his fourth place finish in Vegas, he’s now eligible for the "No
Bull Five" bonus at Charlotte in May. Newman says of his chances for the
bonus; "That’s important for us. We won the ARCA race and sat on the pole
for the Cup race last year and hopefully we can have a good racecar come time
for that. We’ll definitely focus a lot harder now on that race."

With just three races behind us, is it too soon to be picking Newman as a
favorite? The obvious answer is no. Aside from his ventures in Winston Cup last
year, the Purdue graduate also ran 15 Busch Series races and grabbed eight
top-10 finishes. On top of that, he captured six poles and a win at Michigan.

Newman’s impressive resume will continue to grow over time and by season’s
end he may be adding a "2002 Raybestos Rookie of the Year" title to
his long list of accomplishments. And wouldn’t it be something if this rookie
could grab a Winston Cup?