Ryan Newman 2010 Fantasy NASCAR Preview
[picapp align=”left” wrap=”true” link=”term=ryan+newman&iid=7811493″ src=”c/a/6/9/NASCAR_05_February_d845.jpg?adImageId=9955212&imageId=7811493″ width=”234″ height=”156″ /]Ryan Newman
2009 Stats: Points Finish 9th, 2 Poles, 0 Wins, 5 Top Fives, 15 Top Tens, Average Position 16.5, Average Finish 14.1, Laps Led 214, Driver Rating 87.8
In 2009 Ryan Newman returned to the Chase for the first time since 2005. For many teams this is considered the measure of a successful season. Ryan Newman started his career finishing in either 6th or 7th for the first 4 full seasons of his career. Then he missed the Chase for the next three seasons.
Strengths- A few years ago Newman had 9 DNF’s in a single season. Last year he tied Tony Stewart for completing the most laps (10,468). Who would’ve ever known somehow he would turn into Mr.Consistent. You can write this down and take it to the bank, but if Newman’s performance doesn’t improve across the board and his DNF’s go up even the slightest I’ll put his chances of returning to the Chase close to zero.
Weaknesses- Newman really needs to improve on the intermediate tracks. When you compare him to the other 2009 Chase drivers he’s practically in a league of his own when it comes to cookie-cutter track performance.
Intermediate Track Grade- B-, Most of Newman’s good intermediate track performances are a tad misrepresenting and will throw off lazy fantasy racers who only look at the final finish position of a driver. He finished 2nd at Lowes but he can thank the rain for that. His good Atlanta and Chicago finishes are the results of fresh tires at the end of the race (which means he needed timely cautions to make it work out). The only intermediate tracks that I would trust Ryan Newman on are Darlington and Dover. The rest of them I would say no without question.
Flat Track Grade- B, New Hampshire is easily his best flat track. Ryan Newman has won there multiple times and it really fits his driving style. He’s also pretty good at Pocono. For whatever reason Phoenix and Indy just have never really been his best tracks.
Restrictor Plate Track Grade- B+, Ryan Newman won the 2008 Daytona 500 and on many occasions he has been competitive on these tracks. He was a serious contender for the victory at the spring Talladega race where he got a close up view of the Carl Edwards crash
Short track Grade- A-, When Ryan Newman started his career he really struggled on short tracks. Now they seem to be his best tracks. In 2009 Ryan Newman had 6 top tens in the 6 short track races. Richmond is Ryan’s traditional best short track.
Road Course Track Grade- B, It’s strange that when Newman started his career he had many top tens in a row at these tracks. In his first career start at Watkins Glen he finished 2nd to Tony Stewart without power steering. Lately there hasn’t been anything to brag about.
How to use Ryan Newman from a fantasy racing perspective in 2010?
I think it will be really hard to use Ryan Newman in 2010 depending upon what grouping he is in. The tracks that I think Newman will have the most success at in 2010 are the shorter intermediate tracks (Dover & Darlington), New Hampshire, the road courses, the short tracks, and he’ll have one or two good restrictor plate performances in 2010.
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