With point standings in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series so tight right now, Ryan Newman should be feeling a little nervous heading into Saturday’s night race at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway. He just doesn’t have the time to let it get to him.
After a decent 13th-place finish at the Pure Michigan 400 last Sunday, Newman fell in the rankings, slipping out of his position to hold a wild-card spot in the Chase for the 2013 Sprint Cup. Still, with three races and very few options left, Newman says he is not losing hope yet. Coming into Michigan with a wild card and leaving without one proves to Newman that anything can happen.
This especially holds true for the driver’s fate at Bristol, known as “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile.” Likened to the yearly Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, Spain, Bristol is one of the most intense tracks on the circuit and is more a race of survival than anything else. With its high-banked, concrete turns and short half-mile length, the track is notorious for causing drivers to lose their cool, which, of course, makes the Bristol race a fan-favorite. All that excitement and frenzy in the air make for an unrivaled day at the track, and for Newman, it could be just what he needs to get him back into a wild-card position, if not the top 10 in point standings.
He knows it won’t be easy, but with past successes at Bristol under his belt, including three Coors Light Pole Awards and four top-10 finishes, Newman knows it isn’t over until that last checkered flag waves at Richmond on September 7. Until then, don’t count him out.
