Hello Newman: Could Ryan Newman be Heating up?...w/Richmond notes

Saturday at Richmond saw more of the same: A Joe Gibbs Racing car won the race and at least one Team Penske driver took a stage win.

However, something I don’t believe any of us saw coming happened. Ryan Newman finished in the top 10 for the second week in a row. While the majority of us wrote off Newman’s chances at success this year (Jon said he should’ve retired after last season) [Correction from Jon. I said he just signed his retirement notice after signing with Roush Fenway], Newman has actually not performed terribly in 2019. He currently sits 15th in the points standings and has two top-10 finishes and six finishes inside the top 15.

While these numbers certainly don’t spell “championship contender,” it is somewhat reminiscent of Newman’s 2014 season with Richard Childress Racing, where he nearly won the championship in the Monster Energy Cup Series’ inaugural elimination-style playoff system. Through the first nine races that season, Newman had four top-10s, but those were his only finishes inside the top 15.

Roush Fenway Racing currently sits in the same tier as RCR; they’re decent, but not good enough to be considered a threat to teams like JGR, Team Penske or Stewart-Haas Racing. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. isn’t doing Roush any favors either, sitting 18th in the points standings currently.

A clean day at Talladega can certainly improve Newman’s chances at returning to the Playoffs two weeks from now, and a return to Dover after that would be refreshing with three career wins at the Monster Mile. The catch for the latter though? His last win at Dover came all the way back in 2004.

For fantasy owners, this could be a chance at some much-needed consistency for their teams.

Notes from Richmond:

• I think we all knew Martin Truex Jr. would win this season with JGR. He reached the big 2-0 with Saturday’s victory and keeps the Gibbs gravy train rolling. Where are you, Erik Jones?

• The only thing standing in Kyle Busch’s way this year is Kyle Busch. Another speeding penalty set Rowdy back, but this time it, along with a less-than-fortuitous final green flag pit cycle, was too much an obstacle to make the comeback win. He still kept his top-10 streak alive though.

• Say it with me: “It’s going to be a frustrating year for Kyle Larson fans.”