Newman takes Army to Victory Lane

By Mr John D Harlow (Natick)July 19, 2011

Thanks for your service
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Victory Lane
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Emerging from the Tire Smoke
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The Winning Car
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Leading the way
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LOUDON, NH - Ryan Newman has been the driver of the U.S. Army Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing for almost three seasons on the Sprint Cup circuit. On Sunday, Newman took the Army to Victory Lane for the first time since 2004.

“From my standpoint personally, it’s great to win,” said Newman. “We had fought so hard over two and a half years to get (sponsor) U.S. Army in victory lane.”

It was a weekend of rarities for the South Bend, IN native. Newman was joined on the front row by teammate and car owner Tony Stewart for the first time in the history of Stewart-Haas racing and finished right ahead of Stewart making the first time the front row finished in the same position since 2006 at Pocono.

As Newman celebrated the victory by doing donuts on the New Hampshire Motor Speedway front straightaway, he said, “This one is for the Soldiers " thank you guys.”

Prior to the race, Newman along with Brig. Gen. John McGuiness, the senior commander of the Natick Soldier Systems Center, Command Sgt. Maj. Todd Moore, the senior enlisted advisor of the United States Army Recruiting Command and Sgt. Christopher Rice spoke to some educators, community leaders and business operators about how high tech the Army is.

“People are what make our Army,” said McGuiness. “We went to a couple different extremes today. Ryan (Newman) goes and qualifies on the pole for the race and Sgt. Rice who talked about his experiences in Afghanistan.”

The general took time to talk about some of the equipment used in today’s Army that came through collaboration with NASCAR.

“The tear offs that you see on a race car when they make a pit stop are now used on our Apache and Blackhawk helicopters,” said McGuiness. “The graphite lubricants that are in the drive trains of these vehicles are used in our Chinook and Apache helicopters. Those are just a couple examples of how the Army and NASCAR work well together.”

Newman led 110 of the 301 laps to collect his 15th career victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was his second win driving for Stewart-Haas and first sporting the Army colors.

“We’ve been so close so many times this year, we’ve finished in the top five but just haven’t been able to win,” an emotional Newman said in Victory Lane.

Prior to the race, team owner Tony Stewart and Newman joined Col. Derik Crotts, the G-7 of U.S. Army Accessions Command as they thanked the colonel for his service by placing a decal on the A arm of both cars. July 17 was Crotts last day of service to the Nation and he finished his day in Victory Lane.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup series takes the week off before returning to action at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Brickyard 400.

Related Links:

U.S. Army Center of Influence Event at New Hampshire Motor Speedway