Ryan Newman is one of the longest tenured drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series. When he took the green flag for the Buschy McBusch Race 400 at Kansas Speedway on May second, he marked his 700th-career race in NASCAR’s premier series.
After making a total of eight starts in the Cup Series between 2000 and 2000, team owner Roger Penske promoted Newman to the status of full-time Cup Series driver for the 2002 season, despite Newman not having contested a full NASCAR Truck or Xfinity Series season. Instead, Newman prepared for Cup competition through a program famously referred to as the “ABC” program, as in ARCA, Busch (precursor of the current Xfinity Series) and Cup.
In 2002, Newman was part of a Cup Series rookie class that also included eventual seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson. During his first full season at NASCAR’s top level, Newman became only the second rookie to win the NASCAR All-Star Race, an accomplishment first achieved by Dale Earnhardt Jr. two years earlier. Newman also claimed his first of 18-career Cup Series wins in his first complete season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and beat Johnson for 2002 Rookie-of-the-Year honors.
The only two current full-time Cup Series drivers who were regulars in the series before Newman are Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, both of whom were rookies in 2001.
Newman left Team Penske for Stewart-Haas Racing ahead of the 2009 season. He also drove for Richard Childress Racing before arriving at Roush Fenway Racing ahead of the 2019 season. After going full-time Cup Series racing, Newman didn’t miss a race until suffering head injuries in the 2020 season-opening Daytona 500. He missed three races before returning to competition when NASCAR returned from a hiatus in racing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Newman’s most recent win came while with RCR at Phoenix Raceway in 2017. Through the first 11 races of the 2021 season, he has one top-five and two top-10 finishes and is 20th in the driver points standings.
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