Daytona winner Newman finishes 10th at California

MIKE HARRIS
AP Auto Racing Writer
Published: February 25, 2008

FONTANA, Calif. (AP) - A week after winning the Daytona 500, Ryan Newman added a 10th-place finish in the rain-delayed Auto Club 500.
That left Newman second to Kyle Busch, Monday’s fourth-place finisher, in the season standings, trailing by six points as NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series heads for Las Vegas next Sunday.
“The car was just OK,” Newman said. “At times we were a seventh-place car and, at other times, we were a 15th-place car. If you average it out, I think we did a little bit better than we could have.”
Tenth was exactly where Newman’s Penske Racing Dodge was late Sunday night when NASCAR decided to postpone the conclusion of the race following an unsuccessful five-hour attempt to dry the two-mile Auto Club Speedway.
They had run 87 of 250 schedule laps to that point.
“Our car just held it’s own. We spent an extra day and an extra 168 laps and ended up in the same spot, so it’s all right,” Newman added.
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