NASCAR: Ryan Newman’s 22-year perfect record snapped

Ryan Newman has been competing in NASCAR since 2000, but not before this weekend had he ever failed to qualify for a race.

Ryan Newman was one of seven full-time NASCAR Cup Series drivers who entered the weekend with plans to compete in the Truck Series race, the Pinty’s Dirt Race, on the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway to prepare for the Cup Series race, the Food City Dirt Race.

The 250-lap Cup Series race around the four-turn, 0.533-mile (0.858-kilometer) high-banked oval in Bristol, Tennessee was the first Cup Series race on dirt since September 1970.

Inclement weather caused what was supposed to be Saturday night’s 150-lap Truck Series race to be postponed until Monday afternoon, and it caused Sunday afternoon’s Cup Series race to be postponed until later Monday afternoon.

So the Truck Series race still ended up taking place ahead of the Cup Series race to give the full-time Cup Series drivers some preparation; that would not have been the case had they both been able to run on Sunday.

But unfortunately for Newman, he didn’t get the chance to prepare or compete in the Truck Series race.

There were 44 trucks on the entry list for this race, and four heat races were slated to determine the 40-car starting lineup. However, thanks to the rain, after one lap of the first heat race, the red flag was flown as a result of the mud flying on the windshields and making visibility next to impossible.

The heat races for both the Truck Series and the Cup Series were called off, and NASCAR resorted to the formula that was introduced late last season to set the starting lineup.

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Newman was set to drive the #39 Ford for DCC Racing, but that truck did not make the cut in the formula.

So after 766 NASCAR national series starts over 22 seasons, Newman had officially failed to qualify for a race.

The other six full-time Cup Series drivers who had planned to compete in the Truck Series race to prepare for the Cup Series event all got the opportunity to do so.

And as easy as that streak may seem to pull off, take a look at some of the names of drivers who failed to qualify for races early in their careers. Richard Petty, Dale Earnhardt, Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon are among the many all-time greats.

Following Monday’s Cup Series race, Newman has competed in 696 Cup Series races, 64 Xfinity Series races and seven Truck Series races for a total of 767 national series events. Before this weekend, he had never failed to qualify for an event, but now he is seven for eight in the Truck Series.