NASCAR rumors: Ryan Newman expected to be announced as the new driver of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford
By Nick Tylwalk
Roush Fenway Racing will look to a veteran, not a newcomer, to try to bring some glory back to its once formidable No. 6 Ford.
When NASCAR’s official website reports on Silly Season rumors, you can be sure there’s a pretty good chance they might be correct. Such is the case with Ryan Newman and his possible new gig with Roush Fenway Racing in 2019.
NASCAR.com cited “multiple published reports” in saying that Newman is expected to be announced as the new driver of the No. 6 Ford. The team hasn’t confirmed anything yet, but it has a press conference scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Saturday prior to the Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway, so these aren’t difficult dots to connect.
Newman to Roush Fenway Racing has been a popular rumor for several weeks, with the 40-year-old driver making it very clear that even though he wouldn’t return to Richard Childress Racing, he intended to keep racing in the NASCAR Cup Series next year. He’ll get that chance with a team that was already in a state of transition this season, when it scaled Trevor Bayne back to part-time status and brought Matt Kenseth back to share the driving duties in the 6.
That’s the car that Mark Martin drove to so many memorable wins between 1998 and 2006. But as arguably the biggest symbol of Roush Fenway Racing’s slow decline, it’s only visited Victory Lane once since — when David Ragan drove it to a win in the 2011 summer race in Daytona.
It will be interesting to see if Newman can coax it back into contention considering he hasn’t exactly been racking up trophies himself in recent years, nabbing just a single Cup Series victory over nearly five seasons with RCR. The team also hasn’t been overflowing in the sponsorship department, and since AdvoCare is expected to depart (since it was most closely linked to Bayne), it could be that Newman brings the best sponsor package to the party.
Next. ARRIS might keep sponsoring Daniel Suarez plus a JGR car. dark
That could be part of what we find out on Saturday. In any case, with other members of the 40 and over crowd getting forced out before they seem quite ready to depart as of late, it’ll be a refreshing change to see Newman land somewhere that figures to be a lateral move at worst. The best case scenario is that he manages to restore some of the lost luster to the No. 6 Ford, and that would be a fun story indeed.