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Driver Name: Ryan Newman
Car #: 31
Make: Chevy
Season Debut: 2002 (First-Full Season)
Number of Championships: 0
# of Career Starts: 548
# of Career Poles: 51
# of Career Wins: 17
# of Career Top 5s: 105
# of Career Top 10s: 225
# of Career DNFs: 62
# of Career laps led: 4,702
Career Average Finish: 16.0
Career Average Start: 12.0
# of 2016 Wins: 0
# of 2016 Top 5s: 2
# of 2016 Top 10s: 10
# of 2016 Poles: 0
# of 2016 DNFs: 3
# of 2016 laps led: 24
2016 Average Finish: 15.7
2016 Average Start: 14.1
2016 Fantasy Recap - Like teammate Paul Menard, Ryan Newman had one of his worst seasons of his career. In fact, his numbers in 2016 were the worst since he joined RCR. Since joining Cup full-time in 2002, this was probably his third-worst season when comparing the numbers. He only had 2 Top 5 finishes and 10 top 10 finishes, those are career-low over the past 7 previous seasons. We have to go back to the 2008 season (his final season with Penske in the #12 car), to find a year where he posted worse numbers. Since joining SHR in 2009, he has been Mr. Consistency. Sure, his average finish of 15.7 wasn't terrible. But not on the same level as we saw in his first two seasons with RCR. He posted at least 5 Top 5 finishes and top 15 finishes with average of 13.6 or better in 2014 and 2015. Numbers across the board were down in 2016. I think his downtrend is due with Austin Dillon's rise. It would explain why both him and Menard saw unpredictable reduce of production. I am just gonna make a wild theory that RCR put more effort into Dillon's equipment. Since he probably has the best shot to win. Or it could just be a pure accident that Dillon saw his best year ever, while his teammates had their worst years ever. Either way, Newman didn't have his best year. But it wasn't a total loss, he just missed out on the chase.
Strong Tracks - Pocono, Michigan, New Hampshire, Kansas and Phoenix
Weak Tracks - Indy and Daytona
Yahoo Grouping Tier: B-list Grouping
2017 Fantasy Outlook - I think Ryan Newman will see improvement from his 2016 numbers overall, he wasn't very Ryan Newman-like. Only an 15.7 average finish, which is the 2nd-worst average finish over the past 8 seasons. Also his 2 Top 5 finishes and 10 Top 10 finishes also ranked as career-low since start of the 2009 season. Hard seeing him, not improving them numbers. How much will he improve though? I don't really know honestly. RCR as whole in the past has been best at the intermediate tracks. So logic points to that being a strength for Newman. When looking at his performance from a whole in 2016, he was probably at his best on the intermediate tracks. So I would expect those trends to continue in 2017. 6 of 11 results ended inside the top 10 on the intermediate tracks. Also, both of his top 5 finishes came on the 1.5 mile tracks (Kansas, Charlotte). With that said, Newman said something very interesting on twitter around mid-point of last season. He said his team's (meaning the 31 team) strength was short tracks and I would believe that. Newman is a short-track racer, so logically he will be a good performer on the shorter racetracks (traditionally a mile or less in length). He should perform well on the shorter flats and larger flats in general. He will be a bit better on the shorter flats. New Hampshire, Richmond and Phoenix are historically good tracks for him. He didn't really run well at these venues in 2016, it was just an off year for him overall. As for the larger flats, he has found success at both Indy and Pocono. But my money is on Pocono as he considers it one of his best tracks and been on the record saying that. The results speak for itself, too. Short tracks (Martinsville and Bristol) and road courses (WGI and Sonoma) will be good venues for him in 2017. I don't expect any top 5 runs, but like most tracks you can expect somewhere in the low teens from him with upside in the high-single digits. Overall in 2017, I expect to see improvement from 2016 but he will have his bad days. They will be far in between as he will be mainly an consistent driver. Newman will depend on consistency to have any decent fantasy value. Two tracks I would like to use him at is Michigan and Pocono. They been one of my favorites places to use him at in recent seasons. For whatever reason, he just seem to give it a little extra effort. Expect good but not great things from Newman in 2017!
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
Driver Name: Ryan Newman
Car #: 31
Make: Chevy
Season Debut: 2002 (First-Full Season)
Number of Championships: 0
# of Career Starts: 548
# of Career Poles: 51
# of Career Wins: 17
# of Career Top 5s: 105
# of Career Top 10s: 225
# of Career DNFs: 62
# of Career laps led: 4,702
Career Average Finish: 16.0
Career Average Start: 12.0
# of 2016 Wins: 0
# of 2016 Top 5s: 2
# of 2016 Top 10s: 10
# of 2016 Poles: 0
# of 2016 DNFs: 3
# of 2016 laps led: 24
2016 Average Finish: 15.7
2016 Average Start: 14.1
2016 Fantasy Recap - Like teammate Paul Menard, Ryan Newman had one of his worst seasons of his career. In fact, his numbers in 2016 were the worst since he joined RCR. Since joining Cup full-time in 2002, this was probably his third-worst season when comparing the numbers. He only had 2 Top 5 finishes and 10 top 10 finishes, those are career-low over the past 7 previous seasons. We have to go back to the 2008 season (his final season with Penske in the #12 car), to find a year where he posted worse numbers. Since joining SHR in 2009, he has been Mr. Consistency. Sure, his average finish of 15.7 wasn't terrible. But not on the same level as we saw in his first two seasons with RCR. He posted at least 5 Top 5 finishes and top 15 finishes with average of 13.6 or better in 2014 and 2015. Numbers across the board were down in 2016. I think his downtrend is due with Austin Dillon's rise. It would explain why both him and Menard saw unpredictable reduce of production. I am just gonna make a wild theory that RCR put more effort into Dillon's equipment. Since he probably has the best shot to win. Or it could just be a pure accident that Dillon saw his best year ever, while his teammates had their worst years ever. Either way, Newman didn't have his best year. But it wasn't a total loss, he just missed out on the chase.
Strong Tracks - Pocono, Michigan, New Hampshire, Kansas and Phoenix
Weak Tracks - Indy and Daytona
Yahoo Grouping Tier: B-list Grouping
2017 Fantasy Outlook - I think Ryan Newman will see improvement from his 2016 numbers overall, he wasn't very Ryan Newman-like. Only an 15.7 average finish, which is the 2nd-worst average finish over the past 8 seasons. Also his 2 Top 5 finishes and 10 Top 10 finishes also ranked as career-low since start of the 2009 season. Hard seeing him, not improving them numbers. How much will he improve though? I don't really know honestly. RCR as whole in the past has been best at the intermediate tracks. So logic points to that being a strength for Newman. When looking at his performance from a whole in 2016, he was probably at his best on the intermediate tracks. So I would expect those trends to continue in 2017. 6 of 11 results ended inside the top 10 on the intermediate tracks. Also, both of his top 5 finishes came on the 1.5 mile tracks (Kansas, Charlotte). With that said, Newman said something very interesting on twitter around mid-point of last season. He said his team's (meaning the 31 team) strength was short tracks and I would believe that. Newman is a short-track racer, so logically he will be a good performer on the shorter racetracks (traditionally a mile or less in length). He should perform well on the shorter flats and larger flats in general. He will be a bit better on the shorter flats. New Hampshire, Richmond and Phoenix are historically good tracks for him. He didn't really run well at these venues in 2016, it was just an off year for him overall. As for the larger flats, he has found success at both Indy and Pocono. But my money is on Pocono as he considers it one of his best tracks and been on the record saying that. The results speak for itself, too. Short tracks (Martinsville and Bristol) and road courses (WGI and Sonoma) will be good venues for him in 2017. I don't expect any top 5 runs, but like most tracks you can expect somewhere in the low teens from him with upside in the high-single digits. Overall in 2017, I expect to see improvement from 2016 but he will have his bad days. They will be far in between as he will be mainly an consistent driver. Newman will depend on consistency to have any decent fantasy value. Two tracks I would like to use him at is Michigan and Pocono. They been one of my favorites places to use him at in recent seasons. For whatever reason, he just seem to give it a little extra effort. Expect good but not great things from Newman in 2017!
Twitter - @JeffNathans18
