Visits to New Hampshire used to include fishing trips on Lake Winnipesaukee, but Ryan Newman would rather spend Friday and Saturday wheeling a modified car around the mile oval at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
It’s not for money, and it’s obviously not for points. Newman’s full-time job is driving the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in the NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series. He gets in the driver’s seat for only two or three races on the Whelen Modified Tour each year, plus the annual All-Star Shootout at NHMS in July.
“I think it’s a fun race,” Newman said. “I’d say it’s the best race of the weekend. Not that Cup or Xfinity are bad races, but in my opinion I’d say the modifieds put on a great show.”
Newman will drive the No. 77 Chevrolet owned by Mike Curb in Saturday’s Eastern Propane & Oil 100, the eighth race and midpoint of the series’ tour. The race begins at 2 p.m.
Newman, who has four career wins on the Modified Tour and went 3-for-3 in 2010, placed eighth in the all-star race on Friday, while points-leader Justin Bonsignore took the checkered flag.
These stock cars look totally different from the Cup cars fans will see circling the Magic Mile in Sunday’s Foxwoods 301. The Cup cars are designed to look similar to what you drive off the lot at the local Ford, Chevrolet or Toyota dealer.
Modifieds, on the other hand, have no resemblance to the showroom Chevys. They’re a stockier car, sitting about 11 inches shorter than the Cup cars and nearly 2 feet wider with open wheels in the front.
The modifieds have a higher power-to-weight ratio. They weigh roughly 2,600 pounds (Cup cars can’t be lighter than 3,300 pounds) and run on 650-700 horsepower (Cup is 800-850 horsepower).
What makes it fun for Newman is how these cars handle.
“It’s just a fun race car,” Newman said. “Very little downforce, a good bit of drag. You get a little bit of everything on a mile racetrack, and it’s there for the fans to see without binoculars.”
NASCAR has historically added more downforce (the air pressure moving over the car’s surface) to the Cup cars to improve traction and carry more speed in the corners. But more downforce means more drag, which reduces straightaway speeds.
In recent years, NASCAR has reduced downforce on the Cup cars to improve the perceived quality of racing. The rules package for this season called for a common splitter to further cut downforce to about 1,650 pounds, according to NASCAR.com.
Less downforce frees up the car, which is part of what makes the modified races a fan-favorite at NHMS.
“If you look at the history of racing when it was the strongest, when racing was at its best and the fans loved it the most, guys were sideways with no downforce and were smoking tires,” Newman said. “Anything that doesn’t require downforce, doesn’t require thousands of pounds of downforce, it’ll put on a good race.”
Whether it’s Cup cars or drag racing, similar logic applies, he said.
“I’ve always said the best drag races you ever watch are when the two guys smoke their tires and have a pedal-fest,” Newman said. “When two cars go side-by-side at 330 miles per hour, it’s just two cars going side-by-side at 330 miles per hour. But when you see the driver pedaling it, smoking and going sideways, that’s what excites people. I think that our sport misses some of that sometimes.”
Newman was part of an exciting moment on the track in last year’s modified all-star race when he and Ryan Preece locked into a tight battle on the final lap. After rubbing tires through Turns 1 and 2, Preece held on and pulled away to win. He wasn’t mad about the contact after that race. When he sat down for a press conference in the media center, he had a smile on his face.
Racing in modifieds may not be as relaxing as a fishing trip, but it’s unique and thrilling for Newman. That’s why he’s always back for more.
(Nick Stoico can be reached at nstoico@cmonitor.com or on Twitter
@NickStoico.)