Dale Earnhardt Jr. teases return of NASCAR’s Rocketman amid fan interest
Dale Earnhardt Jr. has teased the return of one of NASCAR's beloved drivers, Ryan Newman, a.k.a "Rocketman". Newman got the name from his fast speeds during qualifying, as well as being a driver with an engineering degree. Earnhardt has suggested that the Rocketman will be back on track in the CARS Tour Series, which is co-owned by Dale Jr., and whose season is currently ongoing till October.
The JR Motorsports owner's tease was prompted by a fan requesting him to have Newman appear on his podcast, The Dale Jr. Download, to which Dale Earnhardt Jr. suggested that he would be showing up at a CARS Tour race before that happens.
"You might see him in the Cars Tour first," he wrote on X.
Ryan Newman started racing in the Cup Series in 2000, driving for Penske Racing (now Team Penske), and scoring 13 wins with them till he left to join the Stewart-Haas Racing outfit from the 2009 season onwards. Five years later, the Rocketman would head to the Richard Childress Racing team till 2018, and then close out his Cup Series career in 2021 with Roush Fenway Racing.
In 2020, the Rocketman would be involved in an incident while leading that year's running of the Daytona 500, sending him to the hospital. While he was back in the car soon after, he wouldn't be the same. Newman left the Cup Series the following year and was replaced by Brad Keselowski, who had just become a minority owner of the team. In 2023, he returned for eight race starts, driving for Rick Ware Racing.
Over the course of his career, the Rocketman would secure 18 race wins, 117 top-fives, and 268 top-10s.
Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. were also in the Cup Series at the same time, with both of them having a similar amount of success - Dale Jr. finished his career with 26 wins, 149 top-fives, and 260 top-10s - neither of them ever took home the championship title, but came close.
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s highest finish in the standings was third, and Newman's was second, in 2003 and 2014, respectively.
"I’m happy and had fun": Dale Earnhardt Jr. describes his recent CARS Tour experience
This past weekend, Dale Earnhardt Jr. jumped into his #8 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet to take part in the Late Model Stock Cars CARS Tour event taking place at the Cordele Motor Speedway in Georgia.
The former Cup Series driver qualified in 15th place. While he was able to get up to the top five and stay there right up until the final 20 laps of the race, a driver in front of him missed a shift during the restart and made contact with the front of Earnhardt's car, causing him to finish 21st. While he was upset about the result, he was happy that he had a chance to go racing.
“I’m happy and had fun. I got to drive my car and I hate that I didn’t get a good result out of it. I was sitting there in fifth and just wanted to get it home. The car in front of me missed a shift and I was right there," he said [via JRM].
The next event in the CARS Tour schedule takes place at the Orange County Speedway on April 26.