NASCAR Report: Menard Staying With RCR, Ryan Newman Out?
NASCAR’s silly season is set to begin soon and one of the teams with too many drivers and not enough seats is Richard Childress Racing.
NASCAR is a business and it looks like RCR’s Ryan Newman is going to learn that the hard way at the end of the 2016 NASCAR season. Newman currently drives the No. 31 machine for RCR, a ride that he has been in since 2014. After this season Newman and teammate Paul Menard both appear to be free agents, add to the mix the fact that Ty Dillon is expected on the team in 2017, and that means one of them most likely has to go.
John Menard recently spoke about his son Paul and his status with RCR. According to John, Paul and RCR have a deal in place and Paul will be back with RCR in 2017. This of course kills the rumors of Menard leaving RCR to join Team Penske, although those rumors seemed to not hold much merit with Ryan Blaney being around.
Menard says he and Paul Menard are signed with Richard Childress Racing in NASCAR through 2017, so moving his son to Penske’s organization is not currently being discussed.
If John’s words are true and Paul is back with RCR in 2017, that means either Newman is out or RCR will add a fourth car for Ty Dillon. Of course there is always the possibility that Dillon doesn’t come to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 2017, but that seems highly unlikely as even Dillon himself has said he will be in a Cup car in 2017.
If this is the end of Newman with RCR it would have been a three-year run of ups and downs. Despite not winning in the No. 31 machine (as of this writing), Newman did make the Chase in two of his three seasons with the team, finishing second in the points in 2014.
Given Newman’s age and the fact that he hasn’t won since 2013, it’s hard to place where he might race in 2017. I would venture to say that a team (especially a smaller one) would give him a chance but it might not be in a high-profile ride. A win in one of the last nine races of the 2016 season would do wonders for Newman’s stock heading into 2017.
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