Championship standings or points do not always show the real picture of how a driver performed during a NASCAR season. From the outside looking in, if we are to judge Ryan Newman’s NASCAR career, a runner-up finish in 2014 seems like his best attempt to win the championship. But, those who have followed the veteran driver know and understand that 2003 was arguably his best season in the premier division of NASCAR racing.
Driving the No. 2 Penske Racing South Dodge, Newman bagged a total of eight race wins in 2003. This is the best-winning tally the driver had ever produced and for comparison the 2014 season was a no-show for the Penske driver with no victory lane visits. However, apart from the winning streaks, there’s one record that stands tall in favor of Ryan Newman from this year. Surprisingly, it wasn’t from one of the eight race victories he scored that year, rather it came at the half-mile short track – Bristol Motor Speedway.
On March 21, 2003, Bristol Motor Speedway’s qualifying session was expected to be routine. But Ryan Newman didn’t just take the pole—he shattered expectations, pushing the limits of speed on one of NASCAR’s toughest tracks. Newman completed the lap in a mere 14.908 seconds. In an instant, he broke the previous record, traveling 128.709 mph at the Last Great Coliseum.
Before NASCAR’s modifications that slowed vehicles down, like the changeover to the Car of Tomorrow and subsequent aerodynamic and tire upgrades, this was the quickest qualifying lap ever recorded at Bristol. The fastest lap record at the half-mile short track was held by Jeff Gordon, which was timed at 15.470 seconds and 124.034 mph. It felt as if none of the drivers would be able to get a lap time under 15 seconds, but in 2003, Ryan Newman took everyone by surprise and did the impossible.
Newman couldn’t believe he managed to clock the best lap and shattered Gordon’s record. “I was so surprised with that lap,” said Newman. I knew we had a fast car in practice, but I didn’t think we were capable of going that fast, let alone beating Jeff. That’s the most amazed I’ve ever been after a qualifying run—to go that fast and not anticipate it.” Jeff Gordon who had five Cup wins at the racetrack also tipped his hat towards Newman and his team.
March 21, 2003: Ryan Newman broke the track record at Bristol with a monster qualifying lap. It was the first time a lap under 15 seconds was run at Bristol and stood as the record for 10 years
14.908 seconds, 128.709 mph pic.twitter.com/XLrHGU0lo5
— nascarman (@nascarman_rr) March 21, 2025
“My God that’s an unbelievable lap that Ryan put out there. Those guys have to be real proud of that,” Gordon said after Newman’s pole win.
Well, Bristol wasn’t the only track that saw Newman clock inhumane speeds. In 2003, the Penske driver bagged 11 pole wins along with eight race wins. And his ability to win the pole for fun earned him the nickname of Rocketman. Even Jimmie Johnson wasn’t immune to Newman’s sheer ability to outrun his fastest lap at Brickyard. Accepting his defeat with grace, Johnson stated, “You can’t count Ryan out, and he put up a whale of a lap.”
Despite revisions to the rules and advancements in automobile technology, the record remained unbroken for ten years. But then came Kyle Busch with a new generation race car and with a purpose to prove his mettle on the NASCAR stage in 2013.
Ryan Newman’s Bristol legacy lasted for a decade
Because of NASCAR’s regulation modifications, Newman’s record lasted for ten years. The Car of Tomorrow (CoT), which debuted in 2007, put safety first but slowed down due to increased drag and ride height. Bristol’s move to progressive banking that year changed the mechanics of cornering and made it impossible for drivers to duplicate Newman’s fast-paced arc. But Kyle Busch and the No. 18 JGR team finally cracked the code in 2013 with NASCAR’s newest invention at the time – the Gen 6 car.
Busch won his first career pole at Bristol Motor Speedway with a lap in his No. 18 Toyota at 129.535 mph, breaking Ryan Newman’s 10-year-old track record of 128.709. “This new car, I like driving it because you can drive it like the older car we had years ago where you could just abuse it a little bit and drive it a little harder,” said Busch, whose 11th career pole marked his first Coors Light Pole Award at Bristol and the first time he’d qualified higher than ninth on the .533-mile oval. “The old car was all about being smooth and precise and this one here, you can make a little bit more speed by trying a little bit harder.”
Well, if Kyle Busch liked how the race car felt, that is indeed a big deal. We have seen him pile a ton of complaints against the Next Gen car. But that doesn’t mean the previous iteration had no critique, in fact, it was Busch’s teammate Denny Hamlin who had some strong opinions on the new invention. And for his troubles, he was slapped with a $25,000 fine by NASCAR for speaking against the Gen 6 car.
Given how quickly NASCAR racing evolves in the Next Gen era, it’s just tough to see a lap record remain untouched for 10 years. We have seen Ryan Blaney and Kyle Larson clock impressive lap times in Bristol. So, it will be interesting to see who will be next in line to etch history like Ryan Newman did back in 2003.
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