Ryan Newman not why Johnson failed to win at Texas

FORT WORTH, TX - APRIL 12: Ryan Newman, driver of the #39 US ARMY Chevrolet, sits in his car during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Samsung Mobile 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 12, 2012 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

In the course of doing his job, Ryan Newman is getting some flack for ruining Jimmy Johnson's potential to win at Texas.

Johnson has already been quoted as saying he can't understand why Ryan Newman was racing him so hard when Newman was already a lap down and Johnson and Biffle were the class of the field.

I'll tell you why Jimmy...NEWMAN WAS RACING!

That is his job. That is why he was racing hard. He was trying to prevent going two laps down--a much more difficult thing to overcome if a caution came out. Don't forget, Newman was a lap down at Martinsville and came back to win the race.

Just because Newman was a lap down doesn't mean his race was over?

Give me a break. The reason Johnson didn't win the race is because he hit the wall while racing with Biffle. I do not want to hear any blame placed on Ryan Newman for Jimmy Johnson's coming in second.

It was nice to see Greg Biffle win the race. He has raced hard for so long and deserved the win.

I don't know what happened to Newman, except that he was unhappy with his car from the first lap to the last. The situation went from too loose to too tight to way too tight. It was a bad night for Newman--everybody has them. I'm sure he will rebound next week at Kansas.

Aside for this incident, there is little to say about Saturday night's racing at Texas. This was not one of the most exciting races of the year. With so few cautions, positions really didn't change much.

Generally, after a week off, I am anxious to see some really good, competitive racing. This race was far from satisfying. So, on to Kansas.

Related articles

• Johnson not thrilled with second place (foxsportssouthwest.com)