Ryan Newman rockets to top of speed charts (179.167 mph) in Darlington Happy Hour - MotorSportsTalk

NASCAR’s rocket man, Ryan Newman, lived up to his nickname in Friday’s Happy Hour final practice for Saturday’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

In his first season for Richard Childress Racing, Newman took just nine laps of practice, but his seventh lap was the overall fastest of the entire field at 179.167 mph. No other driver exceeded 179 mph in the one hour session.

Second-fastest was a surprisingly stout effort by Richard Petty Motorsports driver Marcus Ambrose, who grazed the wall once during his five-lap spin, yet still managed to top everyone else in the field other than Newman at 178.978 mph.

Sprint Cup points leader Jeff Gordon was third-fastest at 178.906 mph. Gordon is the winningest active driver at Darlington with seven career Cup wins there.

NASCAR Hall of Famer David Pearson holds the all-time wins mark at the so-called “Track Too Tough to Tame” with 10 victories during his illustrious career.

He’s looking not only for his eighth career win there Saturday, but is also seeking to become the eighth different race winner in the Cup series in as many races this season.

Kyle Busch was fourth-fastest at 178.802 mph, followed by Monday’s race winner at Texas, Joey Logano, at 178.731 mph.

Other runs of note:

* Aric Almirola, RPM’s other driver, was sixth-fastest at 178.562.

* Dale Earnhardt Jr., still smarting from the driving mistake he made at Texas that left him with a last-place finish, was 11th-fastest at 178.200 mph.

* Three-time Darlington winner and six-time Sprint Cup champ Jimmie Johnson was 13th-fastest at 177.955 mph.

* Rookie Kyle Larson, who hit the wall in the first practice session Friday morning, bounced back for 16th-fastest in the second session at 177.742 mph.

* While most drivers put in between five and 20 runs, Kevin Harvick, who has struggled since his win earlier this season at Phoenix, did an eye-popping 63 laps around the so-called Lady In Black.

Here’s the complete run-down of the 44 drivers who took practice laps. Remember, qualifying for Saturday’s race will be tonight.

1 Ryan Newman 179.167 mph

2 Marcos Ambrose 178.978

3 Jeff Gordon 178.906

4 Kyle Busch 178.802

5 Joey Logano 178.731

6 Aric Almirola 178.562

7 Austin Dillon 178.543

8 Jamie McMurray 178.439

9 Kasey Kahne 178.400

10 Kurt Busch 178.206

11 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 178.200

12 Clint Bowyer 177.974

13 Jimmie Johnson 177.955

14 Brian Vickers 177.916

15 Paul Menard 177.762

16 Kyle Larson 177.742

17 Martin Truex Jr. 177.665

18 Justin Allgaier 177.595

19 Denny Hamlin 177.435

20 AJ Allmendinger 177.396

21 Casey Mears 177.358

22 Greg Biffle 177.185

23 Carl Edwards 177.070

24 Tony Stewart 176.759

25 Brad Keselowski 176.714

26 Matt Kenseth 176.549

27 David Ragan 176.006

28 Josh Wise 175.786

29 Kevin Harvick 175.779

30 Parker Kligerman 175.466

31 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 175.334

32 Alex Bowman 174.954

33 Dave Blaney 174.941

34 Danica Patrick 174.711

35 Michael Annett 174.699

36 David Reutimann 174.303

37 Ryan Truex 174.007

38 Cole Whitt 173.920

39 David Gilliland 173.773

40 David Stremme 173.571

41 Travis Kvapil 173.522

42 Reed Sorenson 173.430

43 Joe Nemecheck 173.399

44 Landon Cassill 170.691

Follow me @JerryBonkowski

Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

Women in SuperMotocross: Jordan Jarvis knows how tough it is

The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

Women in SuperMotocross Ashley Fiolek is building community

Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

Read more about SuperMotocross