Getting your player ready...
The reigning Daytona 500 champion held the No. 1 spot in the standings just one week — after Daytona — and his plunge in points reached its worst this season after a 42nd-place result Sunday at Michigan. He is now 17th and has only managed to gain spots in two of the 14 races since Daytona. Newman has had more than his share of mechanical gremlins — his engine blew at Michigan — but if he doesn’t turn things around quickly, this could be the year that the winner of the season’s biggest race finds himself without a job in November.
