[Fred Zirzow]

Ryan Newman/Bertrand Motorsports File Entry for 2008 Copper World Midget Field

Former USAC standout and 2008 Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman has filed an entry for this year’s Copper World Classic in Phoenix on Thursday November 6th.

Newman comes to Phoenix along with the 2008 North Eastern Midget Association (NEMA) Championship team Bertrand Motorsports, owned by Tim Bertrand, and their #39 Drinan/Esslinger. The Bertrand team will be hauling out and back from Massachusetts, nearly a 5,000 mile round trip.

“We’re very excited to be able to field a car for Ryan at this year’s Copper World,” said car owner Tim Bertrand. “We were scheduled to run together earlier this year in the NEMA event at Lee USA Speedway during the Loudon (New Hampshire) race weekend, but the race was rained out. When Ryan and I talked coming out of that event, the Phoenix race seemed like a great place to team up again,” commented Bertrand.

USAC’s 1995 Midget Rookie of the Year and 1999 Silver Bullet Series Champion, Newman had 13 Midgets win before moving to NASCAR in 2001. The popular Hoosier also has two USAC Silver Crown and two USAC Sprint Car wins.

The No. 39 is of significance to Newman who is presently driving the Sprint Cup Alltel Dodge for Penske Racing. It was the number on his last Midget (also a Drinan chassis) and will be the number of his 2009 Cup ride with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Since joining Penske, Newman has 13 Sprint Cup, seven Busch (Nationwide), four ARCA wins and most recently a Craftsman Truck Series win at Atlanta on October 25th, 2008.

Have you heard anything on a pre-entry list ?????