Newman Driving For Shenette A "Full Circle Moment" on NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour

When John-Michael Shenette was 15, he wrote a letter to Team Penske requesting an autograph from an up-and-coming driver named Ryan Newman. Just 23 at the time, Newman was beginning a NASCAR career that would see him win 18 Cup Series races, including the 2008 Daytona 500 and the 2013 Brickyard 400.

Shenette had quickly become a fan of Newman as the latter ascended to NASCAR from the United States Auto Club, winning races in the ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series before beginning his full-time Cup Series career in 2002.

“When I was younger, (Ryan) was kind of the driver that I watched. I was a big Ryan Newman fan,” said Shenette, now 38. “I wrote (Penske) a letter asking for an autograph from Ryan Newman. … Ryan doesn’t know that.”

Now Shenette, who competes part-time on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with his own Eighty-Two Autosport team, will experience a full-circle moment with Newman.

Shenette and Newman will join forces to compete in Saturday’s Virginia is for Racing Lovers 200 at Martinsville Speedway, the 2024 season finale. Newman will pilot Shenette’s No. 8 Modified with sponsorship from Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, USNE Power, Anglers Choice and Eight-Two Services.

Saturday’s event will mark Newman’s fourth Modified Tour start of the season and first behind the wheel of Shenette’s car.

“The older you get, the more opportunities you have to see things come full circle, or at least make a half circle,” said the 47-year-old Newman. “I think this is one of those opportunities. Maybe not one of those opportunities, but one of those times I guess you could say where he is a fan of racing, he is a fan of mine. I obviously had an impact on him, even with him not knowing me.

“For us to have this opportunity on a random phone call from a recommendation of another driver to drive his car is kind of crazy, but that’s kind of how things work.”

Before this summer, Newman and Shenette had never met or even spoken. A mutual connection, veteran Modified Tour driver Tim Connolly, is the person who gave Newman Shenette’s phone number.

Newman had been trying to work a deal to drive Connolly’s car in a non-NASCAR event at Stafford Motor Speedway, but when the plan didn’t come together, Connolly recommended Shenette.

“I had talked to Tim Connolly about running the Mystic Missile, and we were working on things, and about three or four phone calls in, things just got disconnected, and we ended up not doing it,” Newman said. “So Tim got me John-Michael’s contact, and I reached out to him, and we ended up putting a deal together.”

When Newman called, Shenette thought someone was pranking him.

“I was talking to my wife, my mother-in-law and daughter,” Shenette said. “Ryan called, and when he said, ‘This is Ryan Newman,’ I only half believed him. I didn’t know who the hell was calling. I didn’t really give him the time of day when he called.”

After establishing that it was actually Newman and that the phone call wasn’t a prank, Shenette and Newman spent some time talking and ultimately worked out a deal for Newman to race Shenette’s Modified in a handful of events through the remainder of 2024.

“I thought about for 10 or 15 seconds,” Shenette said. “I hung up with him, looked at my wife and said, ‘Ryan Newman called, and he wants to drive our car.’

“It’s just a cool deal. It means a lot to put him in the car. I have a high expectation for it. When it comes to the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard and all that, none of that really matters to me. I just value the guy that I’m starting to know better and better. He’s a damn racer.”