Are ready……drum roll please………………………we still don’t know.

There is no word on when Newman will announce what team that is. Newman is believed to be going to Stewart-HAAS Racing.

“I’ve got my search pretty narrowed down,” Newman said at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, site of Sunday’s Allstate 400. “I just don’t have everything finalized.”
“It’s more of a matter of paperwork and finalizing everything before I can announce something,” he said. “There’s no time frame right now for an announcement, honestly.”

There has also been speculation about Newman racing for Gillett Evernham Motorsports next year after Ray Evernham had said that he would be interested in talking with Newman.

Newman obviously has not heard anything about his -

“Based on the fact that I made my announcement [about leaving Penske] and the people from Dodge haven’t contacted me, no,” he said.
“I think I have got a pretty good track record with Dodge, and it’s not that it makes that big of a difference to me, but I kind of thought I would have got a little interest from Dodge to at least stay in a Dodge,” Newman said.

That kind of surprised me as well. But I don’t think Newman was really looking for a Dodge ride, instead thought would have been good if Dodge still showed a little interest.

If Newman is going to Stewart-HAAS Racing, this weekend at Indianapolis would be a great place to announce it. Both Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart are from Indiana and making a home treack announcement would be great.

Other possibilities still include JGR I believe. Even though Logano is expected to take over the #20 ride that Stewart vacated, JGR has said that they had entertained the idea of a 4th team in 2009.

Now for Rusty Wallace is still showing that he hates Newman. I don’t really understand it but it is what it is.

Recently Rusty had this to say about Newman leaving Penske -

“He didn’t leave. I’ve read many, many stories that said that,” Wallace said. “Roger Penske called Ryan Newman up to his offices and said ‘I don’t need your services next year.’ Ryan Newman didn’t come to him and say ‘I’m leaving.”‘

For starters what does it matter. Second I don’t know what context Rusty said this in. Don’t know if he was reporting it on ESPN or if it was an off the wall comment. Irregardless I don’t see the point in it. Penske announced that he let Newman go. I don’t know how much all of us necessarily believed that, but that is the way it was produced to the public.

Here is what Newman said about Rusty’s comment -

“I don’t know what Rusty’s grounds are, what he’s trying to prove by saying that. That wasn’t the case,” Newman said. “Roger and I decided mutually to not continue, and it was more my decision I would say. I said our goals didn’t aline and for that reason, and that reason alone we decided to not continue after 2008.”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Newman said. “I know Rusty and I know his personalities, plural, and everybody’s different.”

Good for you Ryan. Keeping a cool head and just letting Rusty do what he does.

Other than that, I don’t know what any of it matters. It is kind of fun to read about. Just keeps reminding me why I don’t like Rusty Wallace and really don’t like his broadcasting or reporting. He is awful.

Newman says he still has not decided where he wants to race next year. The whole Newman camp has been very quiet about the whole thing. The general consensus is that he will be racing with Tony Stewart at Stewart-HAAS Racing. If that is true, both Tony Stewart and Ryan Newman have been very quiet about the whole thing.

RCR is what I have really been holding out for but Jayski is reporting that Jaime McMurray will be taking that ride. But, being the silly season I am not believing anything until I hear it from the driver or owner.

With the Hendrick ride taken by Mark Martin and now RCR possibly taken by Jaime McMurray - that really only leaves Stewart-HAAS Racing for Newman. Of course there still is the JGR ride that Stewart vacated but most speculation has that ride going to Joey Logano. But JGR has said that they were not apposed to a 4th team either.

It looks like last year Newman only completed 20 laps of the race after getting spun and slamming into the wall in turn 4. You can read what I had posted about that race HERE.

One positive is that in the last three races Newman has started in the top 10. In fact all 7 of Newman’s Cup career starts have been in the top 10 - starting 8th or better but he has not ever been on the pole at Indianapolis.

You can visit my RACE WEEK CENTRAL to see all of Newman’s races at Indianapolis.

Newman’s best finish at Indianapolis of 3rd place came back in 2002. That is the only time he has finished in the top 5 or top 10. He has an 11th, 13th and the rest are 31st or below.

Obviously we are all pulling for him to have a great finish this weekend in his home state.

Newman last 3 Years At New Hampshire

What do all of these stats mean?
Go to the STATS Explained page to find out.

Don’t forget to visit my RACE WEEK CENTRAL. Complete practice, qualifying and race results. Race weather, TV schedule, stats and more.

Along with last weekends race at Chicago, Newman has a great starting position in Indianapolis. With seven starts his average starting position is 5.143.

Newman also has a poor average finishing position here as well. With one top five, one top ten and no wins, his average finishing position is 23.714.

RYAN NEWMAN QUOTES ON:
THE IMPORTANCE OF RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS:

“Indianapolis is the ‘race track’ as far as history goes. It is truly an honor to get to race where so many incredible drivers have raced and won. The track is especially special to me because it is in my home state. I remember going there and watching races as a kid with my family and even watching the first open NASCAR test session there as a spectator.”

RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS:

“I’ve been close to winning a pole there, and I have had some good runs there. But Indianapolis is a track that has bit us in the past. Despite that, I look forward to going back there. To me, this is the second biggest race of the season. We won the Daytona 500, which I think is the biggest race of the year, and we would love to get another big win at Indianapolis.”

LAST WEEK’S ANNOUNCEMENT THAT NEWMAN WILL LEAVE PENSKE RACING AT THE END OF 2008:

“It was an extremely tough decision. I have had a great history with Roger and Penske Racing, and I am grateful for everything that they have done for me. I am completely dedicated to the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, the team, winning races and getting into the Chase.”

ROY MCCAULEY QUOTES ON:
HISTORY OF PENSKE AND INDIANAPOLIS:

“Indianapolis is the one that we all want to win. Roger (Penske) and this organization have such an incredible history at the track with Indy cars. We all want to give him a win there in NASCAR side. The Alltel team was able to give Roger his first Daytona 500 win earlier this year, and we would love to complete that picture with a win at the Brickyard.”

KEYS AT INDIANAPOLIS:

“There are two keys to Indy-qualifying and not being too tight off the corners so that you can complete the pass. Ryan has always done well qualifying at Indianapolis, and we want to continue that. Our job will be to keep the Alltel Dodge handling well throughout the race. I think that one of our biggest concerns for the first couple of practices will be tire wear because the diamond cut surface is always an issue at Indy. We’re taking a new car this weekend. We took a new car to Chicago and got a top 10, so we are looking forward to this weekend’s race.”

CHASSIS NOTES
PRS-580: This weekend’s No. 12 Alltel Dodge is a brand new car for the Penske Racing team and Newman. Its first laps will be in Friday’s practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

PRS-552: The backup No. 12 Alltel Dodge served as the team’s primary car at Las Vegas (finished 15th) and at Darlington (finished 37th) earlier this year. It was also the backup car at Texas and Chicago.

Newman did not name a team for next year today. Newman said that he is still considering multiple options. Krissie Newman in her blog (Krissie’s Korner) this week said that Ryan has it narrowed down to 2.

I read something else this week and I can not remember where it was but that Newman had been contacted by Gillette Evernham as well. That would mean moving to another Dodge and I really don’t think that is what Newman wants.

Here are the video excerpts. I am sorry for not posting the entire interview, but it was about a half hour long and huge file to download. I did download it, but it will take me a little time to “chop” it up in a way that I can upload it. So I downloaded and then uploaded the excerpts that NASCAR CAM had available. When I get a chance to see the whole thing I will update if there is anything important that was missed. Jeni watched most of it live and said that there really wasn’t much to report. Of course she was also taking care of 2 screaming kids at the same time.

These clips are pretty small. Generally about a minute.

Newman’s First Memory Of IMS

Newman On Racing At Indy

Newman On His Possibility Of Making The Chase

Newman On Who Helps Him Make Decisions

Here is one question that was asked about Ryan Newman -

Q. What about a crew chief? There’s been a lot of talk about who you might pick, and is Ryan Newman still in the running to be your teammate?

TONY STEWART: There are a lot of drivers in the running right now. It’s not narrowed down to just one driver right now.

Obviously the crew chief situation, that is obviously a big factor in what we’re doing. You know, now that we’re back from vacation, it’s kind of the full-court press now on trying to figure out not only who we’re going to have – we need two crew chiefs right now. It’s not just one crew chief.

We have to figure out exactly if we’re happy with the crew chiefs that we currently have or if we need to look outside the organization, and at the same time, looking at the leadership of what we have on the floor and deciding if the team manager’s roles and the people that are going to really be the brain trust, I guess, and the guys that you trust to get everything turned around. Those are key positions right now that are a huge focus for us right now.

Obviously the two crew chiefs whoever they are going to be whether it’s Booty or somebody different, that’s obviously a huge priority for us right now along with getting a driver and other key people in the organization signed up right now.

HERE IS THE COMPLETE TRANSCRIPT -

NASCAR Teleconference Transcript - Tony Stewart

An Interview With:
TONY STEWART

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to this week’s NASCAR teleconference in advance of Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. This will be the fourth race in the Race to the Chase. That’s the ten-week run that precedes the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup. Our very special guest today is the race’s defending and two-time champion, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 20 Home Depot Toyota. Tony comes into Indy tenth in the series points standings.

Now you’re a two-time winner at the Brickyard, and what does it mean to go back to that track as a defending race champion?

TONY STEWART: You’re obviously proud when you go back, especially after the first year, I don’t think we got to enjoy the win as much as we did the second year. I think the first year it was more of just a huge weight lifted off our shoulders that we accomplished a lifelong dream of ours. And I think last year it was a chance that we really got to enjoy it with our team, and you know, really we’re able to enjoy the win that night versus just the emotional drain of just finally accomplishing a goal like it was the first time around.

Q. Obviously you’re going to be moving over next year as a co-owner of the team; have you identified what you think the team is going to need to raise up to a championship level, and what’s your timetable? How long do you think it will take?

TONY STEWART: Well, I haven’t fully been able to figure it out. Obviously last week we were on vacation and I did have my first team meeting a week ago yesterday, with the guys in the shop and it was just nice to get that first meeting out of the way and get to see the faces that I’m going to see a lot the rest of this year and a lot of them next year.

So I’m not sure that I fully understand exactly what is holding them back right now but I do know that they have got good resources and it’s just a matter of figuring out where the break is in the system there. There’s obviously something that’s not exactly the way, obviously that it we want it to be or they want it to be right now. It’s just going to take some more time, and I think being able to being at the shop a lot the rest of the year will help with that.

But I know that in the short amount of time since we made the announcement at Chicago, we’ve had a lot of really good people call and want to be a part of this program, and I think that’s going to be a big key to getting it turned around.

As far as how long it’s going to take, I don’t know. I honestly don’t know the answer to that. I wish I could say that everything would be perfect by the time that we go to Daytona, but I think it’s going to be a work-in-progress right now. You look at the caliber of the teams and the quality of car owners that are out there, it’s going to be a lot of work to get caught up to where they are at, but that’s something that I’m excited about is having that challenge and taking whatever time that it takes to get it where we want it to be, and to be a team like a Joe Gibbs Racing or a Hendrick or a Roush or Childress.

Just having that opportunity is something that six months ago was barely an idea and was almost too good to be true at the time.

Q. On the team topic earlier in the season, you were weighing the decision and now you’ve made it and now you’re looking ahead, how has the pressure changed on you?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s taken a lot of pressure off of me. Obviously I’ve got a great race team and still have a great race team at Gibbs right now. We’ve battled a lot of adversity in the last nine and a half years, and obviously when your guys don’t know what you’re going to do for sure and you don’t know what you’re going to do for sure; it makes it a little bit tense, but I think we all have made the most of it. Even though it’s tense, we still have found ways to laugh and joke and cut up and keep each other relaxed to a certain degree.

So it was definitely something that was a hard process for sure but now that we’re through that, I can’t say that it’s a big weight lifted off my shoulders, because it’s like you just switched weights is all you did. We took one off our shoulders and added another one on.

If I wasn’t excited about doing, this I think that would probably bother me a lot. But, I mean, I’m excited about it and I’m excited about all the pressure that we have going into next year now. It’s something that we’ve been, looking forward to.

Q. Do you have any fear in making this move?

TONY STEWART: No, not at all. Once we made the decision and once I said, okay, this is what I’m going to do, at that point, the fear was gone. The fear was just making sure that I was making the right decision in what I felt was going to be the right thing, and, you know, once I made that decision, then that part of it went away.

Q. Being that this is the 15th running of the Brickyard, could you compare that first race in ‘99 to how it is today and your most memorable Brickyard moment?

TONY STEWART: Obviously my most memorable Brickyard moment was the first win in 2005. But obviously the cars have changed a lot since I ran there in ‘99 as a rookie, and this year is going to be another landmark year of bringing the new COT car there for the first time.

Obviously any time that there’s a change, and this is a significant year obviously with bringing a totally new designed car into the series full-time, and to the bigger tracks. So this year, will even be more different than last year and all of the races in the past.

I think as times have gone on and as the series has evolved, it’s kind of been neat to see. The one thing about the Brickyard is there’s outstanding performances by teams when they are able to win. You know, it’s not a track that you back into a win. Track position helps you, but it doesn’t win you the race. It always boils down to who has got the best handling and best handling car and the best straight line speed.

So that combination of those two is very important there, and there’s always been some really good one-on-one battles late in the race that have decided the winner of this event. That to me is what makes this race so special.

You’re not going to have one of those finishes where you’ve got two guys side-by-side coming to the checkered flag; but it’s normally going to be decided before that, and it’s also at the same time, it’s always fun to watch a team when they have a good day there, and you know, the two races that we have won there, it’s been awesome to get in that last ten laps and you know, you pray that when you’ve got a lead and that when you’re pulling away, that you don’t get a caution late and that you just have to hit your marks.

But you’ve got four opportunities to make a mistake, versus two opportunities a lap so, it always makes it more nerve-wracking and those last ten laps of the race seem like they take forever when you’re leading.

Q. Now that you’re an owner and in the sponsorship game, how do you view the climate of attracting sponsors in these economic times and how important is a driver in that?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s big obviously. It was a discussion that I had with somebody the other day, and it’s not – these sponsors don’t attach themselves to teams and drivers; winning races isn’t the priority. It’s still a matter of aligning yourself with a driver and organization that’s going to give you a lot of press and a lot of publicity.

It seems like in the last couple years, two or three years, you’re seeing sponsorships attach themselves to drivers and creating that relationship to where it’s kind of like the Gecko/GEICO. That’s been an icon, and no matter what the commercials are, that gecko is in every one of those commercials and that’s kind of how they center their marketing campaigns, it seems like.

I think the drivers are a huge part of it. Obviously the reputations of the whole organization are important obviously, but the driver is the one that’s doing those commercials and all that, and that seems to me to be where it’s kind of shifting gears from sponsorships signing up with organizations to then versus now the drivers are being lined up and teamed up with sponsors, and that association seems to be what the marketing is surrounded by. I think it’s probably more critical now than it’s ever been.

Q. Just wanted to ask, I know every year about this time of year when you go to the Brickyard you get asked this question, so I figure I would go ahead and ask it. With ownership now entering this new realm in your career, has that given you any more impetus to think about the 500 and going after it?

TONY STEWART: Actually it’s just the opposite. With this new venture, I feel like I need to focus that much more energy toward the Cup program. When I was just strictly going to be a driver, it’s a lot easier to try to do things outside the box, but I feel like now I’ve got more responsibility on me, and I’m responsible for a lot more people.

Even if logistics worked out, I don’t see myself trying to go back and run the 500 anymore. It’s just something that the amount of work and dedication that it’s going to take to be a part of this organization and try to help it be successful going to take a lot of time and effort and that’s something that the month of May, it’s a long, long event. It’s not just a three-day event like it is on a Cup weekend.

So dedicating and splitting my time up between the two events is just going to dilute my effort with what we are doing on the Cup side so, I’m just going to focus on that.

Q. With the new team next year, of course you’ll be going back to Chevrolet, have you gotten any sense at all in recent days in light of General Motors’ announcements that it’s looking at cutting back, as to whether the support that you were expecting in the first place will still be there next year?

TONY STEWART: Honestly we’ve just dealt with the racing side of it. Obviously we all know like you guys know about the economic situation, but just dealing with the people on the racing side is the important part to us right now, and as long as they say we are moving forward, that’s what we are doing.

Q. This is your last Indy with Greg Zippadelli, is there any extra sentiment associated with that and how have things been with you two since the announcement became public?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s been fine. I think we got along as good this year if not better than all the years in the past.

The thing is, when you spend ten years with somebody like that, this was something that was talked about between Zippy and myself before a decision was made on what I was going to do, and I think we both understand why we made the decisions we made, and you know, what was right for me wasn’t necessarily right for him, and vice versa.

But you know I think we’ve been around each other and with each other long enough to respect why we both made the decisions that we’ve made. We’ve all had the professional side of the relationship, but we’ve also had that personal side. He’s always going to be like a bigger brother to me, even when we’re not working together next year. He’s somebody that has spent over a quarter of my life with every weekend each year for the last ten years.

When you have a relationship like that, just because the working relationship changes, doesn’t mean the personal side does. I see us being just as good of friends the rest of this year and in the future as we are and what we have been the last nine and a half years.

Q. I’d like to ask you about the season Kyle Busch is having, winning so many races in the top three series. Being a teammate of his this year, have you discovered anything new about his abilities, has he surprised you at all with what he’s doing?

TONY STEWART: Well, I don’t think any of us expected would he have the year that he’s going to have, and not because he doesn’t have talent. He’s having a dream season, to go out and win the amount of races he’s won in all three divisions, and to be as dominant as he has; you pray that you have a season like that and they don’t come around all the time.

You know, I’m happy being Kyle’s teammate. I’m happy to be as close to him as I am right now, and get a chance to see him have the season that he’s having. I’m proud of what he has done. He’s worked hard and the results have shown from that.

You know, it’s not easy running the Cup Series and then just running a partial nationwide schedule, let alone the beginning of the year running every race, plus running as many truck races as he could.

You know, that takes a lot of commitment to do that and I’m pretty proud of him for what he’s been able to do the first half of the season. Like I say, it’s something that you pray that you’re in that situation in the future; that every year you could have a year like that. You know, you look at the history books and there’s few seasons that have been like this.

Like I say, I’m proud being a teammate of his. I’m really proud and happy for the success he’s had this year, and you hope that the rest of the year finishes out the way that it started for him. I mean, obviously we want to go out and win the Chase just like he does and just like Denny does but you hope that they keep that momentum the rest of the year, too, and have a strong finish to the year after the way the first half of it’s been.

Q. You answered my question about Zippy but I was interested in also finding out, moving into an ownership role, do you think that you will have any more, I don’t know, say, power or pull with NASCAR when you go and complain about something like earlier in the year, you had the problem with the tires and you spoke out about Goodyear; do you think NASCAR takes the owners more seriously than what they hear from the drivers?

TONY STEWART: Not necessarily. Obviously if I have a complaint from the driver’s side they will look at it from a driver’s side. I don’t think being a car owner in the series is going to necessarily have more pull. I think they have always been really good about listening to what everybody has to say and evaluating and making their own decisions about it.

They don’t let the drivers make the decisions for them and that’s something that’s made NASCAR as successful as it’s been for the past 50 years is that NASCAR has always retained that control and they always have open ears and they tell you, that if there’s something you don’t like, come to us and talk to us about it.

I think they treat the driver issues as driver issues. I think they treat the car owner issues as car owner issues and sponsor issues from the sponsorship side. I don’t think having dual roles, though, is necessarily going to give you power over what’s going on. I think NASCAR itself holds the power to what’s going on here. I just think that whatever side of the coin you’re on as far as what aspect that your complaints are about or concerned about, that’s the side they will address it from.

Q. With all of the changes, is NASCAR an open-wheel series – (indiscernible).

TONY STEWART: In my opinion it’s an open-wheel, and when I say open-wheel, I don’t necessarily mean IndyCar Racing. Sprint car racing, midget racing, USAC races and Indiana, and they just finished up Indiana Sprint week and to me there’s a lot of late dirt model racing and pavement racing, but it’s still to me the thing I think most about is all of the midgets and USAC days in Indiana.

Q. You touched on the new car earlier, but given how notoriously difficult it is in the past in Indianapolis anyway, will we see anything different than before?

TONY STEWART: I don’t think so. I think you’ll see the same style of race. Obviously a track that has 90-degree corners versus 180-degree corners, you’re not in the – the duration that you spend in each corner obviously isn’t as long, so that doesn’t normally lead to having multiple grooves.

The preferred line is to be on the white line in each corner. It makes it a little harder to pass because of that, but you know, at the same time, I think what sometimes the fans and sometimes the media loses sight of is that you’re still winning a race at a track that has a rich history and just to have your name on a list of winners there is a huge, huge accomplishment in my opinion.

Like I mentioned earlier, most of the times, somebody that’s won the race there has won it in dominating fashion, and I think sometimes people lose perspective of what the accomplishment of winning that race is when you’ve had a dominating day like that or you’ve had a car that was just that much better than everybody else’s and lose sight and say, well, it was a bad race. It wasn’t a bad race; it was a team that figured out the equation better than somebody else and went out and had a performance that day that showed that.

I think you’ll see a very similar race to what we’ve seen in the past. You never know for sure until you get there obviously but I think it’s going to be very similar to what we’ve seen in years past.

Q. Has the pressure of winning at Indianapolis gone, and do you enjoy this week more than you would have the last few years?

TONY STEWART: Oh, absolutely. There’s no doubt about it. You know, every year that we went there, whether it was an IndyCar or a stock car and had not won there yet, just that pressure kept building. Once we won it in 2005, it took a lot of pressure off and then winning last year even took more pressure off.

I think in all reality, after each time that you’ve won there, I think it makes it easier when you go there. I think the emotional side of it, not the desire, I don’t want you guys to confuse the desire of winning versus the pressure of winning; I think the pressure goes away, but the desire is still there, and I think if anything, it makes it easier to focus on what you’re trying to do and what you’re trying to accomplish because you don’t sit there and wonder all weekend, what would it be like to win.

You know what that feeling is like and you know what to do to accomplish that goal, and it’s just a matter of going out and doing the work to accomplish it. But I think it takes a lot of the pressure off to where you can just focus better and worry about the task at hand of what you have to do to win that race.

Q. As far as the Chase is concerned, are you comfortable with the direction your team is headed right now, and who on the outside right now worries you the most?

TONY STEWART: I couldn’t even tell you any more that we’re tenth in points right now. I haven’t – I don’t even know who is 13th in the points or 14th or 15th.

As far as the comfort level, I am very comfortable where we’re at. I feel like we’ve really started to hit on things the last three or four races, and it still has not led us to a win yet obviously. Chicago I thought was a great example, for a large portion of the race, we were a contender to win and the car got away from us there, the handling got away from us the last couple of runs, but for the majority of the day, we were as fast as our teammate was, and the guy that’s been the dominant driver in all of NASCAR racing this year. To be running with him like that is exactly what we were going to have to do to probably win the championship this year.

I felt like consistently over the last three or four races, our performance seems to be pointed in a direction that we’re a lot more comfortable with and I feel like the consistency in our runs now are going to be a big key factor in the success of the rest of the season.

Q. A few years ago you seemed like you would be eager enough to get enough money to get out of NASCAR and race wherever you wanted. Was there one thing that changed your mind about that? This seems like a long-term commitment to NASCAR.

TONY STEWART: It is, but it doesn’t mean that I have to drive. I don’t know how long that I’ll be a driver, but the good thing is, I’ve enjoyed being an owner in USAC. I’ve enjoyed being an owner in the World of Outlaw Series, and I have no doubt that I’m going to enjoy this experience of being an owner in the NASCAR Cup Series.

We’ll see what direction that goes. I have an option now and I’ve always had an option as a driver of deciding when I retire and doing it on my own terms, and I still have that option and on the other hand, I have an ownership role that I might stay involved in NASCAR until I die as an owner.

It’s nice having those options and you know, like I said, the enjoyment I’ve had owning USAC teams and the world of out law teams, I feel like all that has got me ready to be an owner in NASCAR and hopefully will enjoy some of the same successes that we’ve had in the open-wheel series.

Q. Have you made any progress in getting a teammate?

TONY STEWART: We’re still working on it. Obviously I’d love to announce it sooner than later. I think it will be a key to being able to attract sponsors to the second car. We’re still working on that. Hopefully we’ll be able to get – I want to get that done as soon as I can. I feel like that’s a big key in this whole program being successful next year is having the right teammate so definitely want to get that done as soon as possible.

Q. There could be times next season where Tony the driver and Tony the owner are not exactly going to see eye-to-eye. You can’t fire yourself –

TONY STEWART: Sure, I can. It makes it easier to fire yourself if you own part of the team.

Q. How do you reconcile that next year where you’re going to maybe do things from an owner perspective and another from the driver’s perspective?

TONY STEWART: I think it’s what I’ve learned from Joe Gibbs and JD, and you know, you win races and championships with people; it’s not with fancy race cars and by having trick strategies. That’s not what happens in the long haul. In the long run it’s people.

You know, when I’m at the track on the weekend, I’m on the driver’s side. You hire the right people to do the right jobs and it’s their responsibility to do their job and it’s my responsibility to do my portion of it as a driver on the weekends. When we go back on Mondays and Tuesdays and I’m not sitting behind the steering wheel, I’m obviously an owner again but you have to have that confidence that you have the right leadership within the organization to focus on your job of being a race car driver on the weekends and knowing that those people are doing the right jobs and you have to trust that. If you don’t trust the people that you have working for you, you’re never going to be successful.

I think that’s a trust that you have to put in those people that you’ve put in those positions to do the right jobs and focus on what I need to do as a driver to be successful in my part of it.

Q. As an owner now, putting on your owner hat and looking at adding a driver, several guys out there, what’s the type of person you’re looking for in a teammate, certain mind-set or attitude?

TONY STEWART: I think so. I definitely think so. We definitely want somebody that you feel like is dedicated to what we’re trying to do and realizing that we’re taking an organization that’s not had the success that it wants and has the for sight to look forward and see what we’re trying to accomplish and see that we’re dedicated and going to put 110 percent into making this organization the best it can be.

You know, you want a driver that has that same attitude with what they do every weekend. You don’t want a guy that’s just content to run in the Top 15 or Top 20. You want a guy who has every intention every year and a realistic intention of saying, I expect to make the Chase. I want somebody that expects to win races and expects to be a contender to be a championship every year, and if they don’t have those intentions, that’s not a guy that I want driving my race cars.

Q. What about a crew chief? There’s been a lot of talk about who you might pick, and is Ryan Newman still in the running to be your teammate?

TONY STEWART: There are a lot of drivers in the running right now. It’s not narrowed down to just one driver right now.

Obviously the crew chief situation, that is obviously a big factor in what we’re doing. You know, now that we’re back from vacation, it’s kind of the full-court press now on trying to figure out not only who we’re going to have – we need two crew chiefs right now. It’s not just one crew chief.

We have to figure out exactly if we’re happy with the crew chiefs that we currently have or if we need to look outside the organization, and at the same time, looking at the leadership of what we have on the floor and deciding if the team manager’s roles and the people that are going to really be the brain trust, I guess, and the guys that you trust to get everything turned around. Those are key positions right now that are a huge focus for us right now.

Obviously the two crew chiefs whoever they are going to be whether it’s Booty or somebody different, that’s obviously a huge priority for us right now along with getting a driver and other key people in the organization signed up right now.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you and first of all, much appreciated, Tony Stewart, best of luck this weekend for you.

TONY STEWART: Thanks, you guys, I appreciate your time.

FastScripts by ASAP Sports …

Both conferences are through NASCAR Media’s website and I don’t think they are televised.

Ryan Newman’s conference is at 3 p.m. ET and is on NASCAR CAM. NASCAR CAM is NASCAR Media’s weekly interview with different people throughout NASCAR. This is a regularly scheduled event.

I say that because I don’t know if these 2 interviews are coincidence or not.

Tony’s interview is at 2 p.m. ET today.

I am skeptical if any kind of announcement is going to be made here because I don’t think any of the traditional media outlets are going to be carrying it – like T.V.

Tony’s interview is a teleconference and Ryan’s is a video teleconference. I don’t know if that mean Tony’s won’t have video or not.

Anyway, stay tuned and as soon as I am able to at least download the transcripts, I will and post them right here.

The transcripts and video downloads are usually available about 90 minutes after the teleconferences are complete.

So, stay tuned.

In Krissie Newman’s blog - Krissie’s Korner - she talks about how Ryan has is choices narrowed down to 2 choices.

What 2 choices are those……no one knows. I speculate it is Stewart/HAAS and RCR. But what do I know.

Head over to Krissie’s Korner and take a look.

I am sure that it has been really slow because we are waiting and anticipating to hear where Newman is headed to. Newman is officially not racing for Penske next year as almost everyone is sure to know by now.

Most speculation is the Newman will be headed to the new Stewart-HAAS racing team. Newman got “cut” from Penske with in a week of Stewart announcing that he was leaving Gibbs. So that fueled some speculation about Newman going with Stewart.

Myself and a lot of other people are holding out for Richard Childress Racing. We will see. I am sure that it is a hard call for Newman to make. Granted, we don’t even know if he has been invited anywhere or not. For all we know, he does not have a ride for next year. Has the news about where Newman is going been so little because he has not been invited anywhere?

Right - I doubt that.

So, what have you been doing with the “off cup week/weekend”? That may sound like a weird question for most people. But for me it includes a break as well. I put a lot of time into this site and things related to NASCAR and this site. So, when Newman has a week off, so do I really. It is kind of amazing.

So, what did I do with my time off this week. I created another website! Can you believe it. It is another NASCAR website. At this website I plan on putting my thoughts down about NASCAR “stuff” in general.

On top of that, I have a lot of information on that site. Right now it is centered around the NASCAR Cup Series, but in time I hope to grow it to include Nationwide, Truck, ARCA and more. We’ll see about that. I am still struggling to keep up on Cup stuff, so I don’t know how I am going to get the other stuff done.

Anyway, this site has some great features. For starters I have a Drivers page for almost all of the Cup Drivers. If there is not a driver listed on the drivers page, contact me and I will add it.

Here is how the site works. It is set up like a “magazine”. In fact it is a wordpress magazine theme. The feature section will show my last to stories or write ups. Under this section is a list of other stories from various NASCAR News sources. Clicking these story headlines will take you to a page with that story. Put that page is just an excerpt of the story. From there you can click on the title and go straight to the full story at the ORIGINAL SOURCE.

Drivers pages. Jeni and I worked on these for awhile. She is really great helping with the “stuff” I really don’t want to do…..why did she marry? Anyway, the drivers pages features ALL-TIME race stats, 2008 race stats, 2008 race results for that driver AND - any news that may have included that drivers name. Basically, if that drivers name appears in the excerpt of a story that I have on my site, then it will appear on their page.

Once you are looking at the drivers page, you can click on their wins, poles and DNF’s to see when they accord in their career or with in this year.

Some features that I hope to add soon include breaking down the driver at each track, comparing 2 or more drivers to each other and finally (maybe) a year to year breakdown of the driver. Most of these I should be able to have done pretty soon, we will see.

So, check out http://racingnews.ryannewmaninfo.info or http://racingnewsdigest.com to see it. I currently have the second link pointing to the first. They are the same site. Sometime down the road I am going to just go with the second link. This is a very new site so I am still “working” on it. I am open to suggestions and comments.

Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Thanks again to Jeni for her patience with me starting another site and then ultimately helping me with a lot of tedious and boring work that I really did not want to do on it.

Oh yeah, I am watching the Nationwide race right now. It is pretty good. I also got to see the truck race earlier tonight. last night Jeni and I watched the ARCA race. With the Cup boys having the weekend off, I am watching more racing than ever….that does not make sense.

Anyway in about 7 minutes it will be July 20th—————Jeni’s BIRTHDAY——HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY!!!!

We all know that the Chicagoland race was last weekend and that Ryan managed to salvage a 10th place finish with the mummy car after a good pit call moved him to the front of the back.

I for one REALLY liked the mummy car so I am going to share some photos here from the 2 Kodak Blogs that I visited today.

These I got from-
Jenny Cisney
Chief Blogger, kodak.com
Rochester, NY, USA
Here BLOG Is Here

Coincidently I believe Jenny is the one that helped me (and other bloggers) give away 10 tickets to the California race last fall. I had a blast doing that and you can read my posts about that HERE.

The other blog is - (and the one that I was originally pointed to)
Jo Ann Golino
Brand Licensing & Marketing Services
Rochester, NY, USA
You can Visit Her Blog Here.

Here are some pictures from her blog. She also has a YouTube player set up to show Brendan giving the “Gentleman Start Your Engines” command along with some other items involving Ryan.

Make sure you head over to their blogs and say Hi. I plan on doing that next.

Everyone was expecting Newman to leave Penske, but they were not expecting Penske to to relieve Newman. Actually it is being reported that Penske cut ties with Newman. That sounds pretty harsh really.

To be honest you can’t blame Penske for relieving him. Newman put Penske “On Notice” about the team performance. Telling Penske that if the team performance did not improve that he was going to leave.

Also, if you listen to TrackPass, it seems like Newman’s attitude as been below dirt level lately. That is completely understandable considering the equipment that he is being given.

And in my opinion, he and McCauley do not get along. That is just the feeling I get when listening to TrackPass.

Here are my thoughts on Roger Penske letting Newman go.

1. It is just that. Penske said enough is enough. Enough bad attitude enough threats (about leaving) so I am going to beat you to the punch and let you go. That may be all that it is.

2. Newman went to Roger and told him that he was definitely leaving. He and Roger worked it out so that Roger could “let him go”. In this scenario I see that Newman told Penske where he was going and that he wanted to start working on a deal. So, in my mind Newman knows where he is going and Roger “letting him go” is just a formality.

3. Newman and Roger sat down, had a huge fight and Penske said “You’re fired”!

Personally I think Newman has made up his mind. I lean more towards option 2 above. Either way it does not matter. Newman is now free to sign with any team he wants. I think that is his key and I think that his what Newman wanted. To be free to go forward and do what he needs to do and not worry about what contract he is currently under.

So, will it be RCR, Stewart HAAS or JGR. Those are the only realistic choices in my mind. I guess there are other options out there but those options don’t make any sense to me.

Now that Roger has “let Newman go” I can only assume that we are going to hear something from Newman about where he is going VERY SOON. But then again, you know what they say about assuming………..

Penske Racing and Ryan Newman have agreed to break up after the 2008 season.

More to come as soon as I hear anything!!

This is from FoxSports.

Newman, the defending Daytona 500 winner, is in the final year of his contract.

“We want to thank Ryan for his hard work and contributions to Penske Racing over the past nine years,” said team owner Roger Penske. “We wish Ryan all the best for the future and we’ll continue to focus our efforts on making the Chase with Ryan and the Alltel Dodge team this season.”

The driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge Charger is in his ninth season competing for Penske. He is ranked 16th in the Cup Series standings through 19 races this season.

“I appreciate Penske Racing and all they have done for me, but more importantly, I appreciate their friendship and what they have done for my career,” said Ryan Newman. “I would also like to thank all of the sponsors, especially Alltel, who have supported me.”

Newman’s replacement will be announced in the near future.

This is from NASCAR.com

“From the early days in the ARCA series to our team celebration in Victory Lane at this year’s Daytona 500, Alltel Wireless has enjoyed a memorable, eight-year relationship with Ryan Newman,” said Jeff Fox, chief operating officer, Alltel Wireless.

“Ryan has been an outstanding representative on and off the track, and we’re very proud of the results the partnership has delivered to our brand. We remain committed to our sponsorship of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge and look forward to having Ryan behind the wheel for the rest of the 2008 season. We wish him all the best in his next endeavor.”

That endeavor may be as a teammate of fellow Indiana native Tony Stewart, who official announced last week that he is leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at season’s end to drive for Stewart-Haas Racing in 2009. It has been widely speculated that Newman also would drive for SHR next year.

HAVE YOU SEEN IMPROVEMENTS OVER THE LAST MONTH WITH YOUR TEAM?
“There’ve been improvements. Bu it’s not like we’re running in the top-five every week, but they have made improvements for sure.”

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TONY (STEWART) OVER THE YEARS?
“Tony’s a great competitor in many ways. He’s tough, but respectful. He’s been a good friend on and off the race track. Specifically off, he’s done a lot to help me and guide me. In general he’s just a hard nose racer and have always appreciated him for that. Whether we argue on the race track or not, we’re two hard nosed racers.”

WHAT KIND OF BOSS WOULD TONY BE?
I think Tony would be a good boss. He’s proven to be successful in his open-wheel career as far as ownership with the dirt (track) teams.”

WHAT IS YOUR IMPRESSION OF TONY’S NEW OWNERSHIP DEAL?
“I think that it says a lot of Gene Haas and that he has a lot of trust in Tony Stewart, not just in the driving, but from a business standpoint. That’s a huge step. That’s a huge amount of trust to be able to work towards a common goal.”

WOULD MATT BORLAND BEING EMPLOYED AT HAAS RACING INFLUENCE YOUR DECICION?
“Matt’s always been a good friend. Obviously we had a parting of the ways from a competitive level a couple years ago. He’s a great friend. Does it impact it (my decision)? Yeah. There’s a friend over there, that’s something to consider.”

WOULD YOU BE RELUCTANT TO GO TO A TEAM THAT HASN’T HAD THE TRACK RECORD OF MUCH SUCCESS?
“Would I be reluctant? I would consider the reluctancy, but I would also say that I not exactly where I would want to be right now. I have to listen to all options.”

WOULD YOU CONSIDER A TEAM THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TO QUALIFY FOR THE DAYTONA 500?
“Well, you get the option to qualify and/or race. But yeah, there are assumptions to be made for that. We still don’t know what the situation for next year with respect to provisionals and how that’s going to work. Who knows?”

IS THERE ANY URGENCY IN MAKING YOUR DECISION?
“I’m not in a position of urgency. I’m just in a position to find out what’s right for me. That’s what I’m working toward.”

IS THERE A TIME FRAME THAT YOU CAN’T TALK ABOUT NEW NEGOITIATIONS?
“Me personally, no. My contract doesn’t state that I have to keep my mouth shut in any respect other than just being respectful and that’s what I’m going to do.”

WHAT’S THIS PROCESS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU?
“It’s been different. It’s been work. It’s been a sense of distortion. In general, it’s part of what I have to do for my career.”

WHAT’S THE WORK PART OF THIS PROCESS?
“When you have a contract that says you’re going to keep driving the year after, then you don’t have to work on that.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY PREFERENCE OF STAYING WITH PENSKE?
“Honestly, I don’t know. In general, I have a career here. I’ve had a career here at Penske Racing. If it works out to move on, then I will move on. I don’t know that answer yet.”

HOW WOULD YOU CLASSIFY YOUR NEGOTIATIONS WITH ROGER (PENSKE) SO FAR? “I talked to Roger a little bit this week. I talked to him a little bit last week. We’re still working on performance. We’re working on a lot of things. It’s just a matter of when we decide we’re going to move on or part ways if that does happen.”

HAVE YOU AGREED WITH SOMEONE ALREADY AND YOU’RE JUST NOT READY TO ANNOUNCE IT?
“No, I haven’t agreed. I told you point blank — I’ve never lied to you and I won’t lie to you. I haven’t agreed. I don’t know my answer.”

IS DRIVING FOR TONY’S TEAM AN OPTION?
“Driving for Tony’s team is an option. He’s got an open seat. Obviously you guys marked me as a lead candidate to get in there, so it is an option.”

HAVE YOU AND TONY HAD DISCUSSIONS ALONG THAT LINE?
“Have we had discussions? I’ve had a lot of discussion with a lot of people.”

HAVE ANY OF THOSE DISCUSSIONS INVOLVED YOU OWNING PART OF A TEAM?
“Actually, yeah.”

IS THAT DEAL STILL ON THE TABLE?
“I haven’t decided yet.”

WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO RYAN NEWMAN?
“The most important thing to me is performance, winning a championship and achieving the goals outside of what I’ve done — a lot of poles, wins and winning the Daytona 500. There are still a lot of things out there for me to achieve.”

WITH HAAS OR ANOTHER TEAM?
“I won’t answer that.”

HAVE YOU BEEN FRUSTRATED IN THIS SERIES?
“Coulda..woulda..shoulda. All things happen for a reason. We’ve been close. We just haven’t succeeded in ways and times that we could have or should have. That’s all in the past. Like I said, I’m working on looking forward. I don’t have a final answer.”

WHEN YOU TALK ABOUT WINNING A CHAMPIOSHIP, ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT RIGHT AWAY OR DO YOU JUST NEED TO SEE POTENTIAL TO WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I see potential to win a championship where I’m at. It’s just that potential hasn’t proven to be as high as other organizations. That’s just a statistical fact. I’m just doing what I have to do to put myself in the best position to move forward.”

INDIANAPOLIS WOULD BE A PERFECT PLACE TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT FOR A COUPLE OF INDY DRIVERS, CAN WE MAYBE EXPECT SOMETHING NEXT WEEK?
“Chicago is about an hour-and-a-half from my house too. I don’t know what’s going to happen or the timeframe for when it’s going to happen.”

ARE YOU ANGUISHING OVER THE DECISION?
“It’s not an easy decision. It’s probably one of the hardest decisions that I’ll have to make as a driver and maybe as a person, who knows. I’m sure Tony sat there and said the same thing to you. It’s not an easy decision to make. It’s not an easy answer that comes to you. It’s not a long equation of multiple variables that says, ‘What equation gets to the closest answer.’ It’s not necessarily that.”

WITH THE OFF-WEEK COMING UP, IS THIS A GOOD TIME TO MAKE A DECISION?
“Everyday is 24 hours, so it’s just a matter of making the best of your time.”

IS YOUR OFFER THE SAME AS TONY GOT AT HAAS?
“No.”

Kyle Busch was your winner tonight.

With tonights finish, Newman should now be 16th in the points standings and 185 points out of 12th.

Newman started off the night a little loose into the corners and tight in the center. As usual he was not happy with his motor either.

The competition yellow came on lap 35. Newman and crew made adjustments and Newman seemed to think that it helped a little.

Soon after they went green another caution came out. McCauley told Newman that if everyone came in that he needed to come in and get fuel. They would also do a trackbar adjustment.

Everyone except three cars in front of Newman came in. Newman stayed out and informed McCauley that “not everyone came in”. I think McCauley got a little frustrated.

On the restart Newman fell back to 12th pretty quick after restarting 4th.

The rest of Newman’s night was kind of rough. he struggled with his car mostly on the horsepower issue.

Newman kept running in about 15th for most of the night.

On the last pit stop he only took 2 tires getting him a restart in the 4th position. This turned out to be a great call and led to Newman’s top 10 finish.

A number of cautions in the last 30 to 35 laps helped Newman to maintain position.

The last caution came with 2 laps to go. Newman restarted in 9th with Martin Truex JR behind him. Truex JR got around Newman leaving Newman with a 10th place finish.

Newman’s finish tonight was impressive considering the car and engine that he had tonight.

You can replay Newman’s race through my live blog session below. I hope you enjoy it. Spelling and punctuation are not important. I just try to get the information out as soon as possibly.

Jeni did a great job helping with it as well.

Here are the unofficial results -

PLEASE - Don’t forget to visit my RACE WEEK CENTRAL. Complete practice, qualifying and race results. Race weather, TV schedule, stats and more. You can see the complete UnOfficial results here along with the official results when they come out.

HERE ARE YOUR TOP 10 FINISHERS

1–1 / 18 / Kyle Busch / Toyota / M&M’s / 195/10 / 267 /
2–5 / 48 / Jimmie Johnson / Chevrolet / Lowe’s / 175/5 / 267 /
3–13 / 29 / Kevin Harvick / Chevrolet / Shell / Pennzoil / 165/0 / 267 /
4–11 / 16 / Greg Biffle / Ford / 3M / 165/5 / 267 /
5–12 / 20 / Tony Stewart / Toyota / The Home Depot / 160/5 / 267 /
6–15 / 83 / Brian Vickers / Toyota / Red Bull / 155/5 / 267 /
7–9 / 17 / Matt Kenseth / Ford / USG Sheetrock / 151/5 / 267 /
8–14 / 6 / David Ragan / Ford / AAA Insurance / 142/0 / 267 /
9–19 / 1 / Martin Truex Jr. / Chevrolet / Bass Pro Shops / Cub Cadet / 143/5 / 267 /
10–17 / 12 / Ryan Newman / Dodge / Kodak / The Mummy / 134/0 / 267 /

I will be doing live blogging again during the race. I hope you follow along while I follow Ryan Newman (mostly) via the broadcast and through Trackpass.

I should start it around 8 p.m.

Ryan will be starting 17th due to his points standings because qualifying was rained out. He had a decent first practice (4th) and his 2nd and fourth were medioce (14th and 18th).

We will see what Ryan, Roy McCauley and the #12 Kodak - MUMMY - team can bring to Chicagoland.

Richard Childress talks about the sponsors for the 4th team.

“We announced our fourth team with Cheerios and General Mills, and hopefully, we’ll be able to break out that car here in the near future and bring a driver out,” said Childress Thursday at Chicagoland Speedway.

Childress then goes on to say that some of the drivers that they want to talk to are not even allowed to talk to other owners until August.

“Some of the drivers we’re talking to are still under contract up through even August. So we’re hoping to have something announced by August. There are still some good players out there for that position.”

Now I did not know this, but I did just learn from this article that Ryan Newman is one of the Drivers (and the ONLY one mentioned in the article) that is NOT allowed to talk to other owners until August.

Richard Childress has said that Newman is atop of this list.

I find that to be very interesting. What else I find interesting is how Newman is supposedly in talks with Stewart HAAS Racing for a position there next year.

How can he do that when he can not talk to owners until August? I have the answer. IF IF IF Newman has already arranged to go Stewart HAAS, then he and Tony probably cooked it up before Tony officially became the team owner (50%).

I still have a hard time seeing Newman and Stewart as team members as well as Stewart being Newman’s boss.

Back to RCR though. This rekindles my excitement for Newman going to RCR. I have been saying and saying that this is where I would like to see him go. I think this is where he would fit in the best as far as performance and team members.

Here is another interesting part to the article and I have no idea what to make of it really.

With rumors circling regarding the status of Jack Daniels, Childress released the following statement on Thursday: “Jack Daniels and Richard Childress Racing have a contract through the 2009 season. Any reports in the media to the contrary are simply not accurate.”

Childress reiterated after the Caterpillar presser that “Jack Daniels is a great sponsor and we will have them on the car for next year.” But he coyly ducked any confirmation that UPS would sponsor Clint Bowyer and the No. 07 Chevrolet in 2009.

I read that like Jack Daniels may not be sponsoring Clint Bowyer next year and that UPS might be.

Like I said, I don’t know where to read between the lines on that one.

HERE IS THE LINK to the article.

What do you suppose Ryan Newman and Mark Martin are finding so funny?

It’s still funny!!!

From what we have seen it is a great looking car and even Newman’s suit looks pretty good!

The Kodak-The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor Dodge show car will be on display at Universal Orlando and Universal Studios Hollywood theme parks throughout July.

July 12 also marks the birthdate of Kodak founder George Eastman whose commercial transparent roll film enabled inventor Thomas Edison to develop the first motion picture camera in 1891. By 1896 Kodak was marketing film specially coated for motion picture use.

Kodak has been a sponsor of NASCAR for 23 years. Kodak is the primary sponsor of Newman’s No. 12 Dodge in six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races in 2008. Kodak is also an associate sponsor on the No. 3 and No. 6 Team Penske cars in the IndyCar Series.

Newman on his Kodak Mummy Car -

“It’s pretty cool that we get to represent Kodak this weekend and what they do w