Editor's note: Each Wednesday throughout the 2008 Sprint Cup season, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, will write a column exclusively for Yahoo! Sports. This is the first installment.
This is my first column for Yahoo! Sports. I hope through this readers can get to know me and my opinions. You'll find they're a little different. Also, I want this to be informative, entertaining and fun. I think that will happen as the season goes on.
Last season was sort of a rebounding year for us. It showed we could win some poles. It showed we could run up front. I knew that we had cars that were capable of winning. That was mentally a good thing.
Yeah, I wanted to get to victory lane – that mattered – but because we were so close, it didn't matter, if that makes sense.
But we're ready for 2008, and I really look forward to this year.
Over the offseason, I went snowmobiling in Utah with some friends. My wife Krissie and I also spent some time around Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years with the family and friends as well. We had a good holiday season.
When the season was over, we finally moved into our new house. It's a brand-new log cabin near Statesville, N.C., where we live. It took 18 months to build. I don't want to tell too much about it, other than there's a fishing pond right out the front door.
As for this season, my first goal is to make the Chase. Obviously winning a race along the way would be great. But to make the Chase, even if I don't win a race, means I'll have a shot to win the championship. And once we're in the Chase, then we'll determine how we're going to win the championship.
I've got a new crew chief, Roy McCauley. I've had experience with Roy in the past. I think the combination of myself, Roy and the guys in the shop will be strong and we'll have some success.
If we could win a race in the first 10 races, it'll make it a lot easier to get in the Chase.
The Daytona 500 is a little over a week away. It's okay. It's just Daytona to me in a roundabout way. It's cool that it's the 50th running. I look forward to that, and we'll see how everything goes and hopefully make the best of it.
That's it for this week. We'll save more for next time.
10-4.
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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Editor's note: Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, finished 17th in the Bud Shootout on Saturday.
After a wild time in Daytona, it was nice to have a few days off.
If you were watching Bud Shootout practice Friday, then you saw the run-in I had with Clint Bowyer and then what happened between Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch, my teammate.
My deal with Clint was different than Kurt's. I knew Clint wouldn't crash me on purpose, because Clint and I are friends. I hadn't done anything to him on the track or off the track to cause him to do that. So in my eyes it was an accident.
I went to talk to him and my first question to him was, "Tell me what you saw," because obviously I didn't think I was in the wrong. We talked about it briefly and he just said to me, "I got into the brakes and I screwed up." And that was it.
We went on and five minutes later, the bigger deal between Kurt and Tony happened, which, obviously, wasn't amongst friends. It's obvious what's going on there, so there's no taking on it. They have a disagreement amongst themselves.
When it comes to stuff like that on the track, everybody's different. It's just like road rage. It can ruin your day if it happens on your way to work and it can ruin your evening if it happens on your way home. Everybody's different, and you just take it for what it's worth.
Looking ahead, I think that the racing on Thursday in the Duels will be exciting only to the point that a few guys have to race their way in. But I would say it's going to be crazy because only a few guys will be trying to make things happen and the rest are going to be just working their way toward a good handling racecar and a good starting spot for the Daytona 500.
You definitely want to keep your car clean, unless you're not happy with it, then you don't care.
To be honest, I just don't like the fact that we're locking in 35 cars in owner's points. I don't think that that's racing.
The Duels used to be about qualifying. They used to be nerve-racking. They should still be that way, but it's not as much. Like I said, it's not racing when you're locking in that many cars. I mean, for some guys it's just like another bad day of qualifying. It doesn't matter where they start. They got 500 miles to figure out where they're going to finish.
I get asked why I'm good at qualifying. Well, it comes down to teamwork, having confidence in your car and the ability to put it where you need to. And obviously the car to be fast enough to get the job done.
As for the 500, I'm just looking forward to being consistent and being there on Lap 200. That's what I'm there for.
Right now, I'm enjoying a few days off, moving some dirt for a garden we're building on an old farm we bought.
Until next week. 10-4.
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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Last edited by mrsmopar12 : 02-13-2008 at 10:24 PM.
Editor’s note: Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, won the 50th running of the Daytona 500.
Back in ‘98, I went to the Daytona 500 and sat in the grandstands with my dad. And the only thing I remember is watching Dale Sr. take that checkered flag.
To win this race and to have my dad congratulate me in victory lane, that was totally surreal.
We didn’t run up front at the start of the race, though that wasn’t the plan. We fell back at the start because the car wasn’t balanced the way I like it. We struggled a little bit, but my crew chief Roy McCauley did a great job adjusting it to get it where it handled better.
We just kept working forward and at the end of the race we had a strong car.
Just before the restart with a couple laps to go, I knew from talking to Roy over the radio that my teammate, Kurt Busch, wanted to go high. Then Tony Stewart went high, and the two of us kind of split the 31 of Jeff Burton.
I really thought the yellow was going to come back out just because of how crazy it is on restarts like that at restrictor plate tracks. But it didn’t.
Tony had a good run, but then Kurt got behind me and gave me that push from heaven. When Tony pulled down behind Kurt, I was like, “Oh my god, this is going to be so easy.”
Obviously it’s not easy. It was just easier than I thought it was going to be.
I will admit that we didn’t have the best car. I thought the 18 of Kyle Busch was the best car all day. But I was happy to have Kurt Busch behind me to give me that push straight to victory lane.
When I came around the final turn, and I knew I was going to win, I was just living in the moment. I was so emotional. I’d always wanted to win this race, and then to have it happen and to hear the emotion from dad over the radio – he was spotting for me – and to see the emotion from crew members … I’m kind of quiet. I can be emotional, but I don’t usually show it. But to see everyone else’s emotions, that was just a lot of fun for me.
I was drained when it was over. I wasn’t feeling good all day, so after the race we just relaxed and chilled.
I went back to the garage and congratulated the guys again. I talked to Roger Penske and all the people at Penske Racing. I just kind of lived it up, lived in the moment. That’s kind of what we have to do. Obviously there’s a lot of media functions going on after that, but you just kind of have to put it behind you at a certain point and get ready for California.
One of the most honorable things that happened to me after the race was when Richard and Linda Petty came over to our bus and took the time to congratulate me. That meant a lot. Richard Petty was my hero growing up. I was a member of his fan club. I mean, I have his autograph and stuff like that from when I was a little kid. So to have him come up and to share that feeling of triumph was truly unbelievable.
In the true Richard Petty humbleness, he told me that I only have six to go to catch him. I told him that if I do the math right, then that would take me until I was 72.
I’m in New York now, doing a bunch of media obligations. I did Letterman Monday night. I’ve got so many I couldn’t even tell you.
I just want to thank all the fans for sticking with me. I appreciate your support, not just for me, but for NASCAR. Hopefully we put on a great race. And we’ll catch you later.
Visit Ryan’s website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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Each Wednesday, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, writes a column for Yahoo! Sports. This past weekend, Newman finished 10th in the Auto Club 500. He’s currently second in the Sprint Cup standings.
This past weekend was a cluster all around, but you can only do so much with what Mother Nature offers you.
It started off bad, not getting any practice in on Friday because of rain, and then we got only 10 laps of practice in on Saturday. That made it rough.
Then came Sunday.
In my opinion, I thought there was a lack of preparation going into Sunday’s race. Instead of waiting until 21 laps into the race to try to fix the weepers that were seeping water onto the track, they should have cut a drainage groove on Saturday afternoon. They knew then it was going to rain all night, and they knew they had a problem with weepers, but they didn’t even bother to cut the track to try to fix the problem.
If they had done the work to fix the problem on Saturday, there would have been plenty of opportunity to start the race earlier on Sunday.
Bottom line is, we could have gotten to the halfway point before the rain came and we could have been home on Monday and we could have had the race over with.
It was a cluster all the way around, in my opinion.
I didn’t do much during the rain delay. I just sat around.
When we started racing, the track was okay. It was wet. There were some places that had seepers and weepers, and there was water on the track, but we’re not there as an organization to stop for a couple of drivers who can’t keep seem to drive when there’s a little water on the track.
When you’re driving down the highway and it starts to rain or snow or whatever, and the conditions change, you have to adapt to those conditions. And everybody, as drivers, should have been able to do that. Some of them did and a couple of them didn’t.
No matter what kind of car you’re driving, you have to adapt. There were only two cars that crashed out of 43. So those two guys couldn’t get it done.
As for my race, I was happy to get a second top-10 finish. I wish we would have had a little better car and I think we will going into Las Vegas.
Vegas is a fast track. It’s a little tricky. I liked the old configuration better than the new configuration, but I think we’ll go in there with a shot to win.
For me, it’s all about business in Vegas. I really don’t enjoy the city itself. I’m not a gambler. I’m not into that kind of thing.
If there’s a good show, I’ll go to that. Every once in a while there’s a cool band in town. I’ve been to the House of Blues a couple of times. I saw Mary J. Blige once and went to see the Righteous Brothers, which is kind of two extremes there.
It’s been a crazy 10 days after winning the Daytona 500. I haven’t been home much, spending time with the guys at the shop, to celebrate like I wanted. But don’t get me wrong, we’re celebrating.
We’ll catch you later.
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman drives Penske Racing's No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Send Ryan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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Hello, Newman: Life with Ryan
By Krissie Newman
Mar 5, 9:48 am EST
I’m Krissie Newman, Ryan Newman’s wife. Ryan’s got a busy week. He’s in Phoenix testing right now, so I’m filling in for him. I’m sort of his back-up driver this week.
It seems like a lot of people are interested in our life outside of the racing they see on TV. They seem to want to know what we do at the track on the weekends, what Ryan and I do at night, and what we do during the week.
Our typical weekend at the track goes something like this:
We arrive with the team on Thursday afternoon. We usually try to have dinner with them, then we go back to our motor coach, which is parked in the infield.
Friday morning when we get up, I work out and Ryan goes to practice. I usually make him lunch.
We try to visit with some of our friends at the track, go to dinner or a movie. It just depends on the weekend and where we are. We usually hang out with Martin Truex and his girlfriend Sherry and Kevin and Delana Harvick.
I don’t know what it is, but we go to bed earlier when we’re at home than when we’re at the racetrack. We have a tendency to stay up later on the weekends.
Saturday is more of the same. Ryan seems to have a fishing hole at most of the tracks we go to. After practice, he usually goes fishing.
I think there are certain stereotypes when it comes to wives in the garage. I don’t know if they’re true, but I think the typical stereotype is we have a lot of money – that we come in on the weekend and we blow all this money on shopping sprees, and we all wear designer clothes and have fake boobs and don’t have much of an education. That we’re just kind of there to support the driver.
I try not to be put in that box.
I try to do as much work as I can for our foundation and other people’s foundations. There are a lot of great causes out there, and I feel it’s important to give back and connect with the fans in a different light.
The foundation keeps me really busy. We do a lot of work with animals and preserving the outdoors.
Ryan and I were both big animal people growing up. We’ve always had animals in our lives. I met a family when we were in Martinsville in October, 2004, that had taken in a stray dog, and the dog ended up having puppies. They didn’t have the money to get the dog or any of the puppies fixed, and they ended up with 15 dogs.
The family asked for my help to try to raise awareness that the area needed a low-cost spay and neuter clinic. It opened my eyes to their situation that this isn’t just going on there; it’s going on everywhere. Now we work with humane societies to raise awareness.
Because Ryan is such an avid fisherman and loves the outdoors, he thought we should do what we can to preserve our lakes and our streams and bring people outdoors to enjoy the same things we enjoy.
One of the things we’re working on is Mill Lake Youth Camp, just outside the track in Michigan. It was an old youth camp that went south. Budgeting fell though and no one really took care of it.
We want to create awareness so that inner-city kids from Detroit could come up and go fishing and hiking and go out and ride bikes. We want to get kids outdoors instead of sitting inside playing video games all the time (although Guitar Hero is my favorite game).
So, that’s a little bit about our life that you don’t see on TV. If you have any questions, let me know and I’ll try to answer them.
Ryan will be back next week …
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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Each Wednesday, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, writes a column for Yahoo! Sports. This past weekend, Newman finished 14th in the Kobalt Tools 500. He’s currently fourth in the Sprint Cup standings.
If you want to know what kind of schedule we keep, today (Tuesday) is my fifth or sixth day home since I left for the Bud Shootout in early February.
The schedule has just been ridiculous because we’ve been doing a ton of testing, especially out West, for the new car. And the rain delay in California didn’t help.
It’s tough to relax because when I get home all I do is go through mail and try to get everything around here organized.
So I’m really looking forward to having next weekend off. I just want to relax at home.
I don’t think a 36-race schedule is necessarily too long. But I do think we should start making the race weekends two-day shows. I know we could. We could go in on Friday morning, practice and qualify on Friday, then race on Saturday. Get in and out. It doesn’t have to be a three-day show.
We spent Monday and Tuesday in Darlington testing. Of course, tires and what Tony Stewart said about Goodyear after Atlanta were a topic of conversation.
When Tony complains, he usually says what we’re thinking. But I think he took it to another level. He almost made it personal. Still, the grip was questionable, the cars were hard to drive and that’s not exactly what we want.
Having no grip just makes everything hard. It’s like driving on ice. You just have to adjust. But when you do adjust, you’re still on that edge and that edge can take you into a snow bank pretty easily.
The ideal situation is to have a great tire that lasts an entire fuel stop, it sticks good, nobody blows a tire the entire race and nobody complains. But it’s difficult, especially when you add in the factor of a new car we’re trying to adjust to.
As far as our season is going, I say we’ve got a little bit of work to do. We started off the season great and it’s been good since. Of course, I’d rather be sitting with four top-fives right now than where we’re at, but we’ll just do what we gotta do. The good news is we had a good test in Darlington.
If you look at the standings, the competition for the top spots has gotten tougher. I mean, it’s always been that way, but the new car has tightened things up.
That’s it for this week. I’m going out to my field to see if I’ve got any deer running around. You never know when you’ll see a coyote or a fox. It’s just kind of relaxing to be out there.
Next week, we’ll talk fishin’ and only fishin’.
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Ryan Newman drives Penske Racing's No. 12 Alltel Dodge. Send Ryan a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.
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Each Wednesday, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, writes a column for Yahoo! Sports. This past weekend, Newman got caught in a wreck and finished 33rd in the Food City 500. He’s currently eighth in the Sprint Cup standings.
We’ve got an off-week this week, so let’s talk about having something as a release, and in my case it’s fishing.
Fishing for me is two things – it’s a way to relax and it’s also a hobby at the same time, which I guess is why it’s relaxing. It’s the opposite of the hectic race and the people and the autographs and having to be four different places in five minutes.
I got into it when I was four years old. I grew up in South Bend, Ind., and every summer I’d go up to visit my grandparents in Dowagiac, Mich. It’s in the southwestern part of the state, about 35 minutes from home.
I’d go up there and help my grandfather mow grass and fish, do something else and fish, go get something to eat, come back and fish. It was our hobby together.
That’s how I learned to like fishing, on Dewey Lake.
Some people never learn to like it. They just think that it’s a waste of time or too much work or the fish don’t cooperate. But I love it.
I have two ponds at home now. One pond is brand new; the other pond has been around for about 60 years. Yesterday I caught 21 bass in the old lake and put them in the new lake, basically to initiate the stocking process.
When I’m on the road, the best fishing holes on the NASCAR schedule are in Pocono. There’s so much water up there you could can catch all different kinds of fish – from trout, to bass, to bluegill, to walleye to crappie. There’s everything up there.
Michigan is good. The pond inside Indianapolis has some nice fish. Darlington has a good minnow pond. Daytona and Homestead both have ponds on the inside of the track with big fish in them.
It’s nice, though, to get outside the track, meet some new people through fishing and just being outdoors. It beats being cooped up in the bus and watching TV.
Sometimes I’ll go fishing with Martin Truex Jr. We usually go in Atlanta together. We’ve done that the last couple of races down there. But I don’t choose to go with other drives. It’s more about whoever wants to go, goes.
My favorite fishing story is from Atlanta in 2006. I blew a right rear tire. Fifteen minutes after I got out of the infield care center I was on a pond fishing. Fifteen minutes after that I caught my biggest bass – a 10 pound, six ounce largemouth. I didn’t catch another fish that day, but it wasn’t a bad way to turn a bad day into a good day.
That’s the true meaning of a release.
Ryan Newman drives the No. 12 Alltel Dodge, but when he’s fishing he’s in a Ranger Boat. Check out his website at www.ryan12newman.com and his foundation at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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Hello, Newman
Hello, Newman: Road rage
Hello, Newman: Living a dream
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