2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Hugely successful since it opened in 1961, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway has become the best-selling track in the elite NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. And just as The Wall firmly established Pink Floyd in the public lexicon, the wall at Bristol has firmly established the .533-mile bullring as one of the toughest tracks in NASCAR.

As the series gets ready for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol, the track’s walls will again be a subject of discussion. That’s because track officials added 160 feet of SAFER Barrier at the exits of turns two and four in an effort to increase driver safety. But the changes also will create a different transition at the exit of the turns and, while no one knows exactly how this will affect the racing, what is known is that there will be less room for error than ever before.

But for 43 of the world’s greatest drivers, that’s not a problem, right? Umm… the last Sprint Cup race at Bristol saw 11 caution periods for a total of 76 laps, and the track’s high-water mark of 167 laps run under caution was back on July 25, 1965 in the Volunteer 500.

The assembled talent isn’t what’s in question. It’s more the physics, for 43 cars lapping the half-mile oval in 15 seconds at speeds over 100 mph inevitably leads to problems – specifically, a lack of real estate.

As any good realtor will tell you, real estate is about location, location, location. And when it comes to navigating Bristol’s high banks, which vary from 26 to 30 degrees, location means a lot, which is why less room for a driver to catch his sideways racecar as he careens off the corner will be high on the minds of the drivers and the roughly 160,000 people in attendance.

Tony Stewart mastered the Bristol Stomp in August 2001 when he successfully navigated his way from 18^th to first after 500 hard-fought laps in the track’s signature night race. It’s his only win at Bristol, and in his 21 other Sprint Cup starts at the East Tennessee facility, Stewart has found more famine than feast, which is especially ironic since most of his famine has come in the Food City 500.

The driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing has a pole, a win, five top-fives, seven top-10s and a total of 1,352 laps led in 22 career Sprint Cup starts at Bristol. He should have more, but the bullring has shown its horns to Stewart more than once, leaving the man they call “Smoke” emitting as much steam as his battered racecar.

But that’s just the nature of Bristol. You’re either really happy or really mad. Middle ground is as hard to find at Bristol as it is in Congress. Yet, just like in Washington, people keep coming back to Bristol to duke it out over what they believe is rightfully theirs.

Sunday’s Food City 500 marks the track’s 99^th Sprint Cup race, and it’s Stewart who expects to be at the head of the table when the checkered flag drops and the trophy is served.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you have any concerns about less racetrack being available at Bristol because the SAFER Barriers have been extended off the corners?

“The wall is where it is. They paint them so we can see them. After all these years of doing this, it doesn’t matter where they put it. We have to stay a fraction of an inch off of it and use every bit up to it. I’m sure it’s going to make a difference, there is no doubt about it. We all use every bit of room we can get there, anyway. It will make the exits of the corners a little tighter, but I think the racing will still be good there because of it.”

Even though you have an up-and-down track record at Bristol, do you like racing there?

“Yeah, I love it. Ever since they repaved the place and added to two true grooves, it’s made it racier. We have true side-by-side racing, now. Drivers can make their way through the pack without having to wreck each other while they’re doing it. Before, guys got wrecked who weren’t even involved in what was going on, a lot of times, because you’d go to get stopped and somebody behind you wouldn’t get slowed down enough, and you’d get picked up and turned around and your day was ruined. Now, you’ve got a lot more cars finishing the race. You’ve got a lot more cars finishing on the lead lap. And it’s more exciting because of that. The drivers can pass, now. It’s not just sit there and follow the leader and when you finally run out of patience, you nudge the guy out of the way. You still can do that, but at least you can nudge a guy without wrecking him. I think, from the competitor’s standpoint, we like that a lot more knowing that if somebody has to check up in front of you and you get into the back of him, you’re not necessarily going to wreck him because of it.”

Can you summarize your history at Bristol?

“Bristol is one of those places where you’ve got to have everything kind of go your way. If you have one hiccup, it’s hard to recover from it. We’ve only won one race there and we’ve kind of been all over the board. It’s been feast or famine for us. It’s like if you have one problem in the first half of the day, it’s hard to recover from it. It makes for a very long day. We’ve had more long days than good days.”

How important is track position at a place like Bristol, where everything happens so quickly?

“It’s really important. What you’ve got to keep in mind is that every time the competition gets closer, it makes it harder and harder to start further back and pass cars. If you’re a half-second faster than the 20 cars in front of you, you’re probably going to be able to work your way through. If you’re half of a tenth of a second (faster), it’s a lot harder to make up those spots. With the sport and the competition level going up every week, passing is harder. That’s why track position is so important. The thing about Bristol is that, at the end of the day, you still have to have a good-handling racecar. You can get good track position but, if you don’t have a good car, you’re not going to be able to hold onto it.”

On that note, how important is to have a good qualifying effort at Bristol?

“It’s no different than anywhere else because track position is important everywhere we go. Obviously, Bristol is action-packed and everybody gets in a hurry and there are a lot of cautions. So, it is a little more important this week than some of the other tracks we go to about qualifying because you want to get a good starting position, but more so a good pit spot. These boxes can be tricky during the race, and it’s easy to get stuck in your pit box and lose eight or 10 spots if you get boxed in. If you can get a good qualifying run and get a good pit selection, it helps you through the whole day. No matter whether your car is good or bad, you’re going to gain spots.”

TONY STEWART’S BRISTOL PERFORMANCE PROFILE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

◘ Race was finished by Todd Bodine, who took over for Stewart in a relief role on lap 367.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

2010 NSCS Ryan Newman - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

As the reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Raybestos Rookie of the Year, Newman entered the 2003 spring race at Bristol – his third start at the .533-mile bullring – heralded as one of the sport’s young phenoms.

The previous season, he had become only the second rookie in history to win the All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. In just 49 Cup starts, Newman had racked up eight poles and one race win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

That afternoon, on Bristol’s concrete oval, Newman backed up all the hype. In time trials at the Tennessee short track that afternoon, Newman shattered the lap record as he flew around the oval at a speed of 128.709 mph, circling the short track in just 14.908 seconds.

Newman, who admittedly stunned himself with such a quick lap, became the first driver ever to break the 15-second mark at Bristol. No other driver has eclipsed that mark to date.

It was during his super-fast lap that Newman was anointed with the nickname “Rocketman,” thanks to the television broadcasters who were announcing qualifying that day.

Newman’s track record has held since 2003, and he’s still known as “Rocketman.”

But, for Newman, there’s much more to Bristol than a fast lap and a nickname. In fact, Bristol was yet again the beginning of a story last season – this time for Newman and his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team.

After struggling through the first four races of their first season together, Newman & Company entered Bristol teetering on the edge. The team was 32nd in owner points and in danger of falling out of the top-35.

Despite the inherent dangers of Bristol and short-track racing – having nowhere to go when someone wrecks in front of you – the No. 39 Haas Automation team showed no fear.

Instead, it marched into Bristol, took the outside front-row starting spot, led 25 laps and finished seventh. It was the first top-10 of the season for Newman and his No. 39 team. The finish marked the beginning of a run that saw Newman record seven top-10 finishes in the next 10 races and move from 27th to fourth in the championship point standings.

The momentum and confidence the team gained from a solid run at Bristol served as a springboard for Newman and his team as they catapulted upward in the standings, earned a berth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship and eventually finished ninth in points in their first season together.

As Newman and the No. 39 Haas Automation team prime themselves for another run at Bristol this weekend, they hope this 500-lap race will again serve as the beginning of a story they will want to tell again and again.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

For you and the No. 39 Haas Automation team, Bristol was kind of a turning point in the season last year. Not only did you get your first top-10 finish there in the spring, but you followed it up with a sixth-place finish in the fall. What is it about racing at Bristol for you and this team?

“I don’t know if it was Bristol or if it was just short tracks, in general, for the No. 39 team last year, but that was where we really seemed to excel. We had a really good short-track program from the get-go, and when we finished seventh at Bristol last March, I think that gave us some momentum that we really needed. I really like Bristol, and I always have. Then, you add the fact that Bristol is one of Tony Gibson’s favorite racetracks, and I think you saw that my driving style and the package Gibson put underneath me really worked well for us.

“There’s no place like Bristol. I’ve told people before that Bristol is like a baby superspeedway. If something happens in front of you, it may not be your fault, but you can get caught up in somebody else’s wreck in the blink of an eye. I think that’s also one of the reasons emotions run so high at Bristol. You have to really be on your toes at Bristol and that seems to be where frustrations can rise and flame up quicker than at any other racetrack.

“For me, I’m glad to be heading back to Bristol this weekend. Last year, when we went to Bristol in March, it was our first time together there as a team. With the notes we have now from a year ago, I’m even more excited to be going back. We’ve seen improvements in our racecars and in our race packages each race this year, although our results don’t reflect that. So, I’m looking forward to seeing how we have improved our already good short-track program.”

Talk about racing at Bristol Motor Speedway. How has the track evolved as your racing style has over time?

“Everyone will tell you that Bristol has always been a game of survival. Everything happens so fast there. You don’t have time to think or blink. I learned that in 2003 when I won the pole there. I knew I had a good car, but I never anticipated that I could put down a lap that fast. You just don’t realize how quickly everything happens at Bristol. You could have the best car out there, but everything is completely out of your hands. One minute you could be running in the lead and, just seconds later, you could be wrecked in the corner and out of the race and it would be no fault of your own. You won’t even realize what has happened to you until afterward.

“I think the racing and the track are definitely better the way they are now. It was fun before, don’t get me wrong. It was really fun to hustle the car around there. Running that 14.90 back in 2003 was a blast. To me, the racing is better because it’s double-file. I’ve seen it and have been a part of three-wide racing there for the lead with the Nationwide Series a couple of years ago, when it was freshly done. I think it’s more a combination of the tire and the track than it is the age of the concrete. Concrete doesn’t change very much, if at all, over time. It’s more the combination of tire and the racing we can do with that tire.

“As the cars have changed, we changed the way we drove the racetrack a little bit. As the racetrack changed, we had to readjust again. But to me, the racing is at an all-time high at Bristol compared to the way it used to be. It used to be that you kind of had to root somebody out of the way and the fans really liked that. But, from a driver’s standpoint, it’s not the best way to race. You don’t want to be looking in your rear-view mirror instead of looking out your front windshield trying to worry about avoiding a crash. We can race side-by-side and actually gain spots without having to wreck someone. And the fans will still get an exciting race — it’s Bristol. So, I’m looking forward to going there. When we first went there when they reconstructed it, it was the best that it had ever been. We raced three-wide for the lead at different times. Adding the double-file restarts to the mix last year added even more excitement.”

TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

So far this year, the No. 39 has had a fairly similar beginning to the rocky start it endured last year. The good thing about that is, last season, the trip to Bristol Motor Speedway was really a turning point for this team. What kind of motivation does that give the No. 39 Haas Automation team leading into this weekend’s race?

“It’s been like page-for-page what happened to us last year. Right now, we’re better off in the points than what we were last year after Atlanta. I have to be honest and tell you that the points situation doesn’t bother me. We can climb right up through there. We proved that last year. The important thing is that these tracks coming up these next few weeks are our gravy tracks. This is where we make our money. We’ve got to capitalize on these next few races – Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix. Everything coming up here soon is good for us, and Ryan knows that and this team know that, so I think we are looking for some good results and really hoping to build momentum for the rest of the year. Hopefully, we can just stay out of trouble, and we can repeat what we did last year and we’ll climb right back up in this deal and be good.

“For me, this has been a lot like last season. But the difference is we have a year under our belts. Daytona wasn’t quite as bad this year as it was last year, but we ended up with the same results in the end. We blew up at California. We go to (Las) Vegas and we have the pit stop problems and, both years in Atlanta, we have had a great car but something happened. This year, we had a blown right-front tire and then a cut left-front tire. We lost three laps, made all three laps up and came back to finish 17th. To me, it’s just like last year. It started out just like last year. One good thing about it is the team has been through this. We have notes on each track we’ve been to, and I think we have shown that our cars are better even if we don’t have the results to prove it just yet. We’ve had really good racecars. We unload really fast and qualify great. We think we’re in good shape for the race, and the race starts and, sometimes, we hit it and sometimes we don’t. It’s kind of a weird deal. Eventually, we’ll get a handle on it. We don’t give up. We work just as hard every week. The guys aren’t down. They are pumped up. They know we have some races coming up that are strong for us, so I think they are pretty excited, also.”

Last year, the No. 39 team finished seventh and sixth at Bristol Motor Speedway, respectively. Short tracks were really this team’s forte. Why do you think that was the case, and what is it about Bristol?

“I love those tracks. Bristol is probably my best track. Everybody I have been with over the years, from Alan Kulwicki up until now, we’ve done well. I’ve won a ton of races there. I’ve been really successful there. It’s my favorite track. I’ve had a lot of success, and the biggest thing – probably traumatic – that’s happened to me was the year Alan got killed and we all showed up. That was kind of a shaky thing, but we have always won races there and have been really competitive. Ryan loves the short tracks. He likes Bristol, Martinsville, Darlington, Richmond, Phoenix-type of racetracks, and those are tracks I like better. I don’t know why. I like racing everywhere but, for some reason for me, my setups seem to work better at those tracks. They fit Ryan, and they fit whoever I’ve been with. It just fits both our styles a little bit better than maybe the mile-and-a-half stuff. I know our mile-and-a-half program has been better this year. I know we don’t have the finishes to prove it, but they have been stronger and we feel a little more confident about it. If we can make gains on our short-track program, like we did on our mile-and-a-half program this year, we will be pretty stout.”

You mention Alan Kulwicki a lot when you talk about Bristol. You were Kulwicki’s car chief, and you worked with him from 1986 until he died in a plane crash in 2003. Are there a lot of special memories that get stirred up when you go to Bristol? Would a win at Bristol be more special to you because of that connection to Alan Kulwicki?

“Every time I walk into the track at Bristol, I think of Alan. We had so much success there. With him getting killed going to Bristol, it was pretty tough to take. We were supposed to have been on that plane. Our luggage was on the plane. We were running late, and we ended up driving up and he went on to his appearance. Things just didn’t work out or we would have been on that plane, too.

“So, yes, every time I fly into Bristol and, every time I walk into the track, I think of Alan and I think about the times we had. We won the last race there when it was pavement (1992) – we won two in a row and I think the last one that we won was the last race with asphalt. There are a lot of memories there, a lot of good times and, of course, there’s the one bad time. Every time I walk into Bristol, I feel like Alan is on my side and he’s helping me make decisions and do some cool stuff, so it means a lot for me to go to Bristol.

“It would mean a lot for me personally, but for the team, too. We felt like there were four times last year that we should have won the race and we didn’t. It’s a new year and we’ve got chances to do that. It’s exciting every time we roll into a short track.”

RYAN NEWMAN’S BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY PERFORMANCE PROFILE

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing/Haas Automation, Press Release

Former NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series Champion Cam Strader
Helping Office Depot/Old Spice Team Chase Sprint Cup Title

Cam Strader at 2010 Atlanta Race - Photo Credit: CIA Stock Photography

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet has won 11 titles in his 30-year driving career, including two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championships (2002 and 2005). And his crew chief, Darian Grubb, earned a Sprint Cup championship in 2006 as the lead engineer for the No. 48 team of Hendrick Motorsports and driver Jimmie Johnson.

But the championships earned don’t stop at the driver/crew chief level. They continue onto the shop floor at Stewart-Haas Racing, with front mechanic Cam Strader bringing an impressive title in the form of his 2001 NASCAR Goody’s Dash Series championship.

“I feel very fortunate to be with a company that has a lot of racers in it,” said Strader, who grew up in a racing family and as a driver climbed all the way to the NASCAR Nationwide Series. “It’s great. You can still talk and relate. They’ve been through the same struggles.”

Trying to make a career in racing, especially as a driver, is filled with struggle. Success isn’t achieved easily.

“I raced full-time, but I was living above the garage in the crew chief’s house. I didn’t have heat or anything like that. I was struggling the whole time financially, but it was still fun and I didn’t care about that,” Strader said.

The fun began when Strader was 10. The Wilson, N.C.-native raced go-karts on dirt until he was 15 and advanced to the Late Model Stock Truck division at Southern National Raceway Park in Kenly, N.C. After only a year, Strader moved up to the track’s premier Late Model Stock division in 1998. After two years in Late Models with four wins and back-to-back third-place point finishes, Strader made the jump to the Dash Series in 2000.

The entry-level NASCAR touring series operated from 1975 through 2003 and featured sub-compact stock cars with a 100-inch wheelbase and the choice of a 168 cubic-inch, 13:1 compression four-cylinder engine or a 268 cubic-inch, 9:1 compression V-6.

At age 19, Strader became the series’ rookie of the year thanks to one win, two poles and 11 top-five finishes. He followed up that season by winning the Dash Series championship in 2001 with four wins, two poles, 14 top-fives and 16 top-10s. Strader ran the Dash Series for one final full season in 2002, where he picked up another win before running only three events in 2003 as he attempted to make the jump to ARCA and the Nationwide Series. Yet even with just a three-race schedule, Strader scored two victories.

“We would have 30 cars show up to an event and there was a lot of really good competition back when I was racing in the Dash Series,” Strader said. “We had some good years there with the rookie of the year title in 2000 and the championship in 2001. In 2002 and 2003, we were kind of part-time racing and trying to do some bigger events with a few ARCA and Nationwide races here and there.”

Strader drove in three ARCA races with a best finish of third, which came in his first ARCA start in March 2002 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He attempted to qualify for a 2002 Nationwide Series race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway for Means Racing, but the underfunded team didn’t make the show.

“Sponsorship was hard to get. The exposure in the Dash Series wasn’t the greatest. We just never could get the finances to continue on.”

The decision to quit driving was a tough one.

“When I first got out of driving, it was really hard,” said Strader, now 30. “Over the years, I’ve kind of come to accept everything. That part of my life led me into a good career, and a great career working for an organization like Stewart-Haas Racing.”

While Strader’s driving career stopped, his motorsports career did not, as he went to work for Hendrick Motorsports in its research and development department in 2004.

“I worked in the R&D department for two years, and then I moved over to the Nationwide Series team on the ‘5’ car as a front mechanic for a year. After that, I assumed the car chief role there for three years working mainly with Kyle Busch and Casey Mears. We always had a lot of different drivers through my time. Then JR Motorsports and Hendrick Motorsports merged, so I continued the car chief role for two years over at JR Motorsports. Even served as the interim crew chief for a bit and won a race with Ron Fellows at Montreal.”

The experience of being a driver has served Strader well in his second motorsports career.

“If I had my choice, I would still be driving, but I always look at my current job as if I was still in the seat and ask, ‘What would make the best change?’ or ‘What would be the best place to make a different change?’ and things like that. It definitely helps.”

That mechanical acumen combined with his experience behind the wheel was on display in Strader’s final appearance in a Dash Series car.

It was the Pabst Blue Ribbon 150 on Aug. 21, 2003 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and on a whim, Strader decided to enter the 150-lap race on the tight and fast .533-mile bullring.

“We put together a Dash car a week before the race. We had just up and decided to go race it. We got everything together, worked all night through the whole week. We went there and we ended up winning the race. That was always really neat to me. Just spur of the moment, last minute and ended up going to Bristol and getting the win.”

Now Strader gets to enjoy a rare off-weekend on the marathon-like Sprint Cup tour before heading back to Bristol for next weekend’s Food City 500. There, he’ll look to end up back in victory lane with Stewart and the Office Depot/Old Spice team of Stewart-Haas Racing.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Team Chevy Logo

DID YOU LEAVE ANYTHING OUT THERE?

“I was not back on the gas as hard as I wanted it to be, so there’s a lot more out there. The track is in great shape and it’s a good tire and there are some really fast cars out there that can beat that.”

TALK ABOUT YOUR CAR FOR SUNDAY

“Well we ran it in qualifying trim the whole practice. I always enjoy this place. But at the same time, I’ll tell you this. We come here and practice really well on Saturday and then have not had that same experience in the race. I really will have to try to work a little bit harder to make sure if the car is really fast in practice just make sure we’ve got it driving good.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3rd:  “It was good; we were tight in practice and still a little tight. But it was good. Our Target Chevy is good. We have a good car every week. Today is the first time in a long time we came in from practice and say “Oh, this doesn’t drive that good.’ So we had to work on it a lot today. It seems like the track has slowed down a little so to run that fast is pretty good. I was telling the guys if we could run through the middle of three, we would be very good. I’m sure I Iost a little bit out of four. As soon as I picked up the throttle it washed. But good.

“It was a good lap, we have been working on it really hard. After first practice I said it sucked, I know I say that and here we go again, we don’t have to change anything. We had to work on it a lot today. The relationship with Brian (Pattie) and the whole team is so good, we just can’t go wrong. We should be ok for Sunday. We made a lot of changes, tried a lot of different things.  We have a very good idea of what we need to do. The whole thing is how much the tires are going to drop off. It can lose a lot of grip. It is going to be very different than before.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM CHEVROLET QUALIFIED 4TH:

ON THE LAP: “I’m happy with it. We had some minor issues. We were quick in practice but we had some issues that we really needed to address. And they did a good job of addressing those, we just missed it just a little bit on the whole package. And I missed the lap just a little bit. It was a good run. I’m tickled to death to be driving for these guys. I want to encourage all the fans out there to go to Hendrickcars.com and register to win my uniform; the one I’m going to race in on Sunday.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5^TH: ON THE LAP “I’m real proud of this team. That was a great lap. I know it’s not a qualifying lap, but what a huge pick-up. And I know the track’s getting a lot more grip in it but the car just drove both ends the same. I got a little bit loose off of (Turn) 2. It was a good lap. The guys worked so hard. We thought we had a good car for race runs but we were way off. There wasn’t a whole lot of room for improvement but I felt like there was enough that we could get beat, and the track was only going to get colder and faster so our early draw might have hurt us, but all in all I’m very happy with the car.”

ON THE SUNSHINE: “I actually lucked out. I was going to put a dark shield on it (windshield) but I said no, I think we’ll be all right. And it went down behind the billboards right as I went, so I got lucky with the sun and I needed my sight (sun) and needed to be able to see every square inch of the race track.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7^TH: HOW WAS YOUR RUN? “Kasey Kahne was a good benchmark. I think he was third in practice and we were forth. We missed it about as much as we did in practice. But the Tornados Chevrolet was good. We couldn’t see anything going into Turn 1. Need to talk to NASCAR about that. But it’s a fun race track and we’ve got a great car this weekend and we’ll just go out there and see what we’ve got.

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S/KOBALT TOOLS CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 16th: “To be honest with you, it was a decent. We were concerned about over driving the entry in to three so I may have been a little conservative there. I will just have go back look a lap tracker and video and all that stuff to bet a better understanding because I thought that was decent. I figured it would be top-five. I just don’t have a clue right not, it seemed like a decent lap. I felt like that was pretty tall so a little confused. Last week we qualified 20^th and finished well. I want a good pit stall but fortunately it was slow enough, we should get a good pit stall, see who we are going to be around and where and where the fast cars. Tomorrow we will look for comfort and make sure I can drive it for 500 miles. Speed really isn’t a big deal; it is just about being comfortable in the seat for the whole race on Sunday.”

MIKE BLISS, No. 36 WAVE ENERGY DRINK CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 30TH: “That was good.  That was pretty good, actually.  I don’t know, though–it felt pretty fast.  It felt a lot faster than the time we ran.  The car was exactly the same from practice, very balanced and neutral.”  I have no idea how we will be on Sunday (smiles).”

Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

TALK ABOUT WHAT YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS WEEKEND AT ATLANTA: “I like to be here. This is definitely a driver’s track. That is why we love coming to Atlanta. I am with Carl (Edwards) here, I snuck in during his deal, but, I hope they never repave it. That will be the one thing that will kill it. If they have to repave it, it will be out of necessity, not because of desire from us. That is what makes this place fun is the fact that you are going to move around from the bottom to the top every segment of the race. You are, at some point, going to have to move around and try to find a spot to make your car better. That is what makes it so much fun being here.”

HAS THE TECHNOLOGY OF THE SPORT CHANGED MARTINSVILLE OR IS IT STILL THAT TOUGH, HOT HUMID PLACE? “It is still hot and humid, but the good thing is the air systems, NASCAR has worked with some of the NASA groups and got the carbon filters that help take the CO out of the air. Even in days when you knock the crush panels out of the car, you are a lot safer in there than we used to be on CO levels. That is something that we are appreciative of. But other than that, it really is not as bad and draining as it used to be. Cars are better insulated. Obviously with a carbon fiber seat, you are insulated a lot better so it takes some of those variables out of the equation now.”

Audio: 2010 Kobalt Tools 500 Pre-Race Conference with Tony Stewart

YOU HAVE REMAINED MORE YOURSELF AND NOT EMBRACED A SOMEWHAT HOLLYWOOD TYPE LIFESTYLE AS A STAR IN THE SPORT, HOW DID YOU DO THAT? “I’ll be honest, I don’t know. I guess, just being me from a certain standpoint. Shoot, I have to send girlfriends out to go shop for me because I can’t even tell you what the current clothes are. I have to send somebody to do it for me so I don’t look like I’m stuck in the ‘80s anymore. That is only shot I got at looking current is to send somebody else to go do it for me. I’ll be honest, I enjoy being home. I guess I’m just one of those people, whether it has been racing, it has pretty much been every aspect of my life; I’ve just kind of been me from day one and have always stayed that way. I don’t have the desire to do all that other stuff.”

IN BUILDING YOUR LOG CABIN, HAVE YOU UTILIZED AS MANY INDIANA COMPANIES AS YOU CAN? “We have tried to. We try to get as many Indiana companies as we could to build it. When we sat in the initial meetings, it was really important to me to try and get as many companies as the builder was comfortable with out of Columbus (Indiana) in particular to try to help out. We’ve tried to stay as close to home as we could with every aspect of it.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE NEW SAFER BARRIERS AT BRISTOL THAT WILL NARROW DOWN THE TRACK? “The wall is still where the wall is at. We’ll see it when we are out there so we always…the good thing about us as drivers, after all these years of doing this, doesn’t matter where they put it, we have to stay a fraction of an inch off of it and use every bit up to it. I am sure it is going to make a difference, there is no doubt about it, I mean we all use every bit of room we can get there anyway. It will make the exits of the corners a little tighter but I think the racing will still be good there because of it.”

DO YOU THINK IT WILL INCREASE ACCIDENTS? “No. Like I said, they paint them so you can see them, so that will help us. (LAUGHS) Sorry, I had to say it that way; it wouldn’t be me if I didn’t.”

RYAN NEWMAN HAS SAID HE THINKS WE WILL SEE MORE SIDE DRAFTING WHEN WE GO TO THE BLADE SPOILER, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS? “You definitely asked the right guys with Ryan because he is an engineer. He’ll know. I won’t know until we get in them. I’m not smart enough to know what it is going to do. (LAUGHS) It will be just from experience once we get in the cars. I’m not really…I don’t know that I’ll be a good one to pre-judge it by. The good thing is that once we start, we will know right away what works better that way.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE WHAT SIDE DRAFTING IS? “When you see geese flying in that V, that is really what it is like. If you are the guy that is off 45 degrees, you are actually…the closer you can get, it is pulling your car forward and pulling their car backward.  The tricky part is that once it pulls you ahead of them, then all of a sudden you have switched roles. It is knowing how close to stay to a guy and when; and when to get off him.”

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- Team Chevy, Press Release

2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Stewart has piloted his No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala to 11^th in the championship driver standings, where he is only 120 points behind series leader Kevin Harvick. Back-to-back top-10 results at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and Las Vegas Motor Speedway, respectively, have allowed Stewart to gain 12 point positions since finishing 22^nd in the season-opening Daytona 500.

While they’re not wins, the strong efforts of late have Stewart upbeat as he enters round 4 of 36 this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That’s because Fontana and Las Vegas are bellwether tracks for how one will perform at many of the other intermediate tracks that make up the majority of the Sprint Cup schedule.

Run well at Fontana and Las Vegas, the theory goes, and you’ll run well at such stops as Atlanta, Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn – all tracks Stewart and his Sprint Cup counterparts will visit in the next four months.

It’s where seasons are shaped, for better or worse, with Atlanta being the next litmus test for teams via this weekend’s Kobalt Tools 500.

Stewart has two wins at the ultra-fast 1.54-mile oval, the first coming in the 2002 spring race and the latter coming in the 2006 fall race, where the two-time Sprint Cup champion showed off his version of Oktoberfest by leading seven times for a race-high 146 laps. Stewart followed up that win with another victory the very next week at Texas, the sister track to Atlanta.

Stewart continued his up-front ways when he returned to Atlanta the following March. In just the fifth race of the 2007 season, Stewart battled with Jimmie Johnson and led five times for 121 laps before finishing second to him. And in a case of déjà vu, Stewart finished second again, this time to Kyle Busch, when the series returned to Atlanta in March 2008.

But perhaps Stewart’s biggest test at Atlanta came last March, where in his first visit to the track as a driver/owner he came from two laps down to finish an impressive eighth. It was Stewart’s 13^th top-10 finish in 21 career starts at Atlanta.

“There are a lot of guys that had problems today and never recovered from it,” said Stewart immediately after last year’s Kobalt Tools 500. “We got two laps down and fought our way back. At this place, that is hard to do. There are not very many guys that can come back from two laps down like that, so I am really proud of the team.”

With a history of strong runs at Atlanta, especially recently, Stewart is intent on continuing to prove his worth as a driver/owner by taking care of business in Atlanta.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

When you look back on your first year as a driver/owner, is there any particular thing that you feel warrants a pat on the back?

“I think you’re always looking at things that you can do better. I think the one thing that I felt like I could pat myself on the back for is having assembled such a fine group of people. I don’t feel like I could’ve found anybody better than Bobby (Hutchens) as our competition director. I feel like having Tony Gibson and Darian Grubb are the two best fits for the crew chief positions. And, obviously, Ryan (Newman), our relationship over the year, I’ve had more fun with Ryan than I’ve had in a long time, and I’ve had a lot of great teammates that I’ve had a lot of fun with. Ryan and I are just a great fit and I think that’s the one thing that as the year kept going on and the relationships between this group kept getting stronger and building, that I was really proud of and felt fortunate I was able to get this particular group of people together and knowing how well we work together. It’s really hard in this business to get a group of guys who really click with each other, and I feel like that’s something we have is a core group of people who really have the same vision, have the same passion and have the relationship that we have, and that’s what I really felt proud about at the end of the season.”

What makes Atlanta different from a lot of the other 1.5-mile ovals the Sprint Cup Series visits?

“The neat thing is that the times fall off so guys move around on the racetrack more. Everybody starts at the bottom, and the fast guys normally end up right around the wall midway through a run. That is something that is different than Charlotte and some of the other tracks on the circuit. I like having the flexibility to be able to move around. I know that if my car isn’t driving all that well in a particular spot that I have the flexibility as a driver to move around on the racetrack. You can make a difference. It’s like Michigan where you can move around and help yourself as a driver, versus being committed and whatever you’ve got, you’ve got. It does make you feel better as a driver to know you have that flexibility.”

How fine of a line is it to find a comfort level when you’re out on the racetrack at speed, particularly at Atlanta when you’re running over 200 mph?

“Well, I don’t know that it’s a fine line. I mean, either you’re comfortable or you’re not. Nothing is happening this year that hasn’t happened for 100 years in racing. There’s nothing magical or mysterious going on here. Everybody is going out every week and we’re working with technology, but still at the end of the day, you’ve got a driver that’s driving the car. No matter how fast the computer says that car is going to be, if that driver is not comfortable driving it, then they’re not going to go fast. So you’ve got to tune these cars to the drivers and their feels, and that’s what makes them go fast.”

Despite the history of good racing at Atlanta, the track has struggled to sell all of its tickets, as have some other tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit. Do you think it’s because of the economy, or are there other factors at play?

“Everyone wants to do their part to make it better, and I’m not sure we know exactly what that answer is. But our intentions are to do what we can to help make it a better experience for the fans every week. It’s one thing for the economy to be bad, but we’re competing in a time where everything is on the Internet and there are so many things for people to do. The simplest part about what we do here every weekend is we’re in the entertainment industry, and we’re competing against everybody else, whether it’s high school football on Friday night or whatever. We’re trying to figure out how we get these people to come watch us do what we love to do. And that’s the challenge for track owners and sanctioning bodies. It’s ‘How do you make it better?’ When the economy is bad like this, it’s that much tougher of a challenge. You try and find more ways to make it more efficient for the people to come watch us do what we love to do every week.”

TONY STEWART’S ATLANTA PERFORMANCE PROFILE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.
† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.
* Race cut short due to weather.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Ryan Newman during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway - Photo: Harold Hinson Photography

An interview with:
RYAN NEWMAN

HERB BRANHAM: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to today’s NASCAR teleconference. Today’s guest is Ryan Newman. Going into Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the Kobalt Tools 500, Ryan takes an all-time pole record at AMS of seven. Tied all time with Buddy Baker for that record.

Ryan, thanks for joining us. Off to a little bit of a slow start in terms of the points. You’re coming in 32nd in the standings. Last year at this time you were 33rd. As people well remember, you went on to make the Chase and have a great season. Do you feel pretty confident about a similar sort of comeback this season?

RYAN NEWMAN: I’d like to think so. I mean, I think it’s real early to be talking about a comeback. Based on the numbers I guess you could call it that.

Honestly, I think you’re right, we’ve got ourselves in a hole. I wouldn’t call it a comeback, but we’ve got some work to do to get ourselves in position. We’ve got a long time before that issue becomes pressing.

So I feel confident that we’ve made some big gains with our racecars this year. Vegas, we actually were off a little bit. But California we had a really fast racecar and lost an engine. Daytona we were working our way up through the pack and got crashed. I feel like we’ve been more competitive in general. In saying that, we’ve still got more work to do. We’re not sitting here having won two of the last three races like Jimmie Johnson has.

HERB BRANHAM: We’ve been trying to get a question from our Twitter account from our race fans out there. We have one from Christina. She wants to know: You’re a Daytona 500 winner, so what is the next huge goal for your career?

RYAN NEWMAN: Championship is the ultimate. If you’re looking at a race win, the Brickyard would be really special to me. I’d say one step even more special would be the Southern 500. That to me has a lot of history and a lot of meaning behind it. That race itself would be the biggest race along with maybe the Coca-Cola 600 that I would like to win. But the championship is the ultimate goal.

HERB BRANHAM: Thank you. We’ll go to the media for questions for our guest Ryan Newman.

Q. It seems like any more in Sprint Cup Series what rivalries we do see seem to be between teammates than between somebody with another team. Is there something about racing under the same roof as some other driver that makes you want to beat them worse than somebody else?

RYAN NEWMAN: I think it has the biggest potential for conflict of all things we do in NASCAR, any teammate is a competitor. That sense of pressure I guess, especially with the extra hype now with the Chase and everything else, it makes it a higher level of potential for that conflict on the racetrack.

You know, I understand what you’re saying. But I think that’s the biggest reason why. You got the same equipment. You got the same a lot of things. The biggest difference is your results. That creates a little internal rivalry at times.

Q. In what ways has the success of the 48 team challenged you and your team to be better in the last couple years with your experience in Cup? How has their success impacted you in a way that forces you to get better?

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, the real key time of their success has been in the Chase. They’ve been a successful team and obviously a successful organization the last several years. But what they do in the Chase is what makes everybody scratch their head, it seems.

I can’t say there’s one thing that we try to do to be better than them. But I will say that we try to do everything to be better than everybody else. I wouldn’t say it’s pit stops or what we try to do at a certain racetrack to be different or strategy or anything else. I think it’s collectively as a group and organization that we try to be better than everybody else. Therefore, that would hopefully make us better than the 48. At Stewart-Haas, we’re still in the process of building that.

Q. That said, is it difficult not to want to go reinvent the wheel? You say you’re trying to be better than everybody, so that takes care of the 48. When you look at what the 48 has done, how challenging is it to say this used to work but it’s not getting us to the level we want, we need to go in the opposite direction? How much of a danger is that or is that the approach that sometimes you have to be daring enough to take?

RYAN NEWMAN: I think you kind of asked the question in two different formats because you asked if I wanted to reinvent the wheel, then you also said if I wanted to go the opposite direction. That’s two different things. Reinventing the wheel means you’re reworking what’s already there. If you’re working that, you’re going to take it to the next level. I wouldn’t say you’re going in the opposite direction.

I think ultimately you’re trying to do what they are doing, and that is beating everybody else. What your weakness is as a team or organization is what you need to focus on and not take focus away from another thing. That sounds somewhat contradicting, but that’s the way it is.

Every department has a department head and those department heads are responsible for their own focus. That, therefore, defines the organization’s focus.

For me personally it’s to go out there and just do my best job that I possibly can. We’ve obviously seen Jimmie do that, especially in the Chase. There’s no reinventing the wheel, going in opposite directions. It’s a matter of what I just always have said, is getting the job done. That to me is just doing it better than everybody else, that being the job.

Q. Is Atlanta the kind of place you look forward to as you dig your way out of the early hole you’re in?

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, I mean, I look forward to every race. I wouldn’t say Atlanta is any different. I’ve always enjoyed Atlanta on Fridays just ’cause of my record in the cars that I’ve been given at those types of racetracks, especially there.

But, yeah, I wouldn’t say that I think of Atlanta as a place that we are going to rebound or we can rebound. I think every racetrack or every day is a new opportunity. It’s up to our team to go out there and make that happen.

Q. You had been quoted as saying Atlanta is bumpy enough that those bumps can spit you right out. Getting into turn one in the middle of three and four, you have to catch it right, it’s like surfing or wakeboarding. Since you’re so fast at qualifying in Atlanta, can you describe to the fans what it feels like to do that inside the car?

RYAN NEWMAN: It’s really difficult from a fan’s perspective to see the bumps we feel. Even when you’re playing on a video game, Atlanta is a smooth surface, there’s not any bumps there. You can’t get that sensation or feeling. When you’re running 200 plus miles an hour going into a corner and you hit a bump that makes the car jump three or four inches, that’s a big bump. That’s big feedback, I guess is what we call it.

You know, just to have those inconsistencies at that speed is not necessarily typical. Charlotte is super smooth. Texas is smoother than it ever has been. Places like Vegas, even though they have little bumps, they’re not near as big as some of the bumps at Atlanta.

I equate it to water. When the water gets choppy, things get that much more difficult, whether you’re a wakeboarder or a skier or what. So it’s just a way to relate to the fans what we as drivers go through to get that ultimate quick lap or each and every lap to make it as fast as we can.

Q. Have you ever been surfing or wakeboarding? How good are you at that?

RYAN NEWMAN: I’m not at all. I went skiing when I was a kid. That didn’t last too long. I didn’t think the water was going to hurt that bad when I hit it. That was enough for me. I do a little jet-skiing once in a while, but that’s it for me. If I’m on the water, I got a fishing rod in my hand.

Q. There’s a theory that once the spoiler gets put on the car that when a car spins, it decelerates more with a spoiler than with a wing, and that would keep the cars on the ground. Does that make sense to you? Have you looked at any numbers on that?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know. I mean, I think there could be. There may be some true reasoning for the speculation of that just from a drag perspective. I have not seen any numbers aero-wise in reference to that, when the car is backwards. So I couldn’t say.

I think from an aerodynamic standpoint, this is purely my opinion, that a spoiler would probably create less lift than a wing that is made to create downforce going in the opposite direction.

So if that wing is to create downforce going forward, it’s going to create a percentage of lift going the other way. I think that percentage of lift is greater than the percentage of lift than the spoiler creates going backwards.

Q. As far as your testing of the spoiler, have you done any on-track testing or relied all on simulation?

RYAN NEWMAN: We haven’t done with the 39 team any testing in reference to the spoiler. We have had cars in the wind tunnel, knowing what the rules are potentially going to be, trying to do our homework in respect to that. The 14 has tested it at Texas. We’re just waiting our time. Charlotte will be – I think actually Talladega will be our first test, even though it’s supposed to be a different spoiler.

Q. Career start number 300 will be coming up this weekend. As milestones go, where does that stack up in your book?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know. I mean, what’s a milestone look like? Is it granite or quartz?

Q. Maybe it pays some money.

RYAN NEWMAN: Honestly to me it’s just another number. It’s cool if you think about it to have 300 straight. From my standpoint to do something that I’ve always loved to do, that’s driving NASCAR Sprint Cup cars. It’s a number from my mental standpoint. But physically it’s nice to be able to do what I want to do for such a long time, and obviously have plans to do it even longer.

Just another number. That’s my short answer (laughter).

Q. I also know in past years when you’ve come to Atlanta, you’ve gone fishing with buddies in Georgia. Is that on the agenda? Is that something you try to do, go fishing or hunting?

RYAN NEWMAN: The hunting, as we call it, the place I like to go, no longer exists. I do have some other places I like to go. Usually it’s dependent on the weather, what’s going on that day, what my schedule looks like. We’ll see.

But it really is a prime time, with the exception of the deep freeze we’ve been in the Southeast this year, it is a prime time to go fishing.

Q. You enter Atlanta in a similar position to last year. When you look at the way you were able to rebound last year, is there anything that you harken back to that you find yourself missing in this position going forward?

RYAN NEWMAN: From our standpoint, we rebounded pretty quick last year. I don’t know when we were first inside the top 12 after being 33rd three races in. I know there’s plenty of potential and there’s a lot of season left. The law of averages works out for everybody except for Jimmie Johnson.

You know, I think we’ll have our opportunities. But I think if you look at 2009, when we rebounded, we didn’t keep that performance going. We had I think four or five top fives in a row, then we fell off. We maintained an 8th- to 10th-place position for the next 10 races or so, which was not ideal.

We left ourselves a lot of room to get better, which is a good thing, even though we made the Chase. I think if we can improve upon last year, then talking about 33rd at this time won’t be an issue, you know, for the rest of the season.

Q. What are your projections for Purdue with Robbie Hummel out?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know. I haven’t paid attention to any of it. I couldn’t tell you what’s going on in the world of basketball.

Q. Atlanta, this weekend you’re going to possibly set a pole record with the Buddy Baker situation and tiebreak that. Where does that fit in your career? How much do you actually place emphasis on your career on poles or is this something you naturally do well?

RYAN NEWMAN: I think Buddy Baker is one of the 50 greatest NASCAR drivers in the history of our sport. If there was ever a record I could beat him or tie him in, that would be a big reward mentally for me.

You know, having the opportunity this week with a car that we ran in California actually, which I feel is a very good car, to go there and have the opportunity to break that record, or to stand alone in that record is pretty cool.

If I live out the rest of my career tied with Buddy Baker, I’m still fine with that. But obviously I’d like to beat it, too.

Q. I think fans’ expectations of the spoiler coming are pretty darn high. Do you think it’s actually going to change the racing all that much?

RYAN NEWMAN: I believe it will. I think the biggest thing that we’re going to see with this spoiler, this is speculation from my standpoint, is the way the spoiler is designed, there’s going to be a lot more surface area of that spoiler on the quarter panels. I think the side drafting on the straightaway is going to be even bigger than it was with the old style car. I don’t think we have but 50% of that side drafting down the straightaway on the current car with the wing on it.

I think the fans will see more racing, even on the straightaways, if that makes sense. You’ll see more side-by-side, back and forth, nose-to-head, with the competitor down the straightaways, which I think will make places like Michigan and California, some of the tracks that are bigger, notorious for being a little boring through the middle of the race more exciting throughout the entire race.

Q. How big of a curve ball is this, getting a change like this mid-season or partial season?

RYAN NEWMAN: I mean, it’s not that huge, I don’t think. I think that NASCAR has been working on the aero balance part of it so the cars will drive similar. We don’t want to put Goodyear in a position where the cars are driving different where we’re having a tire situation after working so hard to get back to a good, safe, consistent tire. I think that it’s not gonna be night and day. There might be a couple clouds in the sky, but we’ll be fine.

Q. Looking ahead a little bit to Darlington, what are the characteristics of that track that give drivers such headaches?

RYAN NEWMAN: It’s the only racetrack that we go to in the entire – including road courses – where you accelerate into the turn. You let off on the straightaway going into turn one, then you accelerate up the hill. It’s unique all to its own at Darlington to have that characteristic.

You know, that stands out. You know, it used to be very unique. It was in a small group with Rockingham, when we had Rockingham, because the asphalt was similar, the tire was exact. You had to race the racetrack. I think it’s changed a little bit. You have to race the racetrack at Darlington still only because it’s so narrow, not necessarily because the grip changes so much.

Used to be easy when you came out behind somebody that came out on fresh tires to try to chase or run them down or at least keep up with them and crash your car. I don’t think you have that anymore because of the tire and the asphalt combination we have there.

Q. The words and phrases that perhaps invoke fear in drivers, particularly young drivers, where do you think the term ‘Darlington stripe’ falls as far as that category goes?

RYAN NEWMAN: Nowhere for me personally. It’s a tough one to answer. I think some people and drivers are entirely intimidated going to that racetrack. Some drivers absolutely hate it. But it’s one of my favorites if not my favorite. I always said it was my favorite when it was the old asphalt. I don’t even consider it, to answer your question.

Q. As an engineer, we’d expect you to be somewhat of an analytical driver. Jimmie Johnson writes down notes after every race. Do you think analytical drivers like Jimmie is the kind of driver who can end up surpassing the 48 team and a jump-in-the-car type of driver?

RYAN NEWMAN: That’s a good question. I don’t know how exactly to answer that. I think a driver has to be very well-rounded. It doesn’t have to be an engineer. Doesn’t have to be, you know, a perfect driver. He has to be well-rounded with respect to all visibilities from the physical, mental and emotional standpoint to drive that racecar to the highest capabilities possible.

The other part of that is it’s way beyond the driver. It’s part of the team. If you look at what Kevin Harvick has done this year with the same organization, but obviously with faster racecars, if he was taking notes, just started taking notes this year, you could call him – you could blame his excellence this year in taking notes.

But I think everybody is different. Some people have to take notes. Some people don’t. Some people can remember phone numbers, some people can’t. Some people can’t put a name with a face. Everybody’s different is my point. You know, I guess we’re still trying to find collectively as a group that equation to beat Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and the 48 team.

Q. Do you think the naturally articulate people like yourself have the ability to give better details to a crew chief and maybe that’s a helpful trait to have?

RYAN NEWMAN: I think, absolutely. The more information you can give to a crew chief, the better, from a feedback standpoint to make the racecar better or make the improvements or the correct adjustments.

I do my best. I know everybody tries to do their best. It’s how successful you are, who you’re working with, the team that you have behind you that makes you successful. You know, they are the benchmark.

Q. You mentioned earlier about the side drafting with the spoiler. What kind of a skill is that for a driver to learn that side drafting? Is this something like a racing 101 type of thing or is this kind of using a postgraduate course? What are the challenges in understanding that or is that an easy thing to pick up?

RYAN NEWMAN: It’s a pretty easy thing to pick up. It’s a pretty easy thing to do physically. The hardest part of it is, you know, it’s not the in-line difference in speed as much as it is the lateral difference in speed. If you get a car you’re trying to get as close as you can with your right front fender to his left rear quarter panel, he moves left or right a little bit, you’re putting both of yourselves in jeopardy. That’s the toughest part of side drafting, in my opinion. You know, just getting that run or having somebody help push you a little bit. That’s not so big a deal as it is physically putting your right front fender, which is the most demanding fender I would say in respect to aerodynamics, right vulnerable to somebody else’s left rear quarter panel.

We don’t see it as much as we used to because that side drafting isn’t as important. We used to see guys running into each other in the straightaways trying to slow somebody else down so they didn’t get past them as quick.

Q. So it’s as much about understanding who the driver is that you’re coming up on and understanding their tendencies as much as really the whole aspect of side drafting?

RYAN NEWMAN: Correct, yeah. It’s more important to know who you’re dealing with and who you’re working with or who’s working against you than it is to actually know the maneuver itself.

Q.  You have the seven Atlanta poles, which ties the record. You have a Truck win at Atlanta. The Cup win hasn’t happened. What might be the one critical factor that has eluded you at Atlanta?

RYAN NEWMAN: I’ve had winning racecars halfway through the race before and had tires go out of balance and power steering go out, things like that. I’ve been in position; just haven’t been able to follow through.

You know, it’s all about the entire package, just like it is for everybody else on any given weekend. I’ve always says it’s much easier to go out there and be the quickest car on one lap than it is to be the best car on average over 500 miles. The longer you’re doing something, the harder it is to maintain that level of excellence.

I’ve been very successful there in qualifying, fortunately. I’ve had some unsuccessful moments in racing. So, you know, you just take it with what you can. It’s all about hard work and effort.

Q. You’re racing for the Wildlife Project has been really building up. You helped the Michigan Waterloo Recreation Area with some work. I know you love fishing. When I bring up the idea how much you helped Michigan, I’m thinking, have you ever gone ice fishing?

RYAN NEWMAN: Yeah, actually just this past year out – we were snowmobiling with some friends out in Utah. They had a pond up there. We went ice fishing for a little bit and caught a few trout. That was a lot of fun.

But actually that was the second time in my life I went ice fishing. First time was with my grandfather when I was five or six years old. I remember we didn’t catch anything all morning. Bored our own holes. Decided to get some lunch at 11:30 or 12:00 when it was cold as could be. Came back. We left the lines in the water. I think one of us or both the us caught one without even being there. We caught fish the rest of the afternoon. That was a lot of fun. That was my first experience. I guess about 25 years later I got my second experience.

Q. I asked that question to Elliott Sadler. He said, You’d never catch me driving my truck out on a lake.

RYAN NEWMAN: That would be driving a truck on a lake, not ice fishing.

Q. Ryan, we were talking about a follow-up on the qualifying. How much do you feel the speed if you’re so used to it?  You’re so good there. How much do you feel that speed or are you conditioned to it?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t think you necessarily feel the speed as much as you actually know the input you’ve given the racecar to make it go faster. I’ve always said, you know, from 140 miles an hour on up, I don’t think that you actually feel speed until something happens to you or you hit something. Case in point, flying an airplane. Nobody knows when they’re on a commercial flight they’re doing over 500 miles an hour until you hit turbulence, then that turbulence is pretty noticeable.

When you’re running 200 miles an hour at Atlanta, I don’t think you necessarily feel that actual extra one or two or sometimes three miles an hour. What you feel is the input you give in the car to make it go faster, getting back to the throttle a little sooner, getting into the corner a little bit harder, carrying a little more mid-corner speed. Those are the things that you feel that actually make you feel what you’ve done to pick up speed over a given mile-and-a-half.

Q. As speeds get faster and faster, are you cognizant of the fact that you actually have to do so much more to get to that point on the qualifying?

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, that’s the thing. It’s really not that much more. It’s just a little bit here and there. It’s not like you’re closing your eyes and holding on for an extra three seconds. I mean, it’s a matter of 10, 15 feet max that makes the biggest differences. That 10, 15 feet at 200 miles an hour is literally a millisecond. It’s just a matter of picking your game up a little bit everywhere to be able to get the grip out of it and match that grip to your racecar to get everything you can for a given lap.

Q. Thanks a million.
RYAN NEWMAN: You’re welcome, times a billion (laughter).
HERB BRANHAM: Ryan, thanks very much for joining us today. Best of luck at Atlanta and the rest of the way.
RYAN NEWMAN: Thanks, everybody.
HERB BRANHAM: Thanks to all the media participating today. As always, we appreciate the coverage.

Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

-Team Chevy, Press Release

Ryan Newman during the NASCAR Sprint Media Tour hosted by Charlotte Motor Speedway - Photo: Harold Hinson Photography

Seems it wasn’t very long ago that Newman was a fresh-faced college student who, after enjoying success in the open-wheel ranks, was working to transition to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. It was back then that the United States Auto Club (USAC) champion was paired with former Sprint Cup driver Buddy Baker. Baker was charged with teaching the Indiana native how to hustle around NASCAR’s bigger racetracks in bigger, heavier stock cars.

The 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., where Newman will make his 300th Sprint Cup start this weekend in the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), was just one racetrack where Baker and Newman spent numerous days working together. Atlanta is just one of the places where the lessons that Newman learned have stuck with him.

The story goes that, nearly 10 years ago, Baker would travel with Newman to different racetracks and test sessions as his driving coach. While the team was in the garage preparing the racecar, Newman and Baker would jump in the rental car, buckle in and go for a ride around the racetrack.

Baker – the legendary driver who amassed 19 wins in 700 Cup starts – would show Newman how to drive the racetrack. The two would even drive the track backward so the young Newman would have a better perspective on the track’s entry and exit points.

Baker was very careful not to tell Newman what he should do. However, should Newman do something wrong on the track, Baker was the first to let him know what it was. Baker wanted his young protégé to learn from his mistakes.

The lessons that Baker taught are still fresh in Newman’s mind. Newman often reflects on Baker’s advice and has recognized him for his help in making him the driver he is today on numerous occasions. In fact, after Newman’s win in the 50th Running of the Daytona 500 in 2008, Newman named the car Buddy to thank his mentor.

Newman has a chance to honor his adviser in another way at Atlanta this weekend. The two – teacher and student – are tied with seven poles each at Atlanta, the most of any driver. With the ultimate qualifying effort, Newman could break the tie and set the all-time pole record and, in doing so, would give a nod of thanks to the man who helped him learn how to be successful in NASCAR.

For Newman, qualifying on the pole would also be a boost for his No. 39 SHR team and a potential momentum builder for the rest of the weekend. After three races, the team sits 32nd in points and has a best finish of 18th (last weekend at Las Vegas) so far this season. Although Newman and his team aren’t worried about their spot deep in the points, the team is ready to make a bold jump starting with qualifying this weekend at Atlanta.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing
You head to Atlanta this weekend with an opportunity to break a tie between you and Buddy Baker and set the pole record (with eight poles) at the 1.54-mile racetrack. What would it mean to you to hold the pole record at Atlanta Motor Speedway?

“Buddy Baker has been a good friend and mentor to me since I got my opportunity to race stock cars with Penske Racing back in 2000. He was someone I had admired, and when I got to know him, we had a lot in common and really enjoyed each other. I still talk to him pretty frequently – and we both have a lot of stories about each other, which we won’t get into, but we had fun. A lot of people have heard me tell the stories about how and what Buddy taught me, but it’s something that’s pretty cool and has been really important to my career. Buddy and I would go to racetracks and we would take our rental car out on the tracks at tests and drive around the racetracks forward and backward. Driving the tracks backward gave me a different perspective of the entry and exit points of each corner. What Buddy did was teach me how to approach those areas on the racetrack when I was driving the track the right way. Atlanta was a track that he helped me with a lot. Back when I tied him for the pole record, I think he joked that he shouldn’t have taught me quite so well.

“To be honest, though, Buddy probably helped me more than I realized at the time because he never told me what to do – he told me what not to do. He would never tell me when I was doing something right, but he always told me what I was doing wrong, because he wanted me to learn from my mistakes. He was an amazing teacher, and I count myself very lucky to have Buddy as a friend and mentor. He taught me, more so sometimes, the things not to do than the things to do. To me, that made a big difference and a big impact. If I could not make some of those same mistakes he did that cost him a shot at a victory, and to make an addition to his resume, those were things that were going to help my resume.

“I really would like to get the pole record at Atlanta. I look at all the records that are out there, and I think I told reporters last year that this may be my only shot at a record of any kind. But to me, it’s not so much about breaking Buddy’s pole record. In fact, being tied with Buddy is quite an honor for me. I think it would be even more of an honor if I could pass him and set my own pole record at Atlanta, just because I know what an incredible driver and teacher Buddy was to me, and I know how long that pole record has stood. It would be something really special. I think both Buddy and I would be excited if I could set the record this weekend.”

While you have had great success at winning poles in Atlanta – you even had six in a row from 2003-2005 – you haven’t had as much success in the races. You have just one top-five in 16 starts. What do you attribute that to?

“Unfortunately, I’ve heard that question before, too. When you look at my stats, I guess I’ve got a lot of poles and not so many wins, or at least a third as many wins as I have poles. But the numbers don’t necessarily tell the whole story. I’ve had some fast racecars there. We lost power steering one race and still finished 10^th, one lap down. We had a tire that was out of balance and pitted while we were leading one year and went a lap down. Last year, we had strong racecars in both of the races at Atlanta. We had a top-10 car in the spring race and we lost a cylinder, which caused us to fall out of contention. In the fall, we had a really good car. I struggled with handling for most of the race but, in the last 100 laps, I got the car to my liking and I was able to get a top-10 out of it. So I’ve had some fast race cars. I’m not talking the first run of the race. I’m talking toward the end of the race. Unfortunately, we’ve not gotten the results to show for it. We got turned around on the back straightaway running in the top-five with (Dale Earnhardt) Junior at one time there. It’s all in how you look at it. I’ve always said it’s tougher to complete 500 miles faster than everybody than it is to run one lap fast and hold your breath.

“I feel like, this year, we have the opportunity to win the pole and have a solid finish. We had a really good car in both races at Atlanta last year. And over the past year, our mile-and-a-half program at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) has really improved, so I think we will have an even better shot at both a pole and a good finish. Just in the past two races, I’ve been really happy with my No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet. We’ve unloaded well. We’ve been super fast. We’ve been really competitive. Unfortunately, we had issues at both races – a blown engine at California and some pit road issues at Las Vegas – and we didn’t get the finishes we feel we deserved. Overall, though, we’ve had some really strong racecars, so I’m looking forward to seeing what we have for Atlanta this weekend.”

What are some of the keys to racing at Atlanta?

“Atlanta is fast, especially when the conditions are right. You have to hit your marks. It’s bumpy enough that those bumps can spit you right out. Getting into turn one and the middle of three and four, you’ve just got catch everything just right. It’s kind of like surfing or wakeboarding – you’ve got to catch the waves right and, obviously, put the car in the right spot to do the right things with the gas and the steering wheel. I think it’s the combination of the tire grip that we have, initially, and it’s a wide open racetrack. There’s plenty of room to race there. It’s one of the best racetracks we go to for three- and four-wide racing in the corners. I think we’ll have a good car. We ran better in Atlanta last year than I have in a long time, so I look forward to going back and seeing what we have this time around.”

You haven’t really had the start to the 2010 season that you had hoped for with two DNFs and a top-20 finish. Instead, it’s very reminiscent of how you started out last year. With that in mind, your team was able to fight back from a rough start and secure a spot in the Chase for the Championship. Is that something you guys look at right now and something that keeps you motivated and saying that you can do this?

“It has been a frustrating start to the season for us but, just because a race or two doesn’t go your way, you can’t get down and upset and think that this is how your season is going to go, or this is what your season is going to be like. We have to stay focused and believe that our luck is going to change. We know where we were at this time last year and it’s about the same spot as we are right now. For us, though, we are looking at the big picture and we’ve run a lot better already in the first three races this year than we did last year. We’ve made some pretty big gains as an organization and some pretty big gains for me, personally, working with Tony Gibson and having a year under our belts and having that notebook to go back to from when we got some experience together there last year. For instance, California was something that was out of our control. Our biggest satisfaction was knowing that we had a car that was a top-five racecar in Fontana. We worked our way toward the front every run, and then we lost an engine. Gibson probably says it best – that we have to take a positive out of each race. We got our first finish at Las Vegas. It wasn’t a finish I was happy with or proud of, but we finished the race and now we’re going to use that as a springboard to hopefully make some big gains in the points these next few weeks, just like we did last year. We came from behind last year as a new team of people who didn’t really know each other. I have a lot of faith in this team because we didn’t give up at all last year, and I believe we can do the same thing again this year.”

TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

Ryan has enjoyed great success in qualifying at Atlanta. He is tied for the pole record there with Buddy Baker with seven poles, and he has the chance to set the all-time pole record this weekend. How much of a focus will you put on that this weekend?

“Ryan is definitely a threat to win the pole at Atlanta, and I would really like to see him get that record. It’s something we would like to help him achieve, but I would give up a pole for a strong car all day, good pit stops and to be able to win a race. Anybody can sit on the pole, but you’ve got to win races when it comes right down to it. I’d rather have a really good racecar than a really good qualifying car. We’ve had good qualifying cars the first three races this season. I know Ryan has thought that he had a valid shot at the pole at Daytona, California and Las Vegas, and I don’t think it will be any different for us this weekend at Atlanta. We’re taking the car we ran in California, and we unloaded good and fast right off the truck, so I think we’ll have a good car and we have good notes. The rest will be in Ryan’s hands. I would love for him to get the pole and that record, but I don’t just want to win the pole just for the sake of winning the pole. I would settle for a really, really good racecar and have a solid day in the pits and on the racetrack.”

Last weekend at Las Vegas, the team qualified third and then had some issues on pit road, which led to an 18^th-place finish. However, your first comment at the end of the race was, “We finished one of these things, and that’s a start.” Can you talk about that comment and what your goals are heading into Atlanta?

“I look at it as a case where we had to pull a positive out of the weekend. We had a really, really good car right off the truck at Las Vegas. We qualified well – in third place. The race started out really well for us, but we lost several spots on the first pit stop and then we lost a straightaway to the leader on a green-flag stop, and that’s what put us behind, which was disappointing and frustrating to everyone. But we did finish the race. We had a good car. We just had some bad pit-road issues that put us further back than we should have been. You just try to pull a positive out of each race, no matter what it is. The way I look at it is that it’s early in the season. This isn’t where we wanted to be, but we have to look at each race and make the best of each situation. Right now, we just have to keep finishing these races. As long as we can do that, we will be doing what we did last year and we’ll be fine. It won’t be long until we will be right back up there in the hunt.

“We ran well at Atlanta last year both times we were there. We had some engine issues and dropped a cylinder in the first race while we were running in the top-10. The second race, we got a top-10. We know we run well there. NASCAR and Goodyear have brought the same tire to Atlanta, which seems to suit Ryan’s driving style a little better so, hopefully, that will play into our favor and help us shine a little bit better, too. We gained points after our finish at Las Vegas. We need to make some bigger gains. We need to make a six- or eight-spot gain there. We need to have the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet in the top-20 by the time we come out of Bristol. That’s our goal right now, just to have solid finishes and get back up there in the points like we did last year.”

RYAN NEWMAN’S ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY PERFORMANCE PROFILE

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

* Race cut short due to weather.

-True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Old Spice/Office Depot Driver Scores Second Straight Top-10, Rises to 11^th in Points

2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Tony Stewart knocked down his second straight top-10 finish with a solid seventh-place effort in Sunday’s Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) led twice for seven laps in the 267-lap race.

“We ended up seventh, which is alright, but you always want more,” said Stewart, who finished ninth in last Sunday’s race in Fontana, Calif. “I struggled on restarts. It took a couple laps to get going, and when you lose so much time here on restarts like that, it makes for a long day.”

Stewart started ninth and never fell out of the top-10. By lap 13, he had risen to seventh, a spot he would hold for much of the race. Yet even with a car that was tight in the center of the track’s corners and loose on exit, Stewart would occasionally post a lap as fast, if not faster than, the leaders.

Crew chief Darian Grubb massaged the chassis through a series of wedge, track bar and tire pressure adjustments during the team’s regularly scheduled pit stops. And thanks to quick work by the Old Spice/Office Depot pit crew, Stewart was able to crack the top-five after 90 laps around the 1.5-mile oval.

But as Stewart alluded, restarts were his Achilles Heel. After starting fourth on lap 93, Stewart fell to seventh by lap 108. And when he started fourth for another restart on lap 114, he was back in seventh by lap 120.

Stewart’s time at the top of leaderboard came during two green flag runs where teams had to make scheduled pit stops. Stewart stayed out to lead laps 164-165 and laps 215-219 before making his requisite trips to pit road.

The two-time Sprint Cup champion was in fifth-place when the race’s final caution came out on lap 230. With only 11 drivers on the lead lap, the call was made to come to pit road for four tires and a splash of gas. Four tires, reasoned Stewart and Grubb, were better than two tires or no tires at all, as some opted for track position over a trip to pit road.

Those three strategies then played out in the race’s final 33 laps. Clint Bowyer, who had stayed out, led the field to green. Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Mark Martin took just two tires and restarted second, third and sixth, respectively. Everyone else took four tires, which included Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, who lined up fourth and fifth, respectively, while Stewart slotted in at – you guessed it – seventh.

In theory, Stewart was in the driver’s seat to log a top-three finish, for his four-tire strategy was better than Bowyer’s no-tire strategy and the two-tire calls of those ahead of him. But since restarts had hampered Stewart all day long, the race’s final restart was no different. The Old Spice/Office Depot driver struggled to get going and dropped to ninth in just one lap. He had to use the remaining laps to simply get back what he lost. Stewart was successful in that endeavor, crossing the stripe in seventh when the checkered flag waved.

Stewart’s SHR teammate, Ryan Newman, finished 18^th in his No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet.

Johnson ended up winning the Shelby American. The four-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion scored his 49^th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his fourth at Las Vegas. Harvick finished 1.874 seconds behind Johnson, while Gordon, Martin and Kenseth rounded out the top-five. Joey Logano, Stewart, Bowyer, Kasey Kahne and Greg Biffle comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were seven caution periods for 29 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 400-mile race.

With round 3 of 36 complete, Stewart is 11^th in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He gained six positions and now has 386 points, 120 markers back of series leader Harvick. Newman rose four spots to 32^nd in the standings. He has 225 points and is 281 points behind Harvick.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the March 7 Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 1 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.

– True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

WIX Filters Lap Leader Logo

• Tony Stewart led twice for seven laps to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in today’s Shelby American.  Stewart led for the first time this season.  He has now led 117 times in 262 NASCAR Sprint Cup superspeedway races for a total of 6,093 laps.

• Stewart scored a seventh-place finish in today’s race, his second consecutive top-10.  He racked up his 157^th career top-10 on a superspeedway.

• Stewart is 11^th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 11 points ahead of 12^th-place Kyle Busch and three behind 10^th-place Carl Edwards.

• STEWART QUOTES:  “We ended up seventh but you always want more.  I struggled on restarts.  It took me a couple of laps to get going.  You lose so much time here on restarts like that.  Just makes it a long day.”

• THREE RACES, THREE DIFFERENT FACES:  Stewart, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick have all captured WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors this season.

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS

Kevin Harvick       1
Jeff Burton         1
Tony Stewart        1

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE

EVENT                   DRIVER

Daytona 500             Kevin Harvick, 41 laps
Auto Club 500           Jeff Burton,  46 laps
Shelby American         Tony Stewart, seven laps

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*Affinia Group Inc.’s affiliated companies include Brake Parts Inc. WIX Filtration Corp LLC, Affinia Products  Corp LLC and other high quality manufacturers of the Affinia family of brands.ss Release

- Camp & Associates, Inc. for WIX Filters, Prelease

Team Chevy Logo

Ryan Newman put the No. 39 Tornados Impala in the third starting position followed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr., No. 88 National Guard/AMP Energy Impala in fourth place on the grid.

Mark Martin, No. 5 GoDaddy.com Impala, will start eighth in the 267-lap/400.5-mile race. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Impala will roll of ninth in the starting order with Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 42 Target Impala alongside in the 10^th starting position.

A total of 15 Team Chevy drivers will take the green flag at 12:00 p.m. PST (3:00 p.m. EST) on Sunday.

Kurt Busch (Dodge) won the pole and his brother Kyle Busch (Toyota) rounded out the top-five qualifiers for the 43-car field.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI MAX IMPALA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT – Qualified 2^nd:

GOOD RUN

“Thank you. We’re real happy. Obviously we would have liked to be on the pole but Kurt (Busch) had a great lap there. I felt like we got a little bit free off of (Turn) 4 and that might have been the difference because it’s pretty close. But still all in all, it was a great day for us and the DuPont/Pepsi Max Chevy and I’m looking forward to Sunday’s race.

18 GUYS BROKE THE TRACK RECORD. WHY IS IT SO MUCH FASTER TODAY?

“Tires. There’s a new tire Goodyear brought. I don’t know all the differences. But it’s definitely the tires. The teams do a great job. We bring a little bit more power this year over the off-season and make a little bit more power. We find ways to make the cars a little bit faster, but the majority of what happened today was tires.”

WAS THE CAR SET-UP MAINLY FOR THE RACE ON SUNDAY WHEN YOU PRACTICED TODAY? HOW DO YOU THINK YOU’LL RACE ON SUNDAY?

“We made two or three short race runs, which is sort of what we’re going to do this year. We’re going to do more of that and it certainly paid off today. Thankfully. The car felt real good. I felt like we were missing a little bit of speed at the beginning of the run, but it felt like it was really solid looking at the times on the fifth lap. But then we went into qualifying trim and made qualifying runs. So if it rains tomorrow at least we’ve got something to go off of. But you’ve still got to qualify. You’ve got to qualify up front. Track position is important. We’ll just wait and see what happens tomorrow.”

NOBODY HAS ASKED YOU ABOUT YOUR BACK AND IF YOU’RE DOING ANYTHING SPECIAL FOR IT THIS YEAR

“Thank goodness. I’ve just been working out real hard and it’s still there, the discomfort, but it’s not painful. So I’m getting through the races, no problem. And I think just all the working out that I’ve been doing is helping me to not focus too much on the back.”

IS THAT ONE OF THE REASONS THAT YOU’VE DECIDED TO RACE PAST THE AGE OF 40?

“Yeah, that’s the thing. At the time, whatever five or six years ago, that’s the way I felt. And when the back thing came up, I thought that it could be something that could hamper me. But I wish I’d started the physical fitness training sooner because I feel like it would have helped. But I got a little lazy and won a bunch of races and got lazy and so it happens. And then you lose a bunch of races and some championships and it makes you have to dig deeper and work harder and when the team is doing all that they are doing I don’t want to have any excuses out there. And certainly with what happened to my back, that was a big part of me having to strengthen my core. And then I started to like it and get into a regimented routine and it’s definitely going to play a role in helping me to race more competitively longer.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS IMPALA PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT – Qualified 3rd:

THERE WERE LOTS OF RECORD-BREAKING LAPS OUT THERE TODAY

“Yes there were.”

WHY? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?

“Well, they’ve got new tires and we’ve worked on our race cars and the track was cool. I thought it was pretty good that for whatever reason Mother Nature keeps following us in the form of rain and it seems like it’s been it’s been cool for qualifying for almost every time, including Daytona; but the conditions have stayed the same throughout the entire practice session. It cooled off a little bit, don’t get me wrong, but if it had been sunny it would have been a bigger difference depending on where you drew.”

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE PERSONALLY TO TRY TO BUMP UP THE MOOD IN THE NO. 39 HAULER GIVEN THE FIRST COUPLE OF WEEKS THAT YOU’VE HAD THIS SEASON?
“Nothing. I mean really, I go in and have a good attitude and everybody else has a good attitude and knowing what happened to us was poor luck, I mean, at Daytona we got crashed and we lost an engine there at California. So, it’s tough. And we know where we were at this time last year and it’s about the same spot. And we’ve run a lot better than we did last year. It’s only two races, but either way. It kind of gives you an idea. Our biggest satisfaction was at California knowing that we had a car that was a top five race car. We worked our way towards the front every run and lost that engine. But that in itself has kept us from having to worry about attitude or that mentality of what are we going to do?”

HOW CONFIDENT ARE YOU IN YOUR CAR FOR SUNDAY AND HOW DO YOU THINK YOU’LL RUN?

“I’m very confident. It’s a brand new race car. The Tornados Chevrolet. It’s the first race for them. We’ve made some pretty big gains as an organization and some pretty big gains for me personally working with Tony Gibson and having a year under our belts and having that notebook to go back on when we got some experience here last year. You only get to come to places like here and Kansas and Indy one time each year. So you’ve got to be on your game. When you have nothing to go off of, it’s 200 percent more difficult. So to come here and have the experience of qualifying good last year and then proving that for this year I think that we’ve looked on some good things. I’m just happy to debut the Tornados Chevrolet in a good position in the media center.”

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING NOTES & QUOTES:

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD/AMP IMPALA: “That was a good lap, we worked really hard in practice to get the National Guard/Amp Energy Chevy as good as we could and it paid off. Lance (McGrew, crew chief) and the guys did a great job.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 42 TARGET IMPALA: “It is crazy. Somebody is always there. It is good. This Target Chevy is incredible. This week is special for Target with the big shopping cart here that I am going to be driving tonight for TV. It is exciting. It is cool. I can’t complain. Do I want to be first? Of course I want to be first but, hey we are there every week. That is important to see.”

MARK MARTIN, NO. 5 GODADDY.COM IMPALA: “This car was great. I was a little bit worried about it because I bounced the last run I made in one. I was afraid I would be conservative, but I took it down in there pretty good and I just slammed it to the floor and away we went. It was a good run. This team can win this race, what a great race team. I am loving the GoDaddy.com colors. I just have to be the luckiest guy, I feel like the luckiest guy to strap in this thing and drive it. I feel like I am dreaming.”

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DUPONT/PEPSI MAX IMPALA: “That was an all or nothing type of a lap. We are really excited about having this DuPont/Pepsi Max Chevrolet. It is a great looking car. But, it is fast as well. The guys have done a great job with it all day. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and all the guys…real proud of them. I feel like we really broke down practice well in the way we prepared for it and the way we ran through it. We were going through our notes afterwards to make good adjustments. Right there at the end of practice I felt like we got a good lap but not our best lap. I felt like I got both ends really good. I chose to go to the outside through one and two, I felt like it was a risk but the last time we were here, the bumps really got me upset going to qualify it cost us a lot of time. We went for it not knowing if it was going to work but so far it has but the track is cool and fast. This has been a good race track for us. I really love it. I am liking this Goodyear tire that they brought. The car feels great, Pepsi Max on board. Things are looking good. We did some race runs this morning and there were good. I’m hoping we get on the track tomorrow, there is some rain predicted, but hopefully we can get on the track and find out what we really have for Sunday. This team has been performing really well. Unfortunately the results haven’t shown it the first two races but the car and the team have been awesome. We hope we can show we are capable of this weekend.”

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TORNADOS IMPALA: “The Tornados Chevrolet has been good since we unloaded off the truck. Tony Gibson (crew chief) and the guys, everybody at the shop have done a great job. This is a brand new race car. I’m sure a lot of guys have good race cars and new race cars but this one we look forward to the rest of the weekend. We were pretty good in race trim in practice. That was a good lap.

“This is my kind of race track; I like the ones that have hills on them.”

Chevrolet is one of America’s best-known and best-selling automotive brands, and one of the fastest growing brands in the world. With fuel solutions that range from “gas-friendly to gas-free,” Chevrolet has nine models that offer an EPA-estimated 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway, and offers two hybrid models. More than 2.5 million Chevrolets that run on E85 biofuel have been sold. Chevrolet delivers expressive design, spirited performance and strives to provide the best value in every segment in which it competes. More information can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

- Team Chevy, Press Release

2010 NSCS Tony Stewart - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

The group’s name came about from its female members hailing from Las Vegas, which uses 702 as its telephone area code.

While 702 sang “Where My Girls At?,” Stewart has been asking the 702-located racetrack – Las Vegas Motor Speedway – “Where My Wins At?” For of all the venues that host both the Sprint Cup Series and the NASCAR Nationwide Series, Las Vegas is the lone racetrack where Stewart has yet to record a victory.

It’s certainly not for a lack of effort, as the driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing has recorded four top-five and six top-10 finishes while leading a total of 185 laps in his 11 career Sprint Cup starts at the 1.5-mile oval. He has four Nationwide Series starts at Las Vegas and finished third in 2007 driving for Kevin Harvick Inc. However, it was in the 2008 Nationwide Series race where Stewart appeared poised to cross Las Vegas off his “to-do” list.

Driving a No. 20 Old Spice Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), Stewart led twice for 61 laps, and after his then JGR teammate Kyle Busch crashed out when a flat tire sent him into the wall, there was no other driver even close to matching the pace set by Stewart. But an accident with a lapped car on lap 137 of the 202-lap race sent Stewart hard into the SAFER Barrier along the outside retaining wall in turn three, ending his shot at visiting Las Vegas’ victory lane.

Even though a win hasn’t been earned at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Stewart has in fact won a race on the track’s grounds. It came in November 2002 at the Las Vegas Bullring, located just behind turns one and two of the 1.5-mile oval, where Stewart swept the USAC (United States Auto Club) Sprint/Midget doubleheader.

Coming off a ninth-place finish last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Stewart returns to Las Vegas ready to notch that much desired win – on the big track and in the big-time, for Sprint Cup is the only race on Stewart’s docket this weekend.

Sunday’s Shelby American is the sole focus for Stewart and the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot team, and since the Sprint Cup Series only visits Las Vegas once a year, it’s Stewart’s one chance to put a checkmark in the win column next to the currently vacant box that reads “Las Vegas.”

The winner at Las Vegas is typically greeted in victory lane by two of The Strip’s famous showgirls, so should Stewart take the checkered flag, he could join 702 in asking, “Where my girls at?”

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

A lot of importance was placed on last Sunday’s race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and it seems an equal amount of importance is placed on the upcoming race at Las Vegas. Why?

“These early races teach you very quickly where your program is compared to the competition. If your cars are good, you’ll run well at California, Vegas, Atlanta, Texas and so on. Everybody wants to know where they stack up and shake up right now. If you can get off to a good start, it shows that your program is really where it needs to be. This is a huge week.”

What is your outlook for this weekend’s race at Las Vegas?

“It’s no different at Las Vegas than anywhere else. You have to get the car to rotate through the corner, but still stay tight enough on entry and exit. There’s no unique challenges there. The track is really smooth and that lets you work on the attitude of your car, and I think that’s a luxury that we have there that we don’t necessarily always get everywhere else because every track has its unique set of bumps. Vegas has bumps too, but for the most part, it’s so smooth that you can really fine-tune the attitude of the car.”

How is Las Vegas Motor Speedway different from Auto Club Speedway, site of last week’s Sprint Cup race?

“The corners are tighter.  It’s tighter coming off turn four and tighter going into turn one than it is at California. That’s why the handling is so important there. Because the corners are tighter, it makes it really important that the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet rolls through there free – not tight or loose. It’s a real important track in terms of balance.”

Your USAC teams race Thursday night at The Dirt Track, and then your World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series teams race Friday night at The Dirt Track. It’s not often when the schedules of your open-wheel teams coincide with your Sprint Cup schedule. Are you looking forward to a busy week as an owner and a driver?

“Oh, yeah. It’s really a cool weekend because we get to watch the USAC guys on Thursday and then the Outlaws guys on Friday, so I get to see both sides of my open-wheel teams run two days in a row, and then I get to play the rest of the weekend. So I’m excited about that. That’s what makes going to Las Vegas and Charlotte (N.C.) so much fun is that we do get to see our other programs running. We’ll get to see all of our teams out there and that will be fun.”

You’ve been a team owner in Sprint Cup for a little over a year now. How has life changed, if it’s changed at all?

“It hasn’t changed from the driving side. I think I’ve been on the ownership side long enough not only with the Cup stuff, but with my open-wheel teams, that it’s just business as usual. When you get in the car, you’re just thinking about being a driver. You’re not thinking about making payroll at the end of the week or all the other things that you worry about when you’re outside the car. When you’re in the car, if you’re thinking about anything other than driving the car, then you probably shouldn’t be in there to begin with. For me, that’s something that’s been really easy to separate.”

Stewart-Haas Racing receives its engines from Hendrick Motorsports. All of the top teams have an in-house engine program. Do you ever envision creating an in-house engine program at Stewart-Haas Racing?

“I don’t see us making plans to do that. You look at Hendrick’s engine program, and I don’t think they’re lacking anything there. The last four years have proven that. I think you look at past experiences and you look at Darrell Waltrip’s experiences as a car owner, and he’ll be the first one to tell you that was the mistake he made was going from a program like that, which kept him where he needed to be, to thinking he could make it better by starting his own program. That actually led to the end of it. We’ve got a great partnership with Hendrick Motorsports, and I don’t see us straying off from their program and their engines. The opportunity to work with those guys and our input on top of Jeff’s (Gordon) and Jimmie’s (Johnson) and Dale’s (Earnhardt Jr.) and Mark’s (Martin) input that they have from their program. Being able to have our two cents worth in this program makes it better for all six of us.”

2010 NSCS Ryan Newman - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood/Getty Images for NASCAR

Sunday’s Shelby American will be the first of nine races where new sponsor Tornados, a brand of family owned Ruiz Foods, will adorn the No. 39 Chevrolet Impala as the team’s primary sponsor.

Teaming up with Newman and SHR was a leap – a bold move, one could say – for the Dinuba, Calif.-based company. Tornados, a bold-tasting snack featuring meat, cheese and sauce rolled into a crispy crust, was already popular in convenience stores nationwide. Ruiz Foods was now prepared to launch Tornados into retail grocery stores. The company wanted a big idea to bring attention to its product. For a brand with the tagline “Bold is how we roll,” the bigger the idea, the better.

The company’s big idea was to sponsor a Sprint Cup team, and it didn’t take long to turn that idea into reality. The brand joined forces with SHR and announced the venture last November. The partnership begins in earnest this weekend, when Newman and the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet take the track for the first time at the 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval.

In nine Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas, Newman has one pole (2005), one top-five and four top-10 finishes. His best finish at the Nevada track is a fourth-place effort during his rookie season in 2002, when Newman started on the outside pole and led the field for 50 laps. Last season at Las Vegas, Newman was making a hard charge for the top-10 when a vibration, which turned out to be a loose wheel, forced him to pit under green. Newman lost two laps and was had to settle for a 25^th-place finish.

In his sophomore campaign with SHR, Newman’s goals are to improve on last season’s performances – to score poles, to win races and to make the Chase for the Championship for a second consecutive season. Although the first two race finishes of 2010 have been less than desirable – a 34^th-place finish at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway due to a late-race wreck, and a 36^th-place finish at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., due to engine failure – Newman and his No. 39 team have been solid competitors in each race and have shown improved performances on the track.

This weekend is no different. With new sponsor Tornados on board for its first race, Newman is ready for his team’s improved performances on the racetrack to translate into a solid finish. Newman would also like to make it a memorable one.

The first outing on the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet could well result in several firsts for Newman and the team – his first career win at Las Vegas, his first win at SHR, and the first win ever for any car wearing the No. 39 in Sprint Cup competition.

Taking the checkered flag first and rolling into victory lane at Las Vegas for the first time would be quite an opening act for Newman and his No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet. It may seem like a lofty goal, but this isn’t Newman & Company’s first race together, and they’re more than ready to make a bold statement.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

Las Vegas is the first of nine races for new sponsor Tornados, which is a brand of family owned Ruiz Foods. Talk a little bit about this new partnership for the No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing team.

“Ruiz Foods is a family owned business, and we think of ourselves as a family at Stewart-Haas Racing. We’re excited to have them join our family. Coming into NASCAR and joining SHR is a big deal for them, and we’re excited that they are using us to help grow their brand.  Last week, I went to the Ruiz Foods plant in Dinuba, Calif., and spent time with their team members, went on a plant tour and learned how their company works. It was really cool watching the production line and seeing how Tornados are made. It’s kind of funny, though, because while I was there, I realized that this is the first time I’ve ever been associated with any kind of food in my racing career. So this is kind of new for me. But while I was talking about it, I also told Bryce Ruiz (the company’s CEO) that this is probably one of the easiest sponsors for me, in some ways. I mean, it’s a simple connection because of our schedule and what we do. At the track, we are constantly on the go with practice, appearances, media obligations. It’s racing, racing, racing, and then you get a little break. Like on Saturday, our practice sessions are set up where we will have a 30-minute window where the guys get the car turned around and have a chance to eat. It’s nothing for the guys to go to the truck and grab a Tornado, or put one in the microwave really quick, and come back to the garage and keep working on the car. Time-wise and, obviously, taste-wise, it’s ideal for what our guys do – me included – because we are always on the run. We’re busy, and we like it that way, but it’s always nice to be able to have a good bite to eat when we can. It’s funny because I hadn’t thought about that at all until I wasn’t sitting at the plant talking to the plant workers last week.”

While you were spending time at the Ruiz Foods plant, you actually told a couple of stories that the employees thought were funny about how you have been incorporating Tornados into different activities that you have done, and even how you have shared this new food with your family. Tell a couple of those stories again.

“Like I said, I’m really excited about working with Tornados. NASCAR is a new thing for their family, but I think it’s a perfect fit for them because our sport is probably the most family oriented sport out there. For me, it’s fun to have new sponsors and to do different things with them. When I got to the plant, everyone wanted to know what my favorite flavor was. I had to be honest and tell them I had only tried a few of them, but my favorite was Cheesy Pepperjack because my mom used to always get me pepperjack cheese at the grocery store when I was a little boy. But we have different flavors at the racetrack every weekend, so I’m trying them all. The fact that everybody around me wants to try Tornados since they are my sponsor is kind of how I got to the story.

“Anyhow, we have some friends in Utah, and every year we go there in the offseason to snowmobile. It’s a small cabin in Utah. It runs off a generator and it has a wood stove for a furnace and that’s it. We go out there in December to go ride snowmobiles, and that is all we do. When you go snowmobiling, you ride for a while, you find a place to eat, you take some snacks and you take a break and eat. Anyhow, on the snowmobiles, they have these things called hot doggers – it’s just the terminology because people used to throw mini corndogs in them. We got the bright idea to throw some Tornados in there, just to see how they cook, how they warm up, what it’s going to be like. It’s literally a can that gets strapped by a hose clamp to the exhaust of the snowmobile. The harder you ride, the hotter it gets, the quicker the food cooks. So the harder you ride, the quicker you get to eat. We had a few boxes of Tornados, and the Tornados were a hit with the group we were with. They cooked up pretty good in the hot dogger. It’s a weird story, but it’s true.

“The other story they thought was cool was about my grandfather. He’s 85 years old, and we sent him a couple of boxes of different flavors of Tornados earlier this year because he wanted to know what they were. He had his family over, and he did a taste test. I talked to him the other day and he’s ready for another shipment. So, it’s kind of cool the things we can incorporate with a sponsor like this, and I’m looking forward to having some fun off the racetrack and on it with our new sponsor and the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet.”

It was a disappointing weekend for you and the No. 39 team last weekend at Auto Club Speedway. The No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet had moved into the top-10 and had been a solid performer in the race. But then you endured an engine failure. Despite the 36^th-place finish, you were very upbeat about how your team raced. Can you talk about that a little bit more?

“It was a really disappointing finish to the race for us. We didn’t have a good finish at Daytona because of a wreck with like five laps to go before the green-white-checker, and we really went to California feeling like we needed to have a good finish. We felt like we had good notes going in there, and we were pretty confident about the racecar we were taking and our game plan. Then, to have an engine failure was tough, but that’s not something that has been common for us since SHR started last season. Hendrick gives us very good, strong, reliable engines and I think we’ve probably had one engine failure in the course of the past year that I can remember besides this one. It’s something that happens – it’s part of racing. It was just disappointing because we had such a strong run going and because we’ve now had two DNFs and we’re back in the same hole that we were in last season.

“But for me and Tony Gibson, I think the race at California really showed us just how much improvement we have made over the course of the past year. Before the season started, I talked a lot about the great work the guys had done in the offseason with the racecars to make them better, and how I thought we had made some big gains. This year, we have notes to go back on, whereas last year, we were a new group of people still learning each other. Last year, we were just trying things. This year, we have notes and data points from all the races so we can come back each year and be a stronger team. California showed that we have made some big improvements as a team. To me, California is a good test because it’s a 2-mile track. It’s that kind of intermediate track where we go the most during the course of the season. That’s also the track that we struggled on a lot last year. After California, I feel like we made some big gains. That car was the most competitive car I have had in a really long time at California. It was good all day long, and we were moving forward every run the entire race. We showed what we are capable of during the long runs. Unfortunately, I just didn’t get a chance to show what I had at the end of the race. It was a bad way to the end the day, but I’m really proud of how good of a car we had and how much we have improved. We still have some work to do, but I’m looking forward to getting to Las Vegas and seeing how we run on a mile-and-a-half track.”

Talk about racing at Las Vegas.

“We had a pretty fast racecar at Las Vegas last year, but we had a loose wheel later in the race. We ended up having to pit under green and that caused us to lose a couple of laps to the leader. We finished 25^th, but I remember leaving there last year thinking we had a much better car than that. Last season, the intermediate tracks were our weakness, but we got better throughout the course of the year. After the improvements we made to our mile-and-a-half program last season, and then after what both me and Gibson felt like were huge gains at California last weekend, I’m really looking forward to what we can accomplish this weekend at Las Vegas in the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet.

“As far as the track goes, they’ve made some changes to it over the past few years. It’s higher-banked, has a rougher surface and there are more bumps. The track has some character to it, which makes it tricky, and I think it’s one of the reasons we like it. I’m looking forward to Las Vegas. I’m really hoping this is the place for my luck to change. I think this team has really improved the way we approach the mile-and-a-half track. I think our cars have gotten better since last year’s Las Vegas race, and I’m confident. Unfortunately, just like last season, we’ve had a couple of bad races to start 2010. We’re hoping that Lady Luck is on our side this weekend.”

TONY GIBSON, Crew Chief of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing

Although the California race didn’t turn out as you and the No. 39 team had hoped, you were still very positive following an engine failure and a 36^th-place finish. You and Ryan both talked about how much the team had improved and how happy you were with those gains on the racetrack. How important is seeing that improvement and staying upbeat despite the finishes?

“Last year, we had struggled on 2-mile racetracks, and we worked really hard in the offseason to try to find something that Ryan would like to drive there. That was really one of our focuses in the offseason. We did a lot of work with our racecars on the seven-post (shaker rig) at the wind tunnel, and we thought going to California that we had really made some gains. And, in the end, we did. We think, looking at our performance at California and Ryan’s feedback during the race, that this is a good starting spot moving forward. I think we’ll be able to base the rest of our mile-and-a-half races on what we learned this past weekend. We think what we learned and our notes will transfer this weekend to Las Vegas and, hopefully, we will be able to keep some momentum going and continuing making gains on these racetracks that are such a big part of our schedule.

“Honestly, the finishes have not been what we have wanted, but we have really had great racecars the first two races of the season. We had the wreck in Daytona and the engine problem in California, but those are things that are out of our control. We can’t do anything about that. Things like that will happen during the course of the season, but we need to focus on what we have done to these racecars and how we have improved. If we can keep our focus and keep doing what we are doing to improve our position on the racetrack each week, and we can keep the driver excited about the gains that we are making, then it’s going to be just like it was last year. When the luck turns around for us, it’s going to be good, and we are going to be competing for race wins every weekend.”

The No. 39 Chevrolet was a really fast, strong car at Las Vegas last year. How does that, in addition to the fact that the No. 39 Chevrolet was so strong at California, help build momentum for the team this weekend?

“We did have a good car at Las Vegas last year. We qualified sixth, and we were really fast during the whole race. Unfortunately, we had a lose wheel and that ended up costing us. But it was a race where we left feeling really positive about what we had. We’re coming back to Las Vegas with what we believe is an even better car aero-wise. It’s a newer, lighter version of our cars. We think this is really good track, and we believe this is a track where we have a shot at the pole and our first win.

“The improvement we saw at California in our performance on the racetrack is something we’re really proud of. Our racecars are good. Our communication continues to get better each weekend. We’re getting better as a team, and that’s showing in our on-track performances. Again, we haven’t had the finishes we have wanted, but that has been out of our control. We’re picking out the positives and focusing on them.

“For us, Las Vegas is a big weekend. We want to get a good finish and put the last two races behind us. It’s also the first weekend for our new sponsor Tornados, and to be able to give them a good race their first weekend on the car would be something really special. They are a great family, and we’ve all had a lot of fun getting to know them and we’re excited to have them as part of our Stewart-Haas family.”

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release

Old Spice/Office Depot Driver Logs Third Straight Top-10 Finish at Fontana

No. 14 Old Spice / Office Depot (Tony Stewart) - Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Tony Stewart put in a workmanlike performance in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and the result was a solid ninth-place finish. It was Stewart’s third straight top-10 finish at the 2-mile oval and his first of the 2010 season.

“We got a top-10 out of it, but that was about it,” Stewart said. “We made gains on it all day, but we didn’t quite get exactly where we wanted to be. Still, we got better as the day went on.”

The driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) started the 250-lap race from 16^th in the 43-car field, but Stewart soon dropped back with a car that lacked grip whenever he sailed his 3,500-pound racecar into the track’s corners. With less than 25 laps on the board, Stewart was outside the top-20.

Stewart didn’t panic, nor did crew chief Darian Grubb. Instead they went to work, and after two scheduled pit stops on laps 37 and 59, respectively, where track bar and wedge adjustments were made, the red No. 14 responded.

Stewart was back in the top-15 by lap 92, and on lap 99 cracked the top-10 with an authoritative pass of four-time Sprint Cup champion Jeff Gordon. From there, Stewart was a top-10 mainstay, rising to as high as fifth when he passed Matt Kenseth on lap 119.

The handling of the Old Spice/Office Depot ride was much improved, but Stewart still needed help in getting his car to cut better through the center of the corner. A slight air pressure adjustment was made during a pit stop on lap 134, but a slow tire change dropped Stewart to 10^th in the running order.

“No problem. We’ll get it back,” Stewart said. And by lap 155, he was proven correct, as Stewart was back in fifth.

With his car’s handling still not as good as the leaders, Stewart couldn’t hold onto to his slot among the top-five. He dropped back, but never outside the top-10. When the checkered flag waved after lap 250, Stewart was solidly in ninth.

“We just missed it on taking off on that last run. We got too free,” said Stewart, who now has 10 top-10 finishes in 18 career Sprint Cup starts at Fontana. “But it’s a top-10 and we’ll take it and go onto Las Vegas.”

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala and Stewart’s teammate at SHR, finished a disappointing 36^th when his engine expired shortly after a restart on lap 146.

Jimmie Johnson won the Auto Club 500 to score his 48^th career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his fifth at Fontana. Johnson has won four of the last six Sprint Cup races at the Southern California track.

Kevin Harvick finished 1.523 seconds behind Johnson, while Jeff Burton, Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Stewart and Greg Biffle comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 30 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish.

With round 2 of 36 complete, Stewart is 17^th in the Sprint Cup championship standings. He has 235 points and is 96 markers back of series leader Harvick. Newman is 36^th in the standings with 116 points, 215 points behind Harvick.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Feb. 28 Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The race starts at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2 p.m.

- True Speed Communications for Stewart-Haas Racing/Old Spice Racing/Office Depot Racing, Press Release

Haas Automation Driver Finishes 36^th after Strong Run Goes Up in Smoke

No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet (Ryan Newman) - Photo Credit: Getty Images for NASCAR

Engine troubles spoiled a solid top-10 run for Ryan Newman in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. Newman had been a fixture among the top-12 for much of the afternoon before an engine failure relegated the driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) to a 36^th-place finish.

“We just lost an engine,” Newman said. “We had a really good car with the Haas Automation Chevrolet, but it just grenaded, basically. I couldn’t tell you what happened, but it was big and there was smoke and that was the end of our day.”

Just a couple of laps before Newman’s engine expired, the No. 39 was at the front of the field, restarting the 250-lap race in second-place. However, Newman didn’t get the restart he had hoped for as he spun the tires and fell back through the field. When he crossed the start/finish line the next time on lap 147, Newman was posted in 16^th-place. He circled the track one more time and had just passed the flagstand on lap 148,when smoke billowed from the No. 39 Chevrolet. Newman came over the radio and reported he had lost an engine and was no longer under power.

“I got a horrible restart,” Newman said. “I spun my tires on the restart, but didn’t over-rev it or anything. The next lap, it just blew up.”

It was an especially disappointing day for Newman and the No. 39 team as they were enjoying a strong run at Auto Club Speedway, the home track for the team’s Oxnard Calif.-based co-owner and sponsor Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world.

Newman started the race in 18^th-place, but he was quickly able to move into the top-12 where he spent much of the race’s first 90 laps.

A slightly loose racecar had been Newman’s biggest issue during the course of the race, but his pit crew had been able to improve those handling issues with air pressure and track bar adjustments. Crew chief Tony Gibson’s calls and the team’s diligent efforts in the pits paid off, and by lap 97 Newman moved into ninth-place. He ran solidly in the top-10 until his final restart on lap 146.

“We had a really good car,” Newman said. “The car was good all day long. We were mixing it up, and that is really the most competitive I’ve been here in a long time. We were working forward every run the entire race. We showed what we are capable of out there on a couple of those long runs.

“I think we’ve made some big improvements as a team, and what we were doing out there today shows that. We feel like we’ve made some big gains as a team. This just is not how I wanted to end the race.”

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished ninth. It was Stewart’s first top-10 of the 2010 Sprint Cup season and his 10^th top-10 in 18 career Sprint Cup starts at Fontana.

Stewart continues to lead the SHR driver lineup in the championship point race, as his ninth-place finish bumped him six spots to 17^th in the standings where he is 96 points behind series leader Kevin Harvick. Newman lost two spots to fall to 36^th in the standings, 215 markers arrears Harvick.

Four-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson beat Harvick by 1.523 seconds to win the Auto Club 500 and score the 48^th victory of his Sprint Cup career, his first of the season and his fifth at Fontana. Johnson has now won four of the last six races at the Southern California track.

Finishing third was Jeff Burton, while Mark Martin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five. Kurt Busch, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Stewart and Greg Biffle comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 30 laps, with 10 drivers failing to finish the 500-mile race.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the February 28 Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.  The race begins at 3 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2 p.m.

- True Speed Communication for Stewart-Haas Racing, Press Release