Tony Gibson and Ryan Newman in garage - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

In last Sunday’s Cup event at Phoenix International Raceway Newman drove a savvy race, conserving fuel when he needed to and posting a runner-up result at the same track where he won earlier in the season.

“The only thing better than going into the last race of the season with a second-place finish is leaving the final event with a first-place finish in our U.S. Army Chevrolet,” said Newman, a 14-time Sprint Cup winner. “It’s kind of been a hit and miss season for us, but we’ve always been on the edge of success. We didn’t make the Chase this season, but we know that we are definitely Chase material and I am confident that it will be a different scenario in 2011 for our No. 39 team.”

The late-season results will confirm that Newman has come on strong, scoring seven of his 13 top-10 finishes in the last 12 races.

“We’ve been better recently — no question about that,” stated Newman. “But we really want to finish off the season with something special, which will make the offseason more pleasant for the entire team.”

Speaking of the offseason, it will definitely be a new experience for Newman as he is soon to become a first-time father. His wife Krisse is due shortly, and in case baby Newman arrives this weekend, four-time NASCAR truck champion Ron Hornaday will be ready to step in as the team’s substitute driver.

“This is an exciting time for Krissie and me and if things work out where Ron will need to get in the car I know he will do a good job,” said Newman. “He did get some seat time in the No. 39 during a practice session in Phoenix.”

Though Newman is on baby watch, he is still keeping his racing focus as he prepares for his ninth start at the 1.5-mile Homestead track. In his previous eight starts, he has scored two top 10s.

“Homestead has not been one of my better tracks in terms of finishes, but I feel that can change this weekend,” noted Newman. “The good news is that every week when we get to the track there is always a high degree of confidence and a high-degree of expectation. The same kind of attitude of our Army Strong Soldiers.”

Notes:

The U.S. Army Racing team will have a number of special south Florida guests at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

.Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Huston, a Purple Heart recipient, who served two deployments in Iraq. He is currently a detail recruiter with the Miami Recruiting Battalion at the Delray Beach, Fla. Recruiting Station.

Four south Florida high school football stars will receive their U.S. Army All American Bowl jerseys on stage during Sunday’s Ford 400 prerace ceremonies. The four players are:

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Year       St       Fn

2002       15        6

2003        4       37

2004        3       20

2005        2        7

2006       16       23

2007        2       18

2008       29       21

2009        7       23

No. 39 U.S. Army Over-the-Wall Crew (city is hometown)

Front-tire changer: Scott Brzozowski, Sterling Heights, Mich.
Front-tire carrier: Josh Mick, Houston, Texas
Rear-tire changer: Brandon Hopkins, Danielson, Conn.
Rear-tire carrier: James Houk, Fair Play, Mo.
Gasman: Michael Moore, Springfield, Mass.
Jackman: Andrew Turner, Coloma, Mich.
Catch Can: Andy Rueger, Seymour, Ind.
8th Man/Windshield: Jay Guarneri, Naples, Fla.
___________________________________________________

Crew Chief: Tony Gibson, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Car Chief: Kevin Pennell, Kannapolis, N.C.
Spotter: Jimmy Kitchens, Hueytown, Fla.
Engine Specialist: Jay Nolan, Jacksonville, Fla.
Engineers: Johnny Klausmeier, Perry Hall, Md.
Wes Gantt, Taylorsville, N.C.
Engine: Hendrick Motorsports
Shock Specialist : Brian Holshouser, Charlotte
Tire Specialist: Jeff Zarrella, Southington, Conn.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Tony Gibson and Ryan Newman in garage - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Driving the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet, Newman started the 267-lap, 400-mile race from the sixth position and ran solidly in the top-five in the early part of the race.

He ran as high as second, but later lost his top-10 track position due to running out of fuel as he was entering pit road for a Lap 145 green-flag stop. The fuel issue cost Newman valuable time in the pits and when he returned to action he was all the way back in 20th-place.

“The fuel problem hurt us, but we followed that up with some good pit strategy to get us back in the top-10,” said No. 39 crew chief Tony Gibson. “I thought we had a better car than ninth and felt it was good enough to be in the top-five. We’re continuing to pound away and knocking off some pretty good finishes lately.”

Newman got back into the top-10 after taking a gamble of not pitting on Lap 165. He then stayed in the top-10 for the remainder of the race.

“It felt like the race went by pretty quick,” stated Newman. “We just struggled a couple of different runs and that got us behind. We ran out of fuel and lost a bunch of track position and had to put ourselves at risk with no (fresh) tires a couple of times. A top-10 for the U.S. Army Chevrolet, I am proud of that and proud of the No. 14 (Tony Stewart) guys for getting a top-five. Good for their Chase hopes.”

Newman added, “Though we’re on a pretty good run of late, we feel we’re even better and have the potential to finish in the top-five and win races. I am proud of our guys for their fight and positive attitude. We’ve always said that our race team members possess similar attributes to that of an Army Strong Soldier when it comes to mental, physical and emotional strength.”

Newman remained 13th in the Sprint Cup driver point standings, the highest position for a non-chase driver.

Newman’s teammate and team owner, Tony Stewart, finished fourth and is 10th in the Chase standings.

The race winner was Greg Biffle. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Stewart and Jeff Gordon.

The next Sprint Cup race is Sunday (Oct. 10) at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Tony Gibson and Ryan Newman in garage - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Newman, who missed the 12-driver Chase by one position, started his current streak with a sixth-place result in Bristol, Tenn. on Aug. 21. He went on to record finishes of eighth (Atlanta), 11th (Richmond), eighth (New Hampshire) and eighth (Dover).

“We’re finding consistency and that’s always been a critical factor to attain success,” said Newman. “Had we run with this type of consistency we would without question be in the Chase, but it makes no sense to look back — that’s history and we can’t change it. But what we can do with our U.S. Army Chevrolet is to keep on running up front and posting strong finishing results in the remaining eight races. Driving the Soldiers’ car to victory lane would be the ultimate prize.”

Newman’s average finish of 8.2 in the last five races is more than twice as good as his average finish of 17.0 in the first 23 Cup events.

“We were always on the verge, but never could get it to click with regularity,” said No. 39 crew chief Tony Gibson. “We never lost faith in each other because we knew it was there. We could feel it and it was just a matter of time before it all came together. We’re still not where we want to be, you never can be satisfied in this business. But I am really proud of this Army team. We’re like our Soldiers — we never quit and we fight through adversity.”

Newman and the No. 39 U.S. Army/Stewart-Haas Racing team are aiming to continue the torrid pace in Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

In nine career starts at Kansas, Newman has one win (2003), three top fives and three top 10s. His success at the 1.5-mile track came early in his career with two runner-up finishes (2001 & 2002) and a victory (2003) in his first three starts. From 2004 to the present, his best finish was 16th in 2008.

“It’s time to get back with finishes in Kansas that we’re capable of,” stated Newman, who enters Kansas as the highest non-Chase driver in points (13th). “We’ve been so-so on the mile and a half and two-mile tracks this season and look to change that this weekend. I know that Tony (Gibson) and the guys are working hard to get everything we can out of the remaining races.”

Newman’s 2010 season statistics include, one win, two top fives, 10 top 10s and one pole.

Newman's Career Record at Kansas Speedway

         St       Fn
2001     17        2
2002      3        2
2003     11        1
2004      7       33
2005     11       23
2006     15       24
2007     42       43
2008     15       16
2009     30       22    

No. 39 U.S. Army Over-the-Wall Crew (city is hometown)

Front-tire changer:     Scott Brzozowski, Sterling Heights, Mich.
Front-tire carrier:     Josh Mick, Houston, Texas
Rear-tire changer:      Brandon Hopkins, Danielson, Conn.
Rear-tire carrier:      James Houk, Fair Play, Mo.
Gasman:                 Michael Moore, Springfield, Mass.
Jackman:                Jeff Kerr, China Grove, N.C.
Catch Can:              Andy Rueger, Seymour, Ind.
8th Man/Windshield:     Jay Guarneri, Naples, Fla.

 ___________________________________________________

Crew Chief:             Tony Gibson, Daytona Beach, Fla.
Car Chief:              Kevin Pennell, Kannapolis, N.C.
Spotter:                Jimmy Kitchens, Hueytown, Fla.
Engine Specialist:      Jay Nolan, Jacksonville, Fla.
Engineers:              Johnny Klausmeier, Perry Hall, Md.
                        Wes Gantt, Taylorsville, N.C.
Engine:                 Hendrick Motorsports
Shock Specialist :      Brian Holshouser, Charlotte
Tire Specialist:        Jeff Zarrella, Southington, Conn.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Ryan Newman in car - Photo Credit: Jerry Markland/Getty Images for NASCAR

Newman’s U.S. Army ROTC Chevrolet, which appeared stuck in the high teens and low 20s during the majority of the 334-lap, 501-mile NASCAR event, came to life as the race was winding down to post another strong result for the No. 39 Stewart-Haas team.

The big break for Newman came during a nine-car accident on Lap 317. As a number of cars were spinning, smoking and slamming into the concrete wall, Newman made a couple of delicate maneuvers to slide past the wreckfest which forced NASCAR to red flag the race for approximately 20 minutes.

“Avoiding that wreck gave us new life,” said Newman. “The good news is that we took advantage of the opportunity. Up until that point, we were strapped in the middle of the field and had trouble gaining ground in dirty air. But our Army ROTC Chevy fought back and picked up track position. It was like taking a chapter from our Soldiers’ playbook — keep on battling, never give up and good things will happen.”

After starting 10th as a result of a solid run in Friday’s qualifying session at the 1.5-mil oval, Newman immediately fought a tight race car. The pit crew, led by crew chief Tony Gibson, continued to make adjustments, but nothing seemed to take hold until later in the race.

“Truthfully we didn’t have a good car today,” stated Gibson. “But we walk away feeling pretty good because we came back to post a solid finish. We just didn’t have good handling and speed today.”

Though Newman remained 16th in the point standings, he has closed the gap of reaching the Chase cutoff (top 12). He is only nine points away from a Chase position.

Newman’s recent gain in the point standings is a result of his finishes in the past three races of fourth, first and 11th. Prior to the past three races he was 26th in points.

“No question, we’re finding our rhythm,” noted Newman. “We’re going to keep on rocking — we have some great tracks coming up that this Army team likes.”

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, was contending for the Texas win but got caught up in the nine-car pile up with 15 laps remaining. He was credited with a 32nd-place finish and dropped four spots to 13th in the point standings.

The race winner was Denny Hamlin. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne.

The next Cup event is Sunday (April 25) at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Rendering of the No. 39 Army ROTC Chevrolet that Ryan Newman will drive in Sunday's (April 18) Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway

Adorning the hood and rear quarter panels of the Stewart-Haas Racing car will be the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps logo (Army ROTC).

Army ROTC is a college-based officer commissioning program designed as an elective focusing on leadership development, problem solving, strategic planning and professional ethics.  Army ROTC is the largest military branch within the Department of Defense ROTC programs.

The U.S. Army offers competitive, merit-based scholarships to ROTC students, who are referred to as Cadets in the Army.

“As a strong advocate for secondary education it will be special for me to drive the Army ROTC Chevrolet in Texas,” said Newman, a Purdue University engineering graduate and winner of last week’s Cup race in Phoenix. “Army ROTC is an excellent program which provides Cadets a college education as well as preparing them with leadership skills for a career as an Army officer.”

Newman’s No. 39 Army ROTC Chevrolet will make its debut Friday during the noon practice session at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Ryan Newman (L) and crew chief Tony Gibson. (credit: Cameras in Action)

“By no means was it the kind of performance that we anticipated in our U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS,” said Newman. “Too many inconsistencies today, including scraping the wall before the race was half completed. We did come back strong in the end, but it was too late to get back into the top 10.”

Newman started the 267-lap, 400-mile race from the seventh position and was running in the top-five early. When he came into the pits for the first time on a Lap 53 green-flag stop, he was running in fifth place.

But Newman’s strong run took a turn when he brushed the wall before the race was a 100-laps old. At first, it didn’t appear to be much damage to the Army/Haas Automation Chevy, but it proved to be enough to throw the car off balance and to the back of the field.

“We started off strong then got into the fence and never could get the handle back on the car,” said U.S. Army crew chief Tony Gibson. “We tried to make adjustments, but took a big swing and missed. We finally got the car a lot better at the end. I feel we had a top-10 car in the beginning and a top-10 car in the end. The middle part of the race is where we struggled. Overall we had a good year, but also know that we need to get better.”

Newman did indeed come on strong at the end. When the race was restarted for the final time on Lap 221, he was positioned in 30th place. His late-race charge netted him seven positions.

“We all wanted to give our Army Strong Soldiers a great result at the last race,” stated Newman. “Even though we didn’t, I want all of our men and women in uniform to know how much of an honor it was to drive their car this season and how much I look forward to continuing the Army ride in 2010.”

Newman, who was one of the 12 Chase drivers to qualify for NASCAR’s 10-race championship format, finished the season in ninth place. His 2009 record included five top fives, 15 top 10s and two poles.

Newman’s Stewart-Haas teammate, Tony Stewart, finished the race 22nd and placed sixth in the final driver standings.

The Ford 400 race winner was Denny Hamlin. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Jeff Burton, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson also claimed a record fourth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup season championship.

The first Sprint Cup points race in 2010 will be the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14.

###

Final Chase Driver Point Standings

1. Jimmie Johnson, 6652 points
2. Mark Martin, 6511
3. Jeff Gordon, 6473
4. Kurt Busch, 6446
5. Denny Hamlin, 6335
6. Tony Stewart, 6309
7. Greg Biffle, 6292
8. Juan Pablo Montoya, 6252
9. Ryan Newman, 6175
10. Kasey Kahne, 6128
11. Carl Edwards, 6118
12. Brian Vickers, 5929

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

WIX Filters Lap Leader Logo

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER NOTES FOR THE CHECKER O’REILLY AUTO PARTS 500 NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES RACE AT PHOENIX INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2009.

• Ryan Newman led once for one lap to earn WIX Filters Lap Leader of the Race honors in today’s Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500.  Newman collected the honor for the third time this season.

• Newman has led 16 times in 16 races for a total of 213 laps this season.  He has led 107 times in 199 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series superspeedway races for a total of 3,242 laps.

• UNOFFICIALLY Newman is ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship standings, 59 points behind eighth-place Denny Hamlin and 65 ahead of 10^th-place Kasey Kahne.  He posted a 20^th-place finish in today’s race.

• Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch are tied for the lead (7-7) in the overall WIX Filters Lap Leader standings entering the November 22 Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

• NEWMAN QUOTES: HOW TOUGH WERE THE CONDITIONS OUT THERE TODAY?  “Conditions were fine.  I mean the track was slick but we really struggled in the pits with the U.S. ARMY Chevrolet.  Had a bad pit stop, got in the back, Junior lost control of his car and got sideways and then I got hit and drove into him and it kind of ruined our day from that point on.  We went a lap down because of the damage we had.  It’s just an unfortunate situation.  Had a bad points day, had a bad day and a terrible pit road day [smiles].  The focus next week is to try to have a good run but we’ve got to do something on pit road.  We come in we’re guaranteed to lose three spots and these cars are so similar that driver, the crew chief and everything else the car that you have really can’t make up for that in my opinion.”     

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD STANDINGS

Tony Stewart              7

Kyle Busch                 7

Denny Hamlin             5

Juan Pablo Montoya   3

Kasey Kahne               3

David Reutimann        3

Ryan Newman                        3

Martin Truex Jr.          2

Jeff Burton                  1

Kevin Harvick             1

WIX FILTERS LAP LEADER AWARD WINNERS BY RACE

EVENT                                                          DRIVER

Daytona 500                                                   Kyle Busch, 88 laps

Auto Club 500                                                            Tony Stewart, three laps

Shelby 427                                                      Jeff Burton, 61 laps

Kobalt Tools 500                                            Ryan Newman, three laps

Food City 500                                                 Kyle Busch, 378 laps

Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500                         Denny Hamlin, 296 laps

Samsung 500                                                   David Reutimann, 40 laps

Subway Fresh Fit 500                                     Tony Stewart, 19 laps

Aaron’s 499                                                    Kyle Busch, 42 laps

Crown Royal 400                                            Denny Hamlin, 148 laps

Southern 500                                                   Martin Truex Jr., 61 laps

Coca-Cola 600                                                Kyle Busch, 173 laps

Autism Speaks 400                                         David Reutimann, 25 laps

Pocono 500                                                     Tony Stewart, 39 laps

LifeLock 400                                                  Kyle Busch, nine laps

Toyota/Save Mart 350                                                Kasey Kahne, 37 laps

LENOX Industrial Tools 301                         Tony Stewart, 40 laps

Coke Zero 400                                                            Tony Stewart, 86 laps

LifeLock.com 400                                          Kasey Kahne, two laps

Allstate 400 at The Brickyard                         Juan Pablo Montoya, 116 laps

Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500             Denny Hamlin, 91 laps

Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Tony Stewart, 34 laps

CARFAX 400                                                            David Reutimann, four laps

Sharpie 500                                                     Kyle Busch, 68 laps

Pep Boys Auto 500                                         Martin Truex Jr., 68 laps

Chevy Rock & Roll 400                                 Denny Hamlin, 299 laps

Sylvania 300                                                   Juan Pablo Montoya, 105 laps

AAA 400                                                        Ryan Newman, 29 laps

Price Chopper 400                                          Tony Stewart, 37 laps

Pepsi 500                                                         Juan Pablo Montoya, 78 laps

NASCAR Banking 500                                  Kasey Kahne, 67 laps

TUMS Fast Relief 500                                    Denny Hamlin, 206 laps

AMP Energy 500                                            Kevin Harvick, 28 laps

Dickies 500                                                     Kyle Busch, 232 laps

Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500                   Ryan Newman, one lap

Since 1939, WIX® Filters, a member of the Affinia Group family of brands, has been an innovator in filtration products. WIX designs, manufactures and distributes products for automotive, diesel, agricultural, industrial and specialty filter markets. Its product line includes oil, air, cabin interior, fuel, coolant, transmission and hydraulic filters for automobiles, trucks and off-road equipment. WIX, a member of the Affinia family of brands, is the number one filter in NASCAR and an exclusive NASCAR Performance Product. Its NASCAR relationship also includes the WIX Filters Lap Leader Award, which recognizes the drivers leading the most laps in each race. For more information, visit www.wixfilters.com.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket parts for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With more than $2 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe, Asia and India. For more information, visit www.affiniagroup.com.

*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.

- Camp & Associates Inc., for WIX Filters

Stewart Haas Racing

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 OLD SPICE/OFFICE DEPOT IMPALA SS AND RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS

HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO PUT TOGETHER SPONSORS, EVEN IF JUST FOR A FEW RACES, TO KEEP THE MOMENTUM GOING FOR THE RACE TEAM?
STEWART: “It’s important for us as a team. But at the same time, it’s important for Tornados. This is a time in our sport where it’s hard to find sponsors that have the availability to sponsor a car for the whole season. So making a package that works for them also is something that’s important in our sport. So it works for both sides. This is something that if it doesn’t work for them, it doesn’t work for us either.”

YOU’VE BROUGHT MANY SPONSORS TO THE SPORT. WHAT ARE YOU DOING AT A TIME WHEN EVERYBODY ELSE SAYS THEY CAN’T BRING IN NEW SPONSORS AND ARE LOSING SPONSORS. WHAT’S YOUR SECRET?
STEWART: “I honestly don’t know. This is a time when you don’t see a lot of new groups coming into the sport. When we made the decision to start this venture last year and Ryan came on board, I think everybody kind of rallied around that and I think that’s what’s attracted a lot of these corporations to be a part of our family is the fact that we were looked at from day one as the underdog. And I think everybody sees now how hard we’re working at it and the commitment that we have people have wanted to join because of that.”

THIS TIME LAST YEAR YOU WERE STILL PUTTING STEWART-HAAS RACING TOGETHER. CAN YOU REFLECT BACK A YEAR LATER ON THE SUCCESS? IS THERE ANY SENSE OF DISAPPOINTMENT ON HOW THE YEAR WILL END FOR YOU BASED ON WHERE YOU WERE 13 WEEKS AGO?
STEWART: “I think it’s hard to be disappointed no matter where we end up. Just by getting two cars in the Chase and winning the races we’ve won this year exceeded more than what any of you guys (media) could have anticipated and we could have anticipated we were able to do. We knew on paper that it was possible, but the reality of it was going there and competing against great race teams every week. So to be able to accomplish this goal has been an awesome year for us. It’s still no different than it was when everybody talked to us after Richmond about losing a 200-point lead of whatever it was. We knew that when we took the point lead. We knew that’s what the situation was. We’re not disappointed because of that. It just shows that we still have work to do. We were able to exceed our expectations for the year, but at the same time we won’t stop at that. We’ll keep pushing to be better and to try to be where the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson) team and the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon) team and the No. 5 (Mark Martin) team and all these great race teams that we’re competing against and that we’re racing for points. Those are the guys that we want to try to figure out just like they do of how to be better and how to win more races and try to put ourselves in position to win next year.”

NEWMAN: “We didn’t know. People ask about our expectations and our goals and we had some goals and we didn’t know what the expectations were going to be. To echo Tony’s thoughts, it’s not that we would ever be disappointed, I don’t think because of all the things that we’ve achieved, it’s just that we may not be totally satisfied and that’s just because we’re not standing at the lead table in Las Vegas this year so that’s pretty much it. We’ve done a lot of great things as an organization. We’ve done a lot of great things as drivers to get to where we are, and for me personally to make the big change and obviously Tony as well, didn’t have any idea what to expect, just knew that I wanted to go out there and have fun, and if we had fun, we were going to be successful one way or another.”

HAS THE LACK OF TESTING HAMPERED YOUR PROGRESS? FOR 2011, WHAT AREAS DO YOU STILL THINK NEED IMPROVEMENT?
STEWART: “When you’re working with a new group of people, the testing would help. But I can’t say that I really feel like its hurt us a lot this year; not as much as we would have thought it would have. But as far as areas we need to focus on, obviously we have an engine package at Hendrick that they worry about; we don’t really have to worry about. That’s a variable in our equation that we don’t have to concentrate on this winter because they’ll do that for us. But we’ll try to make our cars lighter and try to make our bodies better and we’ll try to make sure that we’re utilizing our resources with our seven-post shake rig and making sure that we’re trying to find every little thing that we can during the off-season to make sure that when we show up in February that we’re as prepared as we can be.”

HOW WAS THE TRACK HANDLING YESTERDAY AND HOW DO YOU EXPECT IT TO HANDLE TOMORROW?
STEWART: “The track didn’t handle; our cars did though. This is a place that I’ve spent a lot of time at. We’ve spent a lot of time here in open wheel cars, Indy cars, Midgets, Silver Crown cars and it really didn’t change a lot yesterday, honestly. The temperature was pretty cool and we got some overcast skies during practice which helped keep it from getting a lot warmer. So, I thought it stayed pretty consistent, which it normally doesn’t. It’s a very temperature-sensitive track and that’s something that I like with it. It didn’t seem like it changed a lot with temperature yesterday because we got the cloud cover that kind of helped keep the surface temp down.”

NEWMAN: “Along the same lines, I think every time we come back here it seems like it loses just a small percentage of grip and that’s a good thing because the driver has to drive and hustle the car a little bit more and a little bit differently and still be smooth. I think that as Tony said, it didn’t change a whole lot with the weather conditions, but I don’t know that it’s going to be the exact same today or tomorrow. Depending on how our practice sessions go, time-wise, and what the sun is like during the race, there may be bigger transitions tomorrow than there were yesterday or today.”

ONE OF THE UNKNOWNS AS A NEW TEAM WAS THE RELIANCE ON HENDRICK FOR CHASSIS AND TECHNOLOGY AND MOTORS. WERE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WELL THE FLOW OF INFORMATION WORKED BACK AND FORTH?
STEWART: “It has been consistent from day one. As soon as we made the commitment that this was what we were going to do. And as soon as Darian Grubb came aboard, I think that was the biggest key in making sure that it was a smoother transition. Darian knows the system and the people involved and I think that with that came the trust from their side of knowing they had somebody that they could trust that’s been there for a long time and is passionate about Hendrick Motorsports and Stewart-Haas Racing. So I think that made that transition easier and helped make it smooth. But it’s been constant from day one. That’s something that I think they’ve kind of been surprised at what we’ve been able to help them with too and given a different set of input. Ryan and I didn’t come from Hendrick Motorsports so we are totally unbiased and have something else to compare to versus what they’ve been doing for years in and out. I think it’s been good from their standpoint that they’ve had two drivers that are different from their system that are now involved in it.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED AT HOW WELL IT’S WORKED?
STEWART: “Not really. That was part of what weighed into my decision to do what we’re doing here and that’s knowing that we have a good engine package and good chassis package that’s proven. The key to that is making sure that the information is going both directions. It’s not one-way information from them to us or jus us to them, it’s making sure that we keep that constant flow of information and that’s what is helping all of us.”

DENNY HAMLIN HAS BEEN EXPRESSING FRUSTRATION OVER ONE DRIVER OR A HANDFUL OF DRIVERS GOING TO NASCAR BEFORE TALLADEGA AND HE THINKS THEY ENCOURAGED THEM ON THE BUMP-DRAFTING RULE. HE THINKS MAYBE YOU HAVE TO EARN THE RIGHT TO BE RESPECTED AND HEARD BY NASCAR. DID YOU EVER HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF BEFORE THEY TOOK YOUR OPINIONS INTO CONSIDERATION?

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NEWMAN: “I’ve been on both sides of that because whether it’s two years ago or three years ago or now, I think that some of that comes with experience at the race track and some of it comes with your knowledge and how well you are respected in the garage area and who you’re speaking on behalf of, if you’re speaking on behalf of yourself, or your team, or your organization, so you’re going to have both of those things. You’re going to be listened to and ignored and different times. Yeah, it’s the way to my knowledge that NASCAR has been for a very long time.

“Dale Earnhardt Sr. was the one who always comes to mind as far as who they listened to the most in respect to having driving influence. So I think whether he goes to complain or he goes to speak, it’s two different things and that’s just one driver. There are many drivers in the garage area who go into that truck each and every weekend to talk about things.”

STEWART: “Yeah, I think it’s a situation where you’ve got to remember over the past 60 years now, they’ve always had drivers who have wanted to put their two cents worth in. It’s not so much that they don’t listen, but they’ve heard it all before. And that’s their job as the sanctioning body is to sort it all out. A lot of times when drivers go in there, there’s emotion involved in it and that’s the wrong time to go in and talk about things and I think that’s what made Dale Sr. so good about going in and talking. He was able to take the emotion out of it and just lay the facts out on the table. But it’s a situation where I think the longer you’re in the series, and the more experience you have, the more I think that you’re opinion (matters); but they listen to everybody’s opinions and ideas. But at the same time, they have to maintain control over everything. They can’t let us take control of it, and that’s a good thing. They have to do that. But it’s a situation where you have to be able to see it for more than just the one side you’re going in as. When they look at a comment from a driver, they have to look at it from a lot of different angles and how it affects just that one angle of it and that’s something I think can at times be frustrating for drivers because they don’t see that. But that’s the reality of it is that NASCAR does a really good job of being able to just look at it from a lot of different angles and say well, it may impact from this angle but it may be detrimental from this angle. So they have to weigh out all those options every time somebody goes in (the trailer).”

About General Motors: General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

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

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), fought through persistent pain as he maneuvered a loose-handling racecar to a 12th-place finish in Sunday’s Dickies 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

It was Newman’s 12th top-12 finish this season and his fourth top-12 result in 14 career Sprint Cup starts at Texas.

“We just struggled with the car being loose on entry at the beginning of every run throughout the race, and that is what hurt us in the end,” said Newman, who said he was still sore from last week’s horrific crash in the closing laps at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. “Tony Gibson (crew chief) and the guys tried a lot of different things to help the car not be so loose on entry and to help me get a better run at the start of each run, but we just couldn’t get the right changes. They did a great job today. I was sore all weekend, but it was good to be back in the racecar.”

Following practice on Saturday, the Haas Automation/U.S. Army team made numerous changes to the No. 39 Chevy in hopes of finding a setup that would help them improve upon their 26th-place starting position. With the drop of the green flag, Newman began patiently working his way into the top-20.

Newman reported that the No. 39 machine was loose on entry into the track’s corners, particularly at the beginning of the run. He also told Gibson that he needed to cut through the center of the turns better. Newman made his first green flag pit stop of the day at lap 55 for four tires, fuel and track bar and air pressure adjustments.

Back on the 1.5-mile oval and still running in the top-20, Newman once again complained of being loose at the start of a run. The loose-handling issue at the beginning of the run was hampering his efforts to gain spots on the track, but as the run wore on, the handling of the No. 39 Chevy would tighten up, which helped improve the car’s overall handling.

Under caution at lap 85, Newman pitted for four tires, fuel and track bar and air pressure adjustments and then restarted the race at lap 91 in 19th-place.

By lap 150, which was shortly after the team’s third pit stop of the day, Newman was running in 15th-place. As he battled for position he again told Gibson that the car’s tendency to want to spin out on entry into the corners early in the run was killing his momentum and preventing him from advancing.

“I’m way too loose getting in, and then about 10 laps into a run it snugs up,” Newman said. “I just need to be tighter at the start of the run, but I don’t want to make it tighter throughout the course of the entire run.”

Over the course of 500-mile race, Newman’s crew went to work and tried a variety of air pressure, track bar and wedge adjustment combinations in hopes of finding a cure to aid the car’s handling woes.

Newman’s final, four-tire stop of the night came at lap 266. The crew also made another series of chassis adjustments. Newman returned to the track and was in 15th-place by the time the green-flag stops had cycled through. Gibson told his driver that they would not have enough fuel to make it to the end of the 334-lap race, so they would have to pit once more.

The team pitted at lap 318 for right-side tires and fuel and finished the race in 12th-place.

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Newman’s Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) teammate and owner, Tony Stewart, came home sixth to score his 23rd top-10 finish of 2009.

Kurt Busch stretched his fuel mileage and beat Denny Hamlin by 25.686 seconds to win the Dickies 500 and score his 20th career Sprint Cup victory, his second of the season and his first at Texas.

Matt Kenseth finished third, while Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five. Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Jeff Burton and A.J. Allmendinger comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 26 laps, with six drivers failing to finish the 334-lap race.

Both SHR drivers are represented in this year’s Chase for the Championship. Stewart remained fifth in the standings and is now 178 points behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, who was involved in a lap three accident and finished 38th. Newman fell one spot to ninth and is 324 markers out of first.

With only two races remaining before a champion is crowned following the season finale Nov. 22 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, the top-12 drivers competing for the title rank as follows:

1. Jimmie Johnson (6,297 points) +/-0

2. Mark Martin (6,224 points, -73) +/-0

3. Jeff Gordon (6,185 points, -112) +/-0

4. Kurt Busch (6,126 points, -171) +2

5. Tony Stewart (6,119 points, -178) +/-0

6. Juan Pablo Montoya (6,061 points, -236) -2

7. Greg Biffle (6,050 points, -247) +/-0

8. Denny Hamlin (5,975 points, -322) +3

9. Ryan Newman (5,973 points, -324) -1

10. Kasey Kahne (5,898 points, -399) -1

11. Carl Edwards (5,857 points, -440) -1

12. Brian Vickers (5,777 points, -520) +/-0

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Nov. 15 Checker O’Reilly Auto Parts 500k at Phoenix International Raceway. The season’s penultimate race starts at 3:15 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

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

Ryan Newman

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. HAAS AUTOMATION IMPALA SS,

KERRY THARP: Ryan, talk about your outlook racing at this one-and-a-half-mile oval this weekend.
RYAN NEWMAN: Every time we come back here, it seems like the racing gets better and better as the asphalt ages. I look forward to it. After last weekend, it would be nice to get back in the racecar, use some muscles I haven’t used all week, just have a good weekend of it.
I’m very thankful for the guys, the effort they put forward to make me safe in the racecar. Definitely felt that made a big difference last weaning.
To be here this week, in the big picture, think about everybody down in Fort Hood with the U.S. Army and their families that are going through some very difficult times, big picture here, we’re racing in Texas, but our thoughts and prayers go out to other places as well.

KERRY THARP: We’ll take questions for Ryan Newman.
Q. Obviously a lot of frustration and concern for you last weekend. I believe you mentioned thinking about things from an engineering standpoint. Looking at it from an engineering standpoint, could you talk about what your frustrations were last week, what you see? I’ve had a lot of people email me and say did the wing cause the car to lift as opposed to a spoiler. Talk about everything from your helmet getting wedged in the roll cage, to the car lifting up. From an engineering standpoint, are there things you see that could be done differently that would have prevented some or all of that?

RYAN NEWMAN: Always, because every crash is different and every situation is different, whether your car gets spun around by another car or it just takes air by itself.
Ultimately, yeah, there’s things that I feel can and should be done. I sat down with John Darby and Robin Pemberton Wednesday morning. We talked about two different things, the extra indication of myself from the accident scene and secondly the reason why we’re in that position in the first place, which is to me more important.
From an aerodynamic standpoint, ultimately our biggest thing is to keep the racecars on the ground. Crashes have always been a part of racing. There are fans that like that. Sometimes that adds to extra excitement, don’t get me wrong. When we can bounce off each other, get the car fixed, go back out and try to win a race, I understand that part of it. Keeping the racecars on the ground is how we keep the drivers and especially the fans safe. So that’s the one thing.
From an ironic standpoint, that’s why I was probably the most frustrated after the race last weekend, was I was in the media center talking about the very same thing on the last lap of the spring race. To live out what my frustrations were from six months before was difficult, as well.
From an engineering standpoint, whatever we can do speed-wise and aerodynamically to keep the cars on the ground, in particular things in the back of the car, when it sees the air first for downforce, keep the lift out of the back of the cars is what we need to focus on.
There has been testing done. I learned some of that stuff on Wednesday morning talking to Mr. Darby and Mr. Pemberton, that they have tested. But I don’t know that they have tested everything. I don’t know that you can test everything. But obviously more testing needs to be done in order to make it safer for everybody.
Speed is a part of it. The faster you go, the more likely you are to take lift. We were talking before, an airplane takes off at 160 miles an hour. We’re 40 miles an hour above that at times. There’s plenty of potential for a car to take lift, whether it’s going forwards, backwards or sideways. We have to take everything into consideration, as drivers, as teams, as a sanctioning body, to control that situation.

Q. Specifically, do you think a spoiler on the back would not have caused the lift? Are there specific things you recommended to NASCAR?
RYAN NEWMAN: That’s kind of my point from our conversation, is ‘Do you think’ is not the answer. We have to do testing so that we know.
Yeah, I think there might be potential for a spoiler to react differently than a wing for sure. I don’t know that it’s the answer. As we’ve seen before, I believe it was Matt Kenseth’s Nationwide crash, his car got airborne with a spoiler on the back of it. That’s not the answer, that’s not the fix. I’ve been parts of crashes with spoilers on the back of them and a wing on the back of them unfortunately. That’s not the fix. Can it be a part of the fix? Yeah, potentially. Is it a better alternative in conjunction with other things you can do to the car? Maybe.
Those are the things that NASCAR and the teams have to test collectively so that we can make it safer and better for the drivers and, like I said, more importantly, the fans.

Q. Are you satisfied with the integrity of the car, considering your helmet was wedged in there like that?
RYAN NEWMAN: That was the only thing. Like I said, part of my first answer was, every crash is different. When I had 3400 pounds come down basically on my head, I never was compressed physically in the car. I say that, have to explain it a little bit. It’s just like a head-on collision. When two cars hit head on, you got the force of both. I had the force of me going up in the car while the car was coming down on me. I was compressed. My spine was compressed. But I never was compressed to the point that it pushed my butt down into the seat. There was an instantaneous load there that hurt. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still sore from it.
But I was never wedged. Once they got the car back upright, I was able to take my helmet off, there was room there. It wasn’t like I was physically wedged.
The second part of my answer is, I was I guess a little disappointed in the fact the cage crushed the way it did. I know it was a heck of a hit, don’t get me wrong. We’ve got to be able to learn from that. Whatever we might be able to do from a welding standpoint, from a wall thickness standpoint with the tubing, to make it stronger so that doesn’t happen again is equally as important from a safety standpoint.

Q. I know you’ve really taken to heart the Army sponsorship thing, more than just an average corporate sponsorship. It’s really become personally meaningful to you. Consequently with what happened yesterday, that must have been really tough for you especially. Do you know anyone that you’ve been associated with through the sponsorship that is directly involved with what happened?
RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t. Yeah, this has been a very special learning experience for me. I’ve said before, maybe not in here, but I kind of took for granted some of the things the armed forces have done for us and are doing for us.
This has been an eye-opening experience this year with the U.S. Army, meeting different generals and colonels and soldiers, it’s been special.
What happened, unfortunately to me it’s a part of life. It’s happened before; it will happen again. Whether it’s in the U.S. Army, in a convenience store, it’s a part of life. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families.
But personnel-wise, I know people that know people that were involved, but I don’t know anybody directly that was involved either in the giving or the taking of that situation.

Q. We’re glad you’re okay. When you had the meeting with John Darby, I know he called you Sunday, you met with he and Pemberton, how did you walk out of that meeting? Did you feel better? Did they listen? Did you feel like there was a decision to do something next? How did you feel coming out of it?
RYAN NEWMAN: I learned things and I think they learned things. That was the point of it. Therefore, I think it was a good conversation. From my standpoint, they opened my eyes a little bit as to the training that the safety crews go through, the things that they do.
I want to make a point that I wasn’t dissatisfied with the way I was taken out of the car.
I just feel there were things that could be done or potentially could be done to make it easier for the next guy. That’s my responsibility, ’cause the next guy might be me again. You never know.
From their standpoint, I think we talked about the car a little bit. They learned my perspective on a few things. It’s one of those things where you can sit there and say I think or this is the way I would like to do it.
Collectively as a group, NASCAR has to make that decision based on the opinions of the people in the garage and their own opinions.
It’s a tough situation. You’re dealing with lives and safety. It’s not as easy as making a spring roll or something like that.

Q. Will they call you in again? Will you go visit them again?
RYAN NEWMAN: We called them, went to visit with them. I want to make that point known. I thought it was a good meeting. I thought it was very constructive. It was educational for me and them. That’s all you can ask from a meeting.

Q. It’s about five, six months till the series goes back to Talladega. In that period, what can be done, what can be looked at, what needs to be done for the next time?
Obviously there was a lot of talk about the no-bumping rule in the corners, whether or not that contributed to your situation. Is that something that needs to stay or can something be done? What has to happen between now and five, six months from now when the series goes back to Talladega?
RYAN NEWMAN: I think there are for sure things that could be done and should be done based on what we saw, both Mark’s accident and my accident, the spring accident with Carl. Aerodynamically there are things that need to be done to keep the cars on the ground. I said that six months ago. Six months is plenty of time to make those changes. The important thing is to make the right changes, to do the testing, the best of our capabilities with the tools that we have, meaning wind tunnels, modeling, things like that, to make the difference, make the right difference.
The drafting part of it, I wasn’t a fan of the rule. I stated in my post infield care center interview that I thought the drivers need to have a little bit more respect from NASCAR in order for us to make our own decisions, for us to be able to go out there and say, Hey, I’ll treat you the way I know you want to be treated and vice versa. I feel it used to be that way. This sport has grown so much because of those people, those drivers that made it that way, and the more restriction that you give the drivers, the less the fans are going to be delivered excitement. That’s not good.
I don’t like the bump-drafting rule. I understand why it was implemented, but I don’t think that is the fix. I think if you put the right racecars on that racetrack as we have seen in the past, you can put a good show on for the fans, albeit not the ideal racetrack and not the ideal way a driver wants to race, but a show for the fans that will be better than what we saw last Sunday.

Q. Is there an active role you can take in working with NASCAR?
RYAN NEWMAN: It’s got to be a collective situation in respect to myself. At Stewart Haas, we have the opportunity to use wind sheer, rolling road wind tunnel, to put a car in it backwards, a full scale car, see what we can do load cell-wise on the ground to eliminate some of that lift, try to keep cars on the ground at 220 miles an hour scaled. There’s things that can and will be done collectively that should be done that I want to be a part of, yes.

Q. You said after the crash that you weren’t going to talk to NASCAR because you didn’t think it would do any good. What changed your mind to contact them?
RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t remember saying that.

Q. The transcript said something to the effect that you weren’t interested in talking to them because you didn’t think it would do any good.
RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t remember honestly. I mean, I probably wasn’t in the mood to talk at that point, if that’s what I said. But either way, I think it’s important that we talk and communicate and try to make the situation better. Obviously I was frustrated, as I said.
It was a very ironic situation, me being in the media center in April, whatever it was, living out the things I was frustrated about firsthand six months later, whatever it was.
You know, it was disappointing. I want it to be safer because I plan on being there in the spring, racing just the same, trying to win that race. I want to be safe and safer and I want the fans to be safer.

Q. This happened to you six years ago at Watkins Glen where you got turned upside down during a practice. I think it took like 15 minutes to get you out. Is part of your frustration from that, too, that six years later, things haven’t changed so much?
RYAN NEWMAN: No, they’ve changed. It was definitely better. Like I said, I want it to be known, those guys did a good job. I’m not mad at any of ‘em. I just want it to be known that I think from my standpoint a better job can be done. If we sit there and say they did a perfect job, then we need to find a new situation because that’s not the way it works.
Just as in racing, as in safety, we can always be better, we can always make improvements. I felt there were definite improvements from Watkins Glen with a different group of people, a different situation. I think it was 11 to 12 minutes at Talladega they had me with the roof cut out, out of the racecar. That was to me way better than the situation I had at Watkins Glen.

Q. What would it mean for you to get your breakthrough win for Stewart Haas here at Texas this weekend?
RYAN NEWMAN: It would be huge. I said back here in 2003 when I won here, everything that happens in Texas is big. That was a big win for us then. It would probably be an even bigger win for us now. I think we’ve done a lot of great things this year as a team. A win right now would be huge, not just for this year but rolling into momentum for next year.

About General Motors: General Motors, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 209,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

Ryan Newman

Newman, who was running with the lead pack of cars and challenging for the win, was involved in a multicar wreck with five laps remaining in regulation. His No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS was sent airborne after getting hit from behind while traveling in excess of 190 miles per hour on the ultra-fast 2.66-mile oval.

As Newman’s flying stock car was descending to earth, the back-half smashed into the hood of Kevin Harvick’s car and then proceeded to twirl and barrel roll a number of times before coming to a stop upside down on the infield grass. Though it took a brief time before it was known that Newman was okay, it did take a while for him to be extricated.

After the NASCAR safety crew flipped the car right-side up, Newman was unable to exit the car. The roll cage blocked his exit, which forced the safety team to cut the roof. When Newman emerged from the car he walked to the waiting ambulance, which transported him to the infield medical center.

“Pretty sore — just really disappointed,” said Newman, who conducted an informal news conference outside of the infield care center. “We had this race back here in the spring and complained about cars getting airborne and now ironically I’m the guy that gets upside down.”

Newman added, “Just a by-product of Talladega racing. Unfortunately, we got hit from behind that turned me sideways then I got up in the air and just kept flipping and flopping. Unfortunately, the (roll) cage came down on top of my head and I couldn’t get out. Tough situation with the U.S. Army Chevrolet.”

When asked why it took a while to respond to his crew after the accident Newman said, “It knocked the antennae off the car. When they rolled the car back over, the antennae wire connected. I just got to thank ButlerBuilt (professional seat systems), Simpson Race Products and all the guys at the shop and Hendrick Chassis for what they do to make the cars safer. When I hit the roll cage and landed on my head I was a little worried. I was happy to be able to walk out of that in a roundabout way.”

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, was also involved in the same wreck along with Elliott Sadler, Harvick, and Marcos Ambrose. Stewart finished 35th.

In the Chase point standings, Newman dropped one position to eighth. He is 402 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson with three races remaining. Stewart is fifth, 279 points behind Johnson.

The Talladega race winner was Jamie McMurray. Rounding out the top five in order were Kasey Kahne, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton.

The next Cup race is Sunday (Nov. 8) at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Chase Point Standings as of Talladega, Nov. 1, 2009

1. Jimmie Johnson, 6248 points
2. Mark Martin, 6064 (-184)
3. Jeff Gordon, 6056 (-192)
4. Juan Pablo Montoya, 6009 (-239)
5. Tony Stewart, 5969 (-279)
6. Kurt Busch, 5936 (-312)
7. Greg Biffle, 5908 (-340)
8. Ryan Newman, 5846 (-402)
9. Kasey Kahne, 5834 (-414)
10. Carl Edwards, 5811 (-437)
11. Denny Hamlin, 5800 (-448)
12. Brian Vickers, 5692 (-556)

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Ryan Newman

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 U.S. ARMY IMPALA SS,

TALK ABOUT YOUR OUTLOOK THIS WEEKEND HERE AT TALLADEGA. “Well I don’t know what to expect. Nobody knows what to expect. This type of racing, this track after the first race here this year we may have something the same, something worse or something better. This track has gone 500 miles green all the way and it’s had many yellows. We just look forward to the opportunity to have a good run with our U.S. Army Chevrolet and move up in the points and try to get that first win of the year we talk about every week.”

WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THIS MICHAEL VICK AND THE NFL, SHOULD THE NFL HAVE LET HIM BACK IN? “I don’t know exactly how to answer that other than to say that the justice system isn’t always just. I think that’s totally separate from his profession. His personal life and his profession are two different things in respect to the mistakes that he’s made. I think you can read it two different ways. Do people have the right to be forgiven, yes. Do they have the right to resume what they were doing once they’re forgiven, who knows. We as dog lovers have our opinion of him which is more than obvious but I don’t know exactly how to read that or answer that in respect to the business/professional side of the NFL. I don’t know what article you are talking about but I do know based on the history it’s a very bias conversation when it comes to animal lovers and Michael Vick.”

YOU WERE VERY OUTSPOKEN AFTER THE SPRING RACE, ARE YOU PLEASED WITH WHAT THE TRACK HAS DONE TO IMPROVE SAFETY AND WHAT STILL NEEDS TO BE DONE TO MAKE SURE YOU GUYS ARE SAFE? “I commend the track on their additions from the fence standpoint and from a cabling standpoint. They’re doing their part. It’s important that we always try to make improvements instead of saying what we should have done in respect to that accident. The changes NASCAR has made with the restrictor plate I think is another step in the right direction. The cars themselves have been under scrutiny the entire season so that’s a separate situation. Doing what we can to control the overall speed which in my opinion will not change the excitement of the race is a good thing. The track trying to protect the race fans is obviously the most important thing. To me it’s more important than the drivers. I think that a lot of steps were made but I don’t necessarily know that every step was made and I don’t know that was even possible.”

THE LAST TWO RESTRICTOR-PLATE RACES HAVE ENDED WITH LAST-LAP BLOCKING AND SOME SERIOUS ACCIDENTS, IS BLOCKING AN ISSUE PARTICULARLY WITH THIS PARTICULAR CHASSIS AND WITH AS CLOSE AS THE RACING IS? “Blocking has always been an issue. I think it was Richard Petty’s quote when they created the second car the potential for racing started and as soon as racing started there was a potential for blocking with that second car. Yeah, blocking is a part of this sport. Blocking is a part of racing here more so than most race tracks even more so than Daytona. It’s frowned upon by most drivers but there are a few drivers that try to take advantage of the situation. Also I’m happy that NASCAR doesn’t intervene with blocking as other series have intervened because I don’t think that’s necessary. I think the drivers are fully capable of managing their situations. Having NASCAR let us manage those situations is as equally as important.”

CAN YOU GIVE US A PREVIEW OF TEXAS NEXT WEEK? “Well I think going back to Texas for two things, number one its usually and more so now because the asphalt has aged it’s gotten to be a better race but secondly the first time there with double-file restarts I think is going to be another bundle of excitement as we’ve seen most every race track this year. The bigger the race track, the wider the race track the more the double-file restarts have an impact. You know I saw very little difference at Martinsville compared to the way it used to be. But I think when you go to a place like Texas it definitely adds to some multiple levels of excitement and I think it’s a great place for it. I love the speed. It’s a fast race track. The weather should be cool so hopefully we can haul mail.”

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BUT YOU GUYS WON’T FEEL ANYTHING DIFFERENT? “It will be just a little bit slower. My point is if you’re running 190 instead of 193 it’s not going to be that noticeable. Like I said 140 and on up is just my number, that’s what I’ve always kind of felt. You don’t really notice any difference and to give you an idea that’s the same basic speed a plane lands and takes off at. It feels like you can accelerate but you never feel any more speed. You don’t realize you’re going 500 miles per hour in an airplane until you hit something. Obviously we’ve never hit anything in a plane at 500 miles per hour because we wouldn’t be here to talk about it.”

About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

Ryan Newman (L) and crew chief Tony Gibson. (credit: Cameras in Action)

His hope is not only to finish two positions better when the Sprint Cup circuit returns to the Alabama track for Sunday’s running of the AMP Energy 500, but also to have a less precarious ride to the checkered flag in his U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS.

In the April Talladega event, Newman, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski were the three drivers vying for the win with the finish line in sight. But in the track’s traditional white-knuckle final lap, Newman’s No. 39 Chevy limped to the finish line after Carl Edwards’ frightening airborne car clipped Newman’s hood, causing major damage to the Stewart-Haas Racing machine.

“It was a wild finish and it got a little tense at the end,” recalled Newman.”We want exciting races, but we don’t want to see cars airborne either. It’s not safe and we need to collectively work to make sure what happened in the last race at Talladega doesn’t happen again. One big step taken was to reduce the restrictor plate size to slow the cars down so we’re less likely to get airborne.”

In 15 career starts at Talladega, Newman’s record includes four top fives, seven top 10s and four races he did not finish.

“We’re going into Talladega knowing that we can win,” stated Newman, who has one win at a restrictor-plate race — the 2008 Daytona 500. “The talent of the U.S. Army/Haas Automation team plus our Hendrick horsepower give us a good feeling about this weekend. We’ll keep on fighting hard to get our Army Strong Soldiers the first win of the season.”

With four races remaining in the 2009 season, Newman is looking to improve upon his seventh-place position in the Chase point standings. He gained one spot in the standings following his seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Cup race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“We have some tracks coming up that should be good for us,” noted Newman, who has five top-five and 15 top-10 finishes this season. “Obviously we want to make a statement in the closing races which will give us a positive head of steam going into next season.”

Newman and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Tony Stewart, are tied for completing the most laps during the 2009 season. Out of a possible 9388 laps, Newman and Stewart have completed 9374 for a 99.9 percent ranking.

“Completing the most laps is a tribute to the crews of both the No. 39 and No. 14 teams at Stewart-Haas Racing,” said Newman. “There are a number of reasons why this first-year organization has been successful and completing the most laps is one of them.”

No. 39 Over-the-Wall Crew (city is hometown)

Front-tire changer: Scott Brzozowski, Sterling Heights, Mich.

Front-tire carrier: Josh Mick, Houston, Texas

Rear-tire changer: Daniel Rankin, Chattanooga, Tenn.

Rear-tire carrier: Jason Fowler, Winston-Salem, N.C.

Gasman: Michael Moore, Springfield, Mass.

Jackman: Andrew Turner, Coloma, Mich.

Catch Can: Andy Rueger, Seymour, Ind.

Windshield: Jay Guarneri, Naples, Fla.

___________________________________________________

Crew Chief: Tony Gibson, Daytona Beach, Fla.

Car Chief: Kevin Pennell, Kannapolis, N.C.

Spotter: Greg Newman, South Bend, Ind.

Engine Specialist: Jay Nolan, Jacksonville, Fla.

Engineer: Johnny Klausmeier, Perry Hall, Md.

Engine: Hendrick Motorsports

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser, Charlotte

Tire Specialist: Ray Osian, Salisbury, N.C.

Mechanic: Joe Cline, Maiden, N.C.

Mechanic: Shawn Warren, Concord, N.C.

Pit Support: Chris Miller, Kannapolis, N.C.

Truck Drivers: Rick Hodges, Raleigh, N.C.

Todd Cable, Shelby, N.C.

- DMF Communications for U.S. Army Racing, Press Release

Ryan Newman

An Interview with:
RYAN NEWMAN

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to today’s NASCAR Cam Video Teleconference. We’re leading up to Sunday’s Amp Energy 500 at Talladega Super Speedway, Talladega, Alabama. That will be his seventh race in the 2009 chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Our guest today, he’s at the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, North Carolina, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39, U.S. Army Chevrolet.

Brian’s seventh in the series points going into Talladega. He’s had a lot of good runs there in the past. Four top 5s, seven Top 10s in 15 starts.

Ryan, we’re going to start off today, we’ve been each week on our teleconference we’ve been gathering some questions from our fans via NASCAR’s Twitter account. And we have a fan in Fort Worth Texas, Micah, she wants to know that after all the great success of Stewart‑Haas Racing this year, would Ryan Newman perhaps one day want to jump into the driver/owner ranks and give it a try?

RYAN NEWMAN: That’s a good question. But, honestly, that’s not one of my goals. I think Tony’s done a great job and Gene Haas as well as far as laying ground work and everything else in the shop. Done a great job. I don’t know that you could ever try to repeat that or duplicate that. Other people have tried even before Tony.

So I don’t think that that is something that I’m interested in. I know that there are ‑‑ it’s kind of like when things are on a grand scale, when they’re good they’re great. But when they’re bad, they’re really bad. And I don’t have any will to have those potential bad headaches.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Ryan, I’m wondering, what can NASCAR do to fix the problem at Talladega? The drivers obviously don’t like driving in packs, but that’s due to restrictor plates. But at the same time NASCAR doesn’t want the cars flying into the stands anymore. So is there anything in your view that they can do to fix that issue?

RYAN NEWMAN: I know they’ve made one big step and that’s to reduce the restrictor plate size to slow the cars down so we’re less likely to get airborne.

I know the Speedway has made improvements with respect to catch fans and things like that. But ultimately we don’t want to get to that situation.

Realistically, the drivers, as NASCAR has evolved to restrictor plate tracks, have changed the way we drive. There will be times when we single‑file out and there will be times when we’re four‑wide/four‑deep for the whole pack at times.

So it’s just a matter of excitement and strategy and the timing of those things in conjunction with what lap we’re on and what there is to expect before the end of the race, because I didn’t expect the last race there to be two cars, two groups of two cars pushing each other and may the best two‑team win. I never thought that would be a Talladega race. Realistically, you never know what to expect. But I know the restrictor plate change is a big thing.

And as I said, as NASCAR has evolved, you never know what you’re going to get with the drivers and how their styles change.

Q. If I could jump ahead a week to Texas and ask you about the double‑file restarts. Seems like it’s been a wonderful thing, and it seems like in most of the races we’ve seen restarts within about 25 to 30 laps or so. So how has that kind of ramped up the intensity for you guys on the racetrack when that happens and looking ahead to next week, does that just give things a greater potential for a more exciting finish?

RYAN NEWMAN: The double‑file starts are more advantageous at bigger racetracks, especially the wider ones. I saw for the first time at Martinsville this last weekend that the double‑file restarts really didn’t make much difference. You could put cars that were more of equal competition levels side by side. We ran side by side, at least what seemed to be side by side for longer.

When you have that on a one‑lane racetrack, it’s hard to get three‑wide. But you get to Texas and you can get three and sometimes four‑wide in the corners.

So I look forward to it. I think it’s been a great addition to the excitement of racing that NASCAR’s involved with the double‑file restarts. And Texas will be a great place for it.

Q. Along the same lines, I was looking ahead to actually Phoenix. It seems to be actually a favorite of a lot of drivers: Flat mile track. Just your thoughts on the second trip out to Phoenix and maybe how it’s different from the first trip.

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, again, just like Martinsville will have the first for double‑file restarts at that racetrack. So it will be interesting to see how that plays out. And Phoenix is a little different from Martinsville in the fact that you have a little bit more room to get three‑wide at times.

I look forward to it. It’s a driver’s racetrack. We’ve always said that because it’s unique. It’s different from one end to the other. And, therefore, the crew chief can only get one end perfect, it seems, and the other one the driver has to adapt to.

I look forward to going there. It’s one of my favorite racetracks. I know Tony does the same. Those restarts will be interesting there as well.

Q. Ryan, Mark Martin recently described preparation, compared Earnhardt, Sr. and Jimmie Johnson. He said Jimmie is technical and he writes things down. Earnhardt didn’t take notes, just piled into the thing and drove it like an animal, that’s his quote. You’re probably the most analytical of drivers, with your degree and everything, how would you describe your approach and how do you think you fit in between a studious Jimmie and jump in there, pile in their car, Dale Earnhardt, Sr.?

RYAN NEWMAN: It’s like any other sport. Every driver has their little way of doing things, whether it’s Senior’s style or Jimmie Johnson style or Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart style or Labonte style, everybody’s different. And you have to do what fits you to be the best you can be, to be the most successful in your own mind, to put it down on paper the way it’s going to be or how you are trying to project what it is you want to do. And some guys are off the cuff and some guys have to lay it out. And everybody’s different, is my point.

So to me I wouldn’t compare myself to either. I kind of do my own thing. I have an engineering degree as a background, but I wouldn’t say that distinctively drives what I do inside the race car or out of it.

Q. Ryan, I see at Charlotte you were asked about your expectations for this season. And I think you said you weren’t really sure how it was going to turn out. It’s turned out obviously pretty well. I’m curious what your expectations are for next season.

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, the one thing that I would say for sure is I feel like we should be able to expand upon this season, 2009, and take the relationships that we’ve built and start building better and faster race cars and things like that, because of the things that we’ve learned together as a team and what Tony Gibson and I have learned, what he’s learned about the way I like to drive a car and the way I learned from things from him and how he likes to adjust on the race car.

So just being able to sharpen our pencil, per se, and shine things up a little bit, put a little polish on them and just be better than we are in all respects, from the pit crew side, from the team side, mechanically and performance‑wise, what we can do to be better, we should be able to capitalize on that, what we experienced in 2009 to 2010.

Q. Ryan, I have a question about the Car of Tomorrow. I’m not suggesting like a total overhaul, but are there some changes you think that could be made possibly over the offseason that would make it a better race car at some of the tracks where it hasn’t been so great?

RYAN NEWMAN: Well, I think that there’s different ways of looking at that. From a mechanical standpoint, there are things we could do to make the car ride different or be able to adjust to it differently.

I haven’t been a big fan of the bump stops, but they are a way we tune the race car and they are a way we can create advantages. So they are one thing that’s as it’s a disadvantage, it’s an advantage to be able to have over other teams in what you’re doing to make the car ride better. Ideally, we’d not like to have bump starts, we’d have four shocks, go off and make it more simple. When you make it more complex, makes the more understanding teams be more successful.

So the second part of it are the aerodynamics of the car: I don’t know if they’re ideal. I’m not a huge fan of the wing. I think that we’d get more side drafting, have a little bit better side‑by‑side racing if we had a spoiler on the back of it. I think you’ll see a lot of the things we’d ideally have liked to have seen in the Car of Tomorrow for the Cup Series and the Car of Tomorrow for the Nationwide Series in the future based on things that both NASCAR and the teams have learned.

Q. Ryan, if NASCAR asked you if you had any changes inside your mind for the chase, is there something on your mind that you would say: Yeah, let’s change this about the chase?

RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t know. I mean, I want it to be as realistic racing and not a fabricated point system or fabricated championship trail in other people’s eyes. There’s a lot of historical significance in the way we race and the way that we award points. And that’s been a successful pattern for the last 50 plus years.

So ideally, to answer your question, there’s nothing that stands out in my mind. I’ve always said I’d like to have points awarded for qualifying but that’s separate from the chase. And I still feel that we spend an entire day getting our starting positions. And if you have the opportunity to go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 for the top 5 qualifiers, I think that would be good. And I think that would, secondly, change the points before you ever start the race, which is a big hype as well, especially in the chase format.

Q. Also, Ryan, this Thursday at Michigan International Speedway, they have asked people to bring their dogs to the track dressed in Halloween costumes and the winner’s going to receive a book signed by you; did I hear about that correctly?

RYAN NEWMAN: Yes. Actually, I’m involved in voting for the winner. It’s cool what Robert Curtis and everybody has done up at Michigan International Speedway. They’re very much into the outdoors and going green and things along those lines. And incorporating animals with the fans and with NASCAR racing is something that we’re a definitely big fan of, with our foundation, and obviously involved in NASCAR.

So I think that that’s pretty cool, and I’m proud to be a part of it. And the second part of that is we’ve got a new book that is coming out in February. Hopefully we can do it again next year, with a brand new book to offer to the fans.

Q. Last month in Atlanta you did pretty good with a Top 10 finish. And it was the first night race at Atlanta. I wanted your overall impression how you thought about the night racing in Atlanta?

RYAN NEWMAN: I liked it. I’ve always liked night racing, whether it was in open wheel racing or NASCAR Sprint Cup racing. I think it’s more exciting for the drivers. It’s more exciting for the fans. And it’s cooler, which makes it more tolerable for us, for sure.

But just the way the light reflects off the cars, I think all the racetracks have done a great job with the lighting to make it realistic and safe for driving and it’s a lot of fun. I think night races are typically better.

I’m not saying I want them all to be night races but there’s a reason why a lot of races have switched into night races.

Q. Following up on that, do you think that we should have more night racing in NASCAR than is currently in the schedule?

RYAN NEWMAN: I think there’s a good balance. Places like Indianapolis, I think, are always going to be day races. I don’t think that they’ll realistically put lights up around Indianapolis Motor Speedway; that’s just my opinion. But I think there’s a fine balance to have. And I’d say 60/40 night races/day races would be just about right if I had to do the math.

Q. Ryan, Goodyear recently tested a wider tire. I wanted to see if you heard anything about it good, bad, indifferent, and how do you think it will possibly change the racing?

RYAN NEWMAN: I’m not sure. I know that they have plans of that. I know a lot of other series have wider tires as well as taller tires, not just in overall circumference but in wheel diameter.

So there’s some things they’re looking into. But I don’t think that that’s something that’s necessary for the sport. I don’t think we should, per se, reinvent the wheel when we have things that we could shine up right now in respect to certain racetracks and put on great shows for the fans. Ultimately, it’s the show for the fans that we’re working on. And I don’t think a different wheel/tire combination is the ideal way to solve that situation.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Ryan.

About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release

Ryan Newman (L) and crew chief Tony Gibson. (credit: Cameras in Action)

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 TRANSFORMERS: “REVENGE OF THE FALLEN” IMPALA SS,

TALK ABOUT BEING HERE AT LOWE’S MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “I look forward to it. Based off of our performance here in the spring and the more experience we have had together as a team and as an organization, I think we can hopefully try to deliver. Haven’t had the greatest Chase. We have had some decent runs but between Jimmie (Johnson) and Mark (Martin) and a couple of other guys, they are kind of putting us to shame. I guess we haven’t shined like we wanted to shine to this point, but it hasn’t been for a lack of effort to try to try to luster.”

HAS THIS SEASON BEEN WHAT YOU WANTED IT TO BE AND HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU TO GET BACK TO VICTORY LANE? “I really didn’t have, per se, expectations. I had a lot of desire and I know we had the potential and the abilities, both personally and professionally with the team. I didn’t expect to finish first; I didn’t expect to finish in the top-10. I didn’t expect to finish 15th. I didn’t have expectations in respect to that. I just knew that if I put my best effort forward and worked to get the best I could with the team and the organization, then where we finish would necessarily be a surprise, but it all depends on what we are deserving of. I feel I feel that we have done a very good job as a team and as an organization to get to where we are. We haven’t achieved all of our goals. We haven’t won that race. So yes, there is a huge desire to win that first race. I’m as hungry as an Ethiopian; they still aren’t getting fed are they? (LAUGHTER ALL AROUND AT METAPHOR) The bottom line is, there is a ton of desire there and this is a great place for it. We finished second here in the spring with a little strategy. We were in position to win the All-Star Race and won the pole. As we always say, it would be a great place to get back in victory lane.”

WHAT IS IT YOU LIKE ABOUT MARTINSVILLE? “I don’t know? (LAUGHS) I like the short track racing. The more a driver has input, especially with some of the race tracks we go to, you don’t have to brake a lot, the more the driver has input, the more the driver has an effect. The short track racing I definitely enjoy because of that. You go to a place like Michigan or California, it takes less driver and more car than it does at a short track in my opinion. That is one of the things that I enjoy about Martinsville. We had a good run there in the spring. We struggled for the first two-thirds of the race and finally got the car better and got up in the top-10. I look forward to going back especially obviously with the Hendrick support and how well they have done there in the past four or five years. It is a fun race track as long as you stay out of trouble and keep your brakes cool.”

YOUR CAR WAS SO FAST OFF THE CORNERS IN THE ALL-STAR, WAS THAT SOME R & D STUFF OR WILL WE SEE THAT THIS WEEKEND AS WELL? “We had a great engine package. That was one thing. It was designed for that All-Star Race. I think a lot of guys did. I think we got our car back right, we know we had a component failure early in the race. Got it fixed, almost got two laps down. With a little bit of Jimmie’s help, got the lucky dog and got back on the lead lap all in one shot there. We were almost two laps down and got back on the lead lap and that kind of saved our day. Fought our way back up. We had a fast race car and yes, you are right, it was kind of biased coming off the corner. We had some awesome runs down the straightaways. It was a combination of car and engine. We just got in the wrong place at the wrong time or wrong place at the right time I guess you could say coming off turn four and got in the fence with the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and the No. 24 (Jeff Gordon).

WHAT WILL CHANGE FOR YOU GUYS IF IT IS AS COOL SATURDAY NIGHT HERE AS IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE, WHAT WILL THAT FORCE YOUR TEAM TO DO OR CHANGES TO MAKE? “I don’t think a whole lot. It isn’t going to be cold enough, I think this is a track and the tire combination….the track has aged enough that the tires are getting back to being soft enough that you don’t have to worry about cold tires. At some race tracks, you do have to worry about that, per se more the flatter race tracks. Places like Loudon and Richmond. I think, not a whole lot. It is just going to be cooler in the race car. The cars are going to be faster. It is going to be closer to wide open, a lot faster lap times than we typically see here in the daytime. I think it will be great racing providing Mother Nature lets us start on time.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE HALL OF FAME SELECTIONS? “I thought it was pretty good. I didn’t see the whole list of nominees but I thought everybody that was elected was deserving of being elected. I think it is great what NASCAR is doing with the Hall of Fame to preserve and give honor to the people who have helped define the sport. It is a pretty cool deal.”

ON HALLOWEEN AT TALLADEGA, ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN COSTUME AND TRICK OR TREAT IN THE COACH LOT? “I think anyone who Trick or Treats is going to Trick or Treat in the infield, not the coach lot. (LAUGHS) I guess I will have to go as myself. I don’t do that stuff. Seriously. Look at me I eat enough candy.”

HOW DIFFICULT WAS IT LAST YEAR TO STAY FOCUSED ON THE JOB YOU ARE FINISHING UP AND NOT THINK FORWARD? “We were still trying to win races, but we weren’t in the Chase. It was a little difficult in respect to that. I didn’t change any of my desire but I think within the Penske organization, they changed some of their desire. I didn’t get some of the new engine stuff. I didn’t get the new chassis stuff. I was the Black Sheep from Michigan on, which was understandable. I not holding any grudges against it. I was looking forward to getting the year over obviously because we didn’t achieve the goals we wanted to achieve. The only thing left to win was poles and races and we were struggling at doing that obviously. It was good season to end. Probably the happiest I’ve been at the end of the season and rightfully so. The most excited I have been to start a season this year in quite a while.

“I still did my team meetings. I was still welcome at the shop. It was a little different for me than it is now for him (Pat Tryson). I don’t know if that was more his decision or the team’s decision. I’m not in that loop and I don’t want to be. I felt like I was treated with a lot of respect last year, it was a different situation.”

WHAT IS YOUR ANALYSIS OF WHAT WE SHOULD BE DOING WITH THE CARS AT TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA AS A DRIVER AND AN ENGINEER? DID YOU GET IN ANY TROUBLE FOR BEING OUTSPOKEN? “I didn’t get in any trouble. I would tell you if I did because I don’t mind being in trouble once and a while as long as it is for the right reason and that is talking about safety. The one thing that they, meaning NASCAR has done, has reduce the size of the restrictor plate which is important because the speed, not necessarily closing or drafting or anything like that, but just pure speed, the fast we go, the more likely we are to get airborne. You take horsepower away, you are taking speed away and therefore, I think it is going to be safer from that respect. I know the track has done things on their part with the fencing and the cables and the addition cables and additional fencing which is important for the fans. My ultimate answer still is whatever we can do to help keep the race cars on the ground aerodynamically. I don’t know what has been done, I have my own ideas. My question is has the car been in the wind tunnel backwards to see how much lift it creates? Have we, as in teams or NASCAR, collectively done those things? When Carl’s (Edwards) car was airborne, it airborne all by itself. He got turned around, but he was backing up the race track and it got airborne. I know that because when I hit him, he hit me right in the windshield with his left rear tire. His left rear tire was 36 inches off the ground. That started the big mess. But the small mess that started the big mess was his car getting off the ground. Whatever we can do as teams, collectively with NASCAR, to try and keep the cars on the ground is the ultimate, in my opinion, safety situation in respect to the type of accident we saw there. I mean obviously there are huge impacts. There are grass issues and there are other things that we have to worry about when we have crashes but cars getting airborne are some of the worst we’ve ever seen.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK IS MISSING FROM THE NO. 39 TEAM RUNNING AS GOOD AS THE NO. 14 TEAM? “I think part of us is just us communication wise and team wise being perfect because that is what it takes. We’re competing against Jimmie Johnson and Chad Knaus and Jeff Gordon and Steve Letarte who have been together for so long. And obviously Darian (Grubb) and Tony (Stewart) are new together but I think their group gelled a little quicker than our group and that happens in racing. I think that we’ve struggled a little big making the car better from the start of the race to the end of the race. Our practice sessions typically go very well. Our average speeds are pretty much in the top-10 every week. If we start the race as a fifth place car, we’ll end the race as a seventh to 10th place car. I think that we need to be better collectively at that. I don’t know what the ultimate answer is in respect to that. Just looking at the trends and where we have been strong and where we have been weak, we’re stronger at the start and weaker at the end. That’s a big part of it in my opinion.”

About General Motors: General Motors Company, one of the world’s largest automakers, traces its roots back to 1908. With its global headquarters in Detroit, GM employs 235,000 people in every major region of the world and does business in some 140 countries. GM and its strategic partners produce cars and trucks in 34 countries, and sell and service these vehicles through the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC, GM Daewoo, Holden, Opel, Vauxhall and Wuling. GM’s largest national market is the United States, followed by China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Germany. GM’s OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety, security and information services. General Motors Company acquired operations from General Motors Corporation on July 10, 2009, and references to prior periods in this and other press materials refer to operations of the old General Motors Corporation. More information on the new General Motors Company can be found at www.gm.com.

- GM Racing Communications, Press Release