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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
NEWMAN: Busy At Bristol
I’m at Bristol Motor Speedway – I actually got here on Tuesday – for quadruple duty...
Ryan Newman  |  Posted August 19, 2009   Bristol, TN
Ryan Newman will drive four races and 1,100 laps at Bristol. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
So, this weekend is going to be a busy weekend for me. Busy but fun.

I’m at Bristol Motor Speedway – I actually got here on Tuesday – for quadruple duty. I’m running in all four races starting tonight.

Busy? Very. But to me, it’s worth it.

Everyone has made a big deal out of my running all four races – the NASCAR’s Whelen Modified Series, Camping World Truck Series, Nationwide Series and Sprint Cup Series – because it is the first time anyone has ever competed in all three of NASCAR’s elite divisions, in addition to a support division, at the same track in the same week.

To me, it’s cool to be the first driver to ever do this, but that’s not the reason I am running all four races. I want to do it strictly because I’m a racer. I want to race as often as I can. So for me, this weekend is about racing and having fun and, hopefully, having some good finishes along the way.

Tonight, I’m driving the No. 7NY Aggressive Hydraulics Modified for Kevin “Bono” Manion and Gary Putnam. After the 150-lap Modified race, I will drive the No. 2 Pringles Chevrolet Silverado in the Camping World Truck Series race.

My Modified has been a little loose in the practices we have had, so we have some work to do on it, still. On the other hand, my truck has been really fast and I am really happy with it. The guys tell me it’s the same truck we won Atlanta with back in the fall so, hopefully, we’ll have some more good luck with it tonight.

Fortunately, after tonight’s races, I have a day off on Thursday so I can relax at home.

And then on Friday, it is back to the track. I will drive the No. 5 Fastenal Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in Friday night’s Nationwide race. Of course, on Saturday night I will be in the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing.

I know it is going to be a challenge to compete in all four races, but I am really looking forward to it. It’s a lot of miles, a lot of laps. In fact, it’s going to be 700 miles and 1,100 laps, and that doesn’t even count all the laps I’ll do in practice.

And as physically demanding as this weekend will be, I will have to make sure to stay hydrated and loose, and Bristol is just as much a mental racetrack. Things can happen so quickly there that you have to be on top of your game each and every second.

So, that’s my week in a nutshell. As much fun as I am going to have, my main focus is really on Saturday night and the No. 39 car. We are 66 points ahead of 13th place and the cutoff for the Chase for the Championship. We sure would like to have a bigger cushion than that with just three races left.

The good thing is that Bristol is really where our team hit its stride in the spring. It’s where we got our first top-10 and it really propelled us to a point where we were able to get a substantial string of really solid finishes.

Here’s hoping Bristol will be kind to me and the No. 39 team again on Saturday night.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEEDtv.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or Speed Channel

Ryan Newman is in his eighth full season as a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, and he’ll spend it with two-time Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart. Newman drives the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing, the team co-owned by Stewart and Haas Automation, the world’s largest machine tool manufacturer. Newman is a graduate of Purdue University, where he has a degree in vehicle structural engineering. In his first seven seasons, Newman has collected 43 poles and 13 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, including the 2008 Daytona 500 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. When not racing, Newman enjoys fishing and restoring his classic cars. The avid outdoorsman, along with his wife Krissie, play an active role in the Ryan Newman Foundation 501(c)(3), which they founded in 2005. For more information on Ryan Newman, please visit www.ryannewman.org or www.stewarthaasracing.com. Information on the Ryan Newman Foundation can be found at www.ryannewmanfoundation.org.
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