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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
NEWMAN: Chasing The Dream
It was a dream come true for me to make the Chase for the Championship in my first year at Stewart-Haas Racing...
Ryan Newman  |  Posted September 18, 2009   Loudon, NH
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing writes Voices of SPEED on SPEEDtv.com. (Photo: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)
I haven’t had a lot of down time this week. In fact, when I got to the bus last night in the infield at New Hampshire, it was really the first time I had a chance to sit down and relax. I guess you could say the week has been a bit of a whirlwind.

Our No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation team succeeded in its goal of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship by finishing 10th last week at Richmond. I know it was a stressful weekend for the guys on the team, but I was confident we would be okay.

I didn’t push it, really, with the racecar on the track. I wanted to make sure I kept my fenders clean and that I didn’t put myself in a bad situation. I was pretty relaxed and I wanted the guys to know I felt good – so I even sang a verse of a song for them. We’ve all laughed about that in the days since.

At the end of the race, I pulled onto pit road and, seeing how happy everyone was, really was pretty cool. We had a lot of VIPs there from the U.S. Army, and this was the first time they had gotten into the Chase. They were thrilled.

Honestly, none of us could stop smiling. There were hugs and congratulatory handshakes from Tony (Stewart) and Mr. (Rick) Hendrick and the guys on the team. It was just really cool.

I told a reporter afterward that it was a dream come true for me to make the Chase for the Championship in my first year at Stewart-Haas Racing. And there couldn’t be a more true statement. After a few years of sitting on the sidelines, the one thing I wanted was to be in a position where I could run for a championship again.

We started in a hole and we battled back through adversity, and we did it. I’m just so proud of what we have done. But the work is not over. Now, it is time for us to go out and battle for the next 10 races starting this weekend in New Hampshire.

We had a meeting at the race shop on Monday, and we all agreed it is pretty remarkable that SHR has a one-in-six chance of bringing home the trophy. That’s our next goal.

Since we made the Chase, I spent Wednesday and Thursday in New York City with the rest of the Chase drivers for media events for NASCAR. If you know me, you know that New York is one of my least favorite places to visit.

I like the green grass, natural scenery, the outdoors – things like that. There’s not a whole lot of that in the city. I guess you would say I’m a country boy at heart.

Although spending two days doing media interviews isn’t on anybody’s list of favorite things to do, the two days in New York for the Chase drivers is really a cool thing. It was an honor to be up there because it is truly great recognition for our sponsors and our team and what we accomplished by making the Chase.

And, like I said, after missing out on things the last few years, I was pretty darn happy to be there. The coolest thing I did was go on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon with Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne. We played this game called the Shock-A-Tron which tested our reflexes.

I didn’t win, but we laughed a lot. And that little toy packed one heck of a shock.

Now, it’s back to work at the track. We’re looking forward to the next 10 races and proving how good our No. 39 team is.

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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