NEWMAN: Hunting More Than Wildlife In Texas

Sprint Cup

NEWMAN: Hunting More Than Wildlife In Texas

I always look forward to outdoors hunting in Texas, but this weekend I'm also hunting another race win...

Ryan Newman | Posted November 05, 2010 Charlotte, NC

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing writes Voices of SPEED on SPEED.com. (Photo: Jason Smith/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Everyone knows I’m a big fan of the outdoors. I love fishing and enjoy hunting, so last weekend at Talladega, and this weekend at Texas, are pretty cool weekends for me – not necessarily for racing, but for the extracurricular activities I get to do.

I’ve told you all before that we have a little lake the guys and I go fish at in Talladega. There’s a nice clubhouse there, where we can cook and hang out, and then we fish all day on Saturday after qualifying. It’s pretty relaxing for us all and it’s definitely a lot of fun.

And this week, before heading to the track, my crew chief Tony Gibson and I have been hunting down in Texas. It’s nice that we have those common interests so we can go out and enjoy each other’s company away from the race track. We don’t always have to talk shop – although we sometimes do. We just go and take in the scenery, the fresh air and enjoy the outdoors.

And maybe we’ll get a chance to do some more hunting later this weekend if everything goes well and the opportunity is there, so we’ll see.

As for the racing, well, we’re really hoping to get turned around this weekend. More than anything, we want to win another race before the end of the season and we’re running out of chances with just three races left.

I believe we can win another race. In fact, I was pretty confident a few weeks ago when we had finished in the top-11 for seven straight weeks. That was a great stretch for us. Unfortunately, the last three weeks haven’t been as good for us for one reason or another.

Despite that, I still think we have another race win in us. I’ve always liked Texas Motor Speedway, although you wouldn’t know it by just looking at my finishes there.

It’s super fast. Actually, it’s one of the fastest racetracks we go to. The asphalt has aged the track to the point that it has gotten better and better each time we come back. What I mean is, the track has basically gotten wider. It’s gotten a bit more character.

A little more bumpy, which is fine. I like it. I think that, in general, the track has gotten wider and racier each time we’ve come back.

My SPEED is devoted to the passionate fans who celebrate motorcycles, motorsports and the automotive lifestyle.

And the good news for the No. 39 Tornados team is, I feel like we have gotten better with our mile-and-a-half program, too. That’s kind of been the weak link for our team, but here, recently, Gibson and the guys have found a different setup that I like and it seems to be working. We’ve had strong finishes at Atlanta, Kansas and California – and I know we had a solid car at Charlotte if I wouldn’t have lost it there on lap two. So, I’m looking forward to putting that setup in our car this weekend.

You know, I won at Texas back in 2003. And, as I said back then, everything that happens in Texas is big. That was a big win for me back then. And I think a win now would probably be even bigger. A win right now would be huge, not just for getting us back on track at the end of the year, and these final three races, but rolling into momentum for next year.

Hopefully, I’ll have more than just good hunting stories to tell by the end of the weekend.

Ryan Newman is in his ninth 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 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing, the team co-owned by Stewart and Haas Automation, the world’s largest machine tool manufacturer. In 2010, Newman will be sponsored by Tornados, Haas Automation and the U.S. Army. Newman is a graduate of Purdue University, where he has a degree in vehicle structure engineering. In his first eight seasons, Newman has collected 45 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.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ryan Newman

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