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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
NEWMAN: Still Work To Be Done
We can’t believe we are already headed back to Pocono for our second race there...
Ryan Newman  |  Posted July 30, 2009   Charlotte, NC
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 was just talking to Krissie the other day, and we can’t believe we are already headed back to Pocono for our second race there. It seems like this season has just flown by. I guess what they say is true: “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

And we really are having fun over at Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). I know I have said this before, and you’re probably going to hear it from me a thousand more times before this season is over, but I am so proud of what this team has accomplished so far this season – not just the No. 39 team, but the entire SHR organization.

It’s been an honor to be part of it and to watch it all come together. And I’m just so happy to be driving the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet.

As happy as we are, there is still work to be done.

There are only six races left to the Chase for the Championship, and although that doesn’t sound like very many, a lot can happen in that amount of time.

One good finish and you can pick up a lot of points. One bad finish and you can fall out of the top-12. There is sure to be a shake-up of some kind each week.

My crew chief Tony Gibson said it best the other day: We are locked in a dogfight to get into the Chase. Right now, we are sitting seventh in the standings, 145 points more than 13th place. We’d like to continue to build on that point cushion.

Each weekend from here through Richmond, we really are attacking two races. We have the actual race itself, which our goal is to win. But if we don’t have a chance to win the race, we have to “big-picture” race. We have to salvage the best finish we can and hope it leads to a good points day.

And then we have the race to get into the Chase for the Championship. Getting into the Chase has been our goal since the beginning of this season. Like I said, we feel pretty happy with our points position right now, but it would be nice to have a bigger lead over the guys from 13th place on back.

We had a really fast car at Pocono in June. We were good off the truck, and I was really happy with the car. We had a spark plug issue during the race and, truth be told, we got lucky with how the cautions fell because we were able to change the spark plugs and then come back from almost a lap down to finish the race in fifth.

That race proved to me and to a lot of people watching just how determined this team is. It didn’t give up. We changed a lot of things underneath the hood before we figured out it was a spark plug issue and the guys dug their feet in and did it – and kept me on the lead lap the entire time. It was really impressive.

So, this weekend we’re going back to Pocono with the same car and, hopefully, we’ll get a top-five again.

And yes, I’m planning on getting in plenty of fishing while I’m there, too. My rods are ready to go, and I’ll be on the lake every spare minute I have. Gibson’s planning on joining me again. He thinks he’s going to out-fish me. We’ll see about that.

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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