It’s hard to believe the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series is already heading back to Daytona International Speedway this weekend. It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago since we were there for Speedweeks in February. I guess time flies when you stay as busy as we have been since the beginning of the season.
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) ยป More Photos
I’m really proud of the progress our No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation team has made since our first weekend together. We’ve had a really good year. We’ve had a pole, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes, and we’ve come close to winning a couple of races.
Now, we are seventh in points. We still have work to do to stay in the top-12 and to make it into the Chase for the Championship, but I am confident in my team.
I knew back at Daytona in February that this team had the personnel, the talent and the equipment to be successful. Unfortunately, our first week there wasn’t what we had hoped for – one blown engine and two wrecked racecars made for a long Speedweeks.
The guys on the team never gave up. They handled each issue calmly, and they worked harder than any team in that garage that week with no complaints.
So, we go back to Daytona knowing that we qualified third for the Daytona 500 and had a super fast racecar before the issues we encountered. I feel confident that, if we can keep our nose clean this weekend, we will have a very good finish for our sponsors.
And how cool would it be to get a win for all of our soldiers on Independence Day? That really would be something special, and I think Stewart-Haas Racing has all the elements in place to get that victory.
We came oh-so-close last weekend to getting our first victory at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. We had the right strategy, but it just wasn’t our day. The rain came just a little too late for us and, unfortunately, we ran out of fuel during the final green-flag laps of the day.
We will get that first win, though. It’s like I’ve told the guys all along – if we keep doing what we are doing and put ourselves in position to win, we will get what we want, and that’s a win.
On another note, I went to Bristol Motor Speedway this morning to make a pretty cool announcement. In August, I will make history as the first driver to compete in all three of NASCAR’s top national series and one support series.
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I will be racing the No. 7Y Aggressive Hydraulics car in the NASCAR Whelen Modified race and the No. 2 Pringles Chevrolet (Kevin Harvick, Inc.) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on Wednesday or Bristol week. On Friday night, I will race the No. 5 Fastenal Chevrolet (JR Motorsports) in the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. And finally, on Saturday night, I will be in the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
It’s going to be a busy weekend for me. I think they said I would drive something like 1,000-plus laps at Bristol over the course of the weekend. And, like I told the reporters at the press conference, I will have to be sure to stay hydrated and eat my Wheaties!
I’m really excited about it. The cool thing is that fans can get in on the fun, too. Just go to www.bristolmotorspeedway.com for information.
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.
