NASCAR BGN: Ryan Newman Interview: Discussion of a successful season

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

September 26, 2001

In his 13 career Busch Series starts, Ryan Newman has started from the pole an astounding five times, and has only once started a race outside of the top 15. The 23-year-old rookie out of the Penske Racing stable recorded his first Busch Series win at Chicago Motor Speedway in only his eighth start, matching the mark set by fellow rookie Greg Biffle earlier in the season. Newman moves from the Busch car to the Winston Cup counterpart this weekend, as he looks for his first victory in the Winston Cup Series in Sunday's Protection One 400. Newman was this week's guest on the NASCAR Busch Series teleconference and spoke about his experiences this year.

RYAN NEWMAN-02-ALLTEL Ford Taurus - YOU STARTED ON THE POLE AT DOVER AND LED THE MOST LAPS, BUT ENDED THE DAY IN 21ST. WHAT WERE YOUR FEELINGS AFTER HAVING SUCH AN UP AND DOWN DAY? "It was a good, overall day for us that ended in a disappointing finish. But like I said, looking at the big picture, it was definitely a good day. To sit on the pole at Dover my first time there and out-qualify the entire Cup field and Busch field and lead so many laps, we just got caught out there at the end with a not-so-great pit stop that kinda put us back after a four-tire change, which I believe was the right call. The track position just kind of hurt there. We got caught back and the cars were running two and three-wide in front of us and sometimes we were part of the three-wide and we ended, it would have been a top-10 finish had we not cut a tire down there with two laps to go, but that's part of racing and we have to go on."

HOW DIFFICULT HAS IT BEEN TO FIND THE CONSISTENCY THAT YOU'VE HAD IN ONLY YOUR ROOKIE YEAR? "It's definitely difficult when you don't race every week. You get experience with Goodyear tires and the different race tracks, and for me, especially, just seat time in the race car when it's a different type of car than I grew up in. Just the opportunity to get so many laps is a great thing, but with the structured schedule that we have this year, I've been getting in different car in different places with different series. It's been a great year overall, as far as me getting experience as a driver, but it's definitely, I would have to say, it's some sort of disadvantage to not be able to go out and run every week against the same kind of competition. But yet at the same time, I can say I get to experience things of racing seven times in Winston Cup that some Busch drivers don't get the opportunity to do."

HAVING RACED AT KANSAS CITY ONCE IN THE ARCA SERIES AND ALSO HAVING TESTED THERE ONCE, TALK ABOUT WHAT KIND OF ADVANTAGE THAT MAY GIVE YOU. "It's some sort of defined advantage, I would definitely say that, but how it plays out is yet to be determined. It's been a great opportunity for me, and like I said, that's a benefit to the schedule that we've chosen this year as far as getting experience in the ARCA Series. It was to have the ability to go there as an ARCA car, get some laps and learn about the race track. Whether you're in an ARCA car on Hoosier tires or in a Cup car on Goodyear tires, the different rules that sometimes apply, the wall is still in the same place at that race track and you definitely get to understand the fast lane around there. I think that's something, and I'll be maybe one or two steps ahead of some drivers as we get into the weekend's festivities to know that this is where I need to be on the race track to go fast. That may take them a little time to think about. On the other hand, they have so many more laps and experience in a stock car that maybe I'm tricking myself out and thinking I know what I'm doing right and they're going to show me what's actually right. It works both ways."

WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE YOUR FIVE BUSCH SERIES POLES TO? "We've definitely had a lot of good teamwork as far as the crew chief understanding what I like to drive and what's fast. Matt Borland, my crew chief, does an awesome job to understand the physics of a race car and realizes what it takes to go fast. For me as a driver, it's a perfect situation when you get the chance for one or two laps in qualifying. You have all the downforce on the car, you have brand-new tires, which are as sticky as possible. They're all aired up so you can go as fast as you can, nobody is in front of you, nobody is behind you, it's you and the race track and you try to conquer the race track in those two laps. I don't know if it's my experience in open-wheel cars, or what, but I've seemed to excel at that this year. I think that it goes back to the fact that we have a great team with great understanding, and the we've had the ability to go test and do things that maybe some other teams haven't had the ability to do based on our schedule."

HOW WOULD YOU RATE YOUR SEASON OVERALL WHEN YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER THE BUSCH AND CUP STARTS TOGETHER? "I would have to say that if I was to give myself a grade as an academic grade, it would be a mid to low 'B', I would say. There's some parts of our season, or our schedule, that we deserve an 'A' in and we got that 'A', be it qualifying or procedures like that. There are times that I've made mistakes as a driver. We've made mistakes in the pits, we've made mistakes setting the car up and things like that as we grew as a team, and we were just average or sometimes below average. So I think overall, as a team, and that's the best way to rate myself, it would be somewhere in the 'B' range."

TALK ABOUT YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT SEASON AND BEYOND. "The plan is to do a full Winston Cup schedule next year in hopes of being Rookie-of-the-Year. That was the purpose of putting this schedule together this year, the ABC schedule, just to get experience for me as a driver at those tracks and try not to duplicate the tracks so that we can gain experience and gain notes and be able to test at different tracks. Just to be able to go out and learn this year and to try to apply everything we learn to next year's schedule."

WHAT IS THE BREAKDOWN FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE SEASON? "The rest of this year, we have three Cup races including Kansas City, we come to Charlotte and then we go to Phoenix. The two remaining Busch Series races are at Rockingham and Homestead, and we'll finish the year at Homestead."

TALK ABOUT GOING FROM BUSCH TO CUP FROM ONE WEEK TO THE NEXT. "It's different for me as a driver. Basically, all my life, I've raced in open-wheel cars, with the exception of the past two years, and in those races, I'd go up against 20, maybe 25, different drivers. This year, with the ARCA, Busch and Cup schedule, if I race Busch one week and Cup the next, there's a good chance that I'll be racing against 60, maybe 80, other drivers. They have their different strategies, thoughts and the way they drive, and obviously, different attitudes and aggressiveness towards other drivers. So, I've definitely learned a lot about how to adapt myself as a driver to other drivers' characters. That's been one of the biggest things that I've learned. Whether it's Jimmy Spencer you're up against or Jimmie Johnson, you have to approach each person differently."

Text provided by Greg Shea

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