Newman Satisfied With Team Debut

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- If pressed to find one thing Ryan Newman would change about his season, of course, he'd like to score a win in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale at Homestead Miami Speedway.

After being close to victory circle a half-dozen times this season, that's about the only thing he feels is missing from a stellar debut season with the essentially start-up Stewart-Haas Racing team. Newman won two pole positions in the No. 39 U.S. Army-sponsored Chevrolet and, after an ominous start at the season-opening Daytona 500, still qualified for the 12-driver Chase for the Championship.

In our last installment of Inside the Chase for the Championship with Ryan Newman, FanHouse looks at the evolution of the season and how Newman evaluates his fresh start.

"By our own standards and expectations -- which I don't know if you'd call them high or low -- I am happy with how the season has gone, I wouldn't say ecstatic, but I'm happy,'' said Newman, who's ranked ninth entering Sunday's Ford 400 season-ender.

It's a fine conclusion, especially if you consider how Newman's season began. Great hoopla and wide-ranging expectations met the Stewart-Haas Racing team in Daytona. No one doubted Tony Stewart's commitment to this new team or track record. Same with Newman.

But there was a real wait-and-see attitude for these two successful drivers going it on their own. Newman left the mighty Penske organization, where he won the 2008 Daytona 500, and Stewart left Joe Gibbs Racing, where he won a pair of Cup championships.

But Newman's Chevy blew two motors and, of all things, Stewart and Newman crashed together in the final practice for the Daytona 500. So before the first green flag had even dropped, Newman was coming from behind. It didn't get much better in the race, he finished in the same position he started -- 36th.

It was a month before Newman got a top-10 finish -- but that seventh-place performance at Bristol, Tenn., was the start of the turnaround that would propel him to the playoffs.

"Blown motors, wrecks, loose wheels, it was such a nasty start,'' Newman's crew chief Tony Gibson said. "It was tough, but I've been in this sport when it's bad, bad, bad, and you know it's going to turn around.

"And when it starts turning around, it makes it even sweeter.''

That Bristol race started a string of 10 races in which Newman had only two finishes worse than eighth place, including four straight top-four finishes. Newman won the pole and finished runner-up at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte during Memorial Day weekend -- still his best single outing of the year.

By June, Newman had moved from a season-low 36th in the standings to a season-high fourth.

Stewart scored the team's first victory at Pocono the first week of June and was leading the points standings. Only Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were ranked higher than Newman.

"Daytona just set the tone and showed us that we could overcome adversity,'' Newman said. "What Tony and I share are a lot of desire, a lot of fight and a little bit of old-school mixed in with new-school thinking.

"I never looked at it like we had certain expectations. If you're spending time expecting things, you're in neutral in my eyes. You need to be moving forward.''

And that's exactly what Newman has done.

A highlight reel of his 2009 season will undoubtedly include a pair of horrific-looking accidents at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, but what he'll remember most is the tenacity and unwavering commitment his new team showed to convert the tough times into an elite season.

It's difficult enough in this competitive era to make the Chase for the Championship with an established team. Newman did it driving a new car, fielded by a new team, led by a new crew chief.

"I'm like a proud father,'' Stewart said of the organization's successes.

"I don't see how I could be any happier. For a first-year team, I'd give us an A.''