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Struggling Newman Pondering His Future

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By TONY FABRIZIO

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 12, 2008

Updated: 07/12/2008 12:17 am

Ryan Newman left Florida in February as the Daytona 500 champion, his reputation as an elite driver restored and his hopes high for a resurgent season at Penske Racing.

He starts the second half of the Sprint Cup season tonight at Chicagoland Speedway with only one top-five finish since Daytona - he wrecked three times and finished 36th in last week's return to Daytona - and he is on course to miss the Chase for the third consecutive year.

And Newman's future with Penske Racing, his team since open-wheel racing in the late 1990s, is very much in doubt.

Newman, in the final year of his contract with Penske, would only talk about his prospects vaguely in a phone interview last week. But he reiterated that he wants to drive for a team that gives him a chance to win.

While still waiting to see if gains are made at Penske, he is considering other options, which reportedly include becoming Tony Stewart's teammate at Stewart Haas Racing next year, Newman said.

"I'm waiting to see where I'm at from my performance standpoint," Newman said. "But I have to be fair to myself and entertain all offers and options. ... I don't have to make a decision immediately, but it won't be a whole lot later."

Speculation has been circulating for months that Newman will leave Penske and join Stewart in 2009. Although some Internet sites have reported this as virtually a done deal, Stewart said Thursday that no decision has been reached on who will drive his team's second car next year, and that current driver Scott Riggs hasn't been ruled out.

Given that Stewart and Newman are both Indiana natives with a common open-wheel background, a union makes sense. And landing Newman would give Stewart Haas Racing two top-tier drivers, which would help attract sponsorship and quality personnel.

Penske, despite the team's considerable engineering resources, has been behind the learning curve with NASCAR's cars on intermediate tracks, the most common tracks on the circuit.

Newman is 16th in the standings, and his teammate, Kurt Busch, who won a rain-shortened race two weeks ago at New Hampshire, is 17th. The problem is partly that they are driving Dodges: Two-time 2008 winner Kasey Kahne is the only Dodge driver ranked in the top 12.

Besides struggling with the new car, Penske has been behind with its engines, Newman believes.

"I still think that our biggest weakness has been our engine package," he said. "Whether it's fuel mileage or power or both, we just have been lacking a little bit in that, and I think that has been one of the driving forces in us not qualifying well, especially at the bigger racetracks. You can't overdrive this car, so you can't make up for it."

If Newman does re-sign with Penske, help could come with a new Dodge engine. At least one Dodge team hoped to debut the R6P8 engine at the all-star race in May, but problems with casting issues with the block and parts production have delayed the debut indefinitely.

The new engine is lighter and designed to cool better. The latter is important because teams won't have to give up as much track time cleaning debris from the grill to make sure the engine is getting maximum airflow.

Tommy Wheeler, engine services director for Gillett Evernham Motorsports, said he hopes to run the engine in one his team's non-Chase cars this fall.

Newman figures to have a decision on his future well before then.

"Like any other team, we have our strengths and weaknesses," Newman said of Penske. "Obviously, we've proven we have a good superspeedway program Daytona and Talladega. And we have a pretty good short-track package as well. Our intermediate package isn't where the 18 Kyle Busch and 99 Carl Edwards are. We're working on it."

Reporter Tony Fabrizio can be reached at (813) 259-7994 or afabrizio@tampatrib.com.

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