Newman Bristol II post-qualifying interview

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 BASS PRO SHOPS/REALTREE CHEVROLET – POLE WINNER

Ryan Newman, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

THIS IS YOUR 48TH CAREER POLE IN THE NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES, WHICH RANKS 10TH ALL-TIME, AND YOUR SECOND POLE OF 2011, YOUR THIRD POLE AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY. TALK ABOUT BEING ABLE TO HAVE THAT GREAT PIT STALL SELECTION AND ALSO LEADING THE FIELD FOR TOMORROW NIGHT’S RACE “This is huge. Matt (Kenseth – 3rd) came in here earlier and talked about the emotions and when you start up front, your emotions are pretty calm because you’ve got a lot of things going your way. You’re starting in a good position; you’ve got good pit selection, and all those things. I just look forward to the race. It’s a great race to watch flashbulbs going into Turn 1. You’ve just got to miss the wall.”

YOU’VE GOTTEN A COUPLE OF POLES RECENTLY AFTER NOT HAVING ANY ALL YEAR. HAVE YOU JUST BEEN LAZY? HAS IT BEEN A CAR THING? “Just trying a little harder.”

YOU JUST DON’T CARE ANYMORE? WHAT’S BEEN DIFFERENT? “I spent so much of my time trying to win a race without winning a pole because you guys (media) criticized me for so long for winning races without winning races. Now after Loudon, I just figured if it works once, we’ll just keep trying to do that. So, just doing the stats, man, I’m a mathematician. Actually I was sitting out on the grid trying to figure out where I was going to hang my tree stands this year instead of focusing on the qualifying lap and evidently that’s the secret.”

HOW MUCH INFORMATION DO YOU SHARE WITH THE NO.14 (TONY STEWART) CAR BECAUSE WITH HIM STARTING 43RD AND YOU STARTING FIRST THERE JUST SEEMS TO BE SOME DISPARITY THERE “It wasn’t a good day for the No. 14. Obviously you saw that in qualifying. I think it’s just one of those deals where you spend a little time overnight regrouping. I felt our car was pretty good in race trim. Obviously it worked good in qualifying trim. We don’t ever want to see the cars that far apart, whether it’s the set-up or the results because of a set-up change. But I’m happy that we’ve given the No. 14 an opportunity to look at our notes.

“We always share information, there’s no question about that. We share so much information, sometimes it’s difficult to go through all the information that we share with each other. You kind of have to simplify it. But we’ll both go through each other’s notes, whether he was good, bad, or indifferent in practice; and try to figure out what we can do to be better. And I’ve said before that sometimes, just like Buddy Baker taught me, it was sometimes better to learn what not to do than to learn what to do. The things that they changed that they didn’t like maybe (are) some things that we can keep out of our car the next 12 or 13 races.”

YOUR TEAMMATE HAS BEEN SORT OF MOODY THROUGHOUT THIS YEAR AND I’M SURE HE’S REALLY MOODY RIGHT NOW. BUT YOU ARE A HAPPY-GO-LUCKY SORT OF GUY. DO YOU HAVE TO PUMP-UP TONY (STEWART) TO KEEP HIM HAPPY? HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT? (laughter)…”Well, I don’t have a true therapeutic license; when I went to Perdue it was all engineering and do I took a couple of communications classes, which helps me a little bit in talking with your guys (media). But I know he’s struggled today. And I know he’s struggled at times. We saw it at Michigan after the race. He’s not a happy guy when he finishes in the Top 10. He wants to win, and that’s what has made him a champion in the past. So, working through those situations is what makes you a stronger team and a better team and an organization, for that matter. It’s not my goal to sit down and try to fix Tony Stewart’s mood. But at the same time, I’ll do the best and be the best teammate that I can on the race track, and off. I want him to be as good as he can be and he’s proven that here at Bristol and at all the other race tracks. We’ll sit down and talk, but it was a frustrating day for him, I can tell you that right now. If he was sitting right here, whether he won the pole or not, he would tell you it was a frustrating day for him. I get moody too, just so you know.”