Q. So you’d be in favor of keeping it?
RYAN NEWMAN: I’m totally in favor of keeping the double yellow line rule. It probably would have been easier to say that first.
Q. In the memo that NASCAR sent out today, they said they wanted to parallel the downforce between what they have now with the wing to what they have with the spoiler. Is that possible?
RYAN NEWMAN: Oh, yeah.
Q. Can you kind of explain? How much testing would you need to be able to have that, and is that okay if it’s just more of an æsthetics thing and a vision thing than a downforce thing?
RYAN NEWMAN: I think that we have to manage that blade, spoiler, whatever you want to call it in the back of the car, from a vision standpoint for sure. The wing has blocked some of our vision, but in racing the Nationwide car, I almost can’t see out of the back—through the rearview mirror out the back of the car.
From an aerodynamic standpoint it’s easy to figure out. Wind tunnels get you 95 percent there. The difference is when you get cars side by side in racing what the effects are of the downforce and the turbulent air. I feel that that correlation is easy to make, that spoiler, which we’ve had in the past. It’s just the aerodynamic part of it, I should say, is the most important part from a balance standpoint as we’ve seen with race cars. Most racing was probably 2005, I think it was, when we had the Dodge Charger, we had so much front downforce on the car that it would literally just spin around. I crashed the car in Nashville one time, it just spun around. We learned later that the downforce in the front was so much more than what we were used to that it’s almost impossible to drive at times.
In saying that, finding that balance, that aerodynamic balance, which I think we have a good balance of, and that’s why they want to keep the balance the same between the wing and the spoiler, to keep that part of it the same, the difference is what that spoiler does when the car goes backwards versus the wing or what that spoiler does side by side with other cars versus the wing.
Q. Last weekend we were in Nashville, Tennessee, kind of a fan sound and speed fan thing, and then here again with fans. Just your take on the importance of kind of keeping in touch with fans here in the off-season and having events like this?
RYAN NEWMAN: I think it’s great. I think it’s great that we have a lot better weather than we had last year for this function. I think that as much as we like to have our time off, it’s important that we pay respect to the fans, and I think it’s great that the fans come out to an event like this. I’ve been a part of sound and speed for I think it was the first three or four years straight, so I know what that event is all about, and that’s a lot of fun outside of a fan appreciation event. Coming to do this is fun, as well, to kind of relight the fires, and when we come back in a few weeks we’ll kick the tires.
Q. From your perspective in retrospect, as a teammate, Tony can basically do no wrong for the first 26 races. During the Chase the performance fell off somewhat. Did the demands of being an owner and driver finally catch up to him, or was that more coincidental than anything else?
RYAN NEWMAN: I don’t think any demands caught up with Tony Stewart. I think he just didn’t have the last ten as good as the first 26 from a performance standpoint. I think he took a lot of criticism because of his position because of that, but I think it had nothing to do with it. I honestly 100 percent believe that.
Q. Describe the difference in the feeling in walking in the shop now compared to last year when the whole thing was coming together. And also, what do you think the team has learned and from your perspective Tony going through this one time?
RYAN NEWMAN: Just like you guys here, knowing names when you walk into a room makes a world of difference than when you walk in not having a clue what to expect or whose voice is going to sound like what or who you should laugh with or what you should laugh at. It makes a big difference a year later walking into Stewart-Haas Racing, and knowing my group of guys, knowing Tony’s group of guys and the shop people and things like that, I kind of have an idea how things are supposed to go and how things are going to go and how we’ve progressed as a team personally and professionally. You know, it’s different. It’s a lot more relaxing for me personally. It was tough, as I had said earlier, leaving Penske Racing because you leave the people behind, you leave your job behind there, but at the same time, you don’t terminate the friendships that you have, but yet you still have to grow friendships with the new people that you’re associating with.
It’s almost like having twice the Rolodex, twice the emails. Everything doubles up, and it takes time to—I don’t feel like you create that chemistry, that chemistry has to happen. You can’t create chemistry by going out of your way in my opinion, it’s just sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn’t.
Q. I want to ask you about the business end of the sport a little bit, where you’re from. Obviously you’re seeing the economy stumbling along a little bit. Do you think the sport is doing a good job of making it more affordable and keeping the entertainment value up for the fan?
RYAN NEWMAN: I think that racetracks, NASCAR, a lot of people have done a good job of respecting people and respecting the fans in respect to being able to afford to come to a race. We’ve seen ticket prices drop, we’ve seen parking, concessions, all those things have dropped. Obviously we’re in a good position where we can still make money from a business standpoint, but to have that level of respect for the fans, to say, hey, this is what we’re going to do to help you out in these tough times is I think something NASCAR should be commended on.
You know, it’s not like a light switch. It’s not going to get better just like that. It’s going to take some time, and I’m glad that a lot of people are doing what they can to help out in many ways.
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