“I feel like we let one slip away today,” said Newman, who has six finishes of 12th or better in seven starts at Bristol with his Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) team. “We were better all weekend than a 12th-place finish, that’s for sure. That’s definitely not what we wanted today. Our Quicken Loans Chevy was fast off the truck, and we were strong all weekend. The guys did good in the pits, and they worked hard all day. But we just could never adjust on it the way we needed. We were just way too tight.”

After qualifying third Friday and ending practice Saturday as the fastest car, Newman was confident heading into the 500-lap race Sunday afternoon at Bristol. But while running third early in the race, Newman reported a tight-handling condition in the corners to crew chief Tony Gibson.

A caution at lap 25 afforded the team its first opportunity to try to fix Newman’s tight-handling condition. But with only a handful of laps completed, many of those during a side-by-side battle with Jeff Gordon, Newman told Gibson he preferred to make no chassis changes and see what happened. The crew changed right-side tires and added fuel.

While the pit stop was flawless, the tight confines of pit road at the .533-mile racetrack which can often make entering and exiting tricky hurt Newman.

Newman’s No. 39 team was positioned in the final pit stall on the frontstretch. With cars coming around the tight corner from the backstretch pit road, Newman took a cautious approach exiting his box to avoid pit road incidents. While he didn’t get hit, Newman’s car was boxed in twice as other cars pulled in and out of their pit boxes in front of him, causing Newman to drop to 13th in the running order on the restart.

From there, Newman’s day didn’t improve. He battled a tight-handling racecar for most of the afternoon.

“I was so tight; I just couldn’t turn the car,” Newman said. “And it didn’t matter what adjustments we made, it didn’t get any better.”

At each opportunity, the crew made wedge and air pressure adjustments to aid the ill-handling racecar, but nothing seemed to improve the issue. Newman continued to have difficulty turning. The difficulties caused Newman to lose a lap to the leaders just past the midway point of the 500-lap race.

Despite being a lap down and struggling with a car that wouldn’t turn well, Newman and his crew refused to give up. Newman fought to keep himself the first car one lap down, and he was awarded the “Lucky Dog” when the caution waved at lap 361, which put him back on the lead lap.

But the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevy was still too tight and still not turning the way Newman needed it to in order to gain any positions on the racetrack. By lap 467, Newman had once again fallen one lap down to the leaders. Newman kept himself in the position to get a second “Lucky Dog” award, and a caution just 12 laps later gave him one more opportunity to get back on the lead lap for the closing laps of the race.

Newman came down pit road, and his crew made additional wedge and air pressure adjustments, and changed four tires and added fuel. Newman restarted in 14th place at lap 484. He was able to gain two more spots in the final laps of the race to finish 12th.

Newman’s SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala, finished 14th.

Brad Keselowski won the Food City 500 to score his fifth career Sprint Cup victory, his first of the season and his second consecutive victory at Bristol.

Matt Kenseth finished .714 of a second behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-five. Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 49 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

With round four of 36 complete, Stewart leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is seventh with 130 points, 27 behind series leader Greg Biffle. Newman is 12th with 118 points, 39 out of first.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 25 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

“Really proud of Steve (Addington, crew chief) and proud of our guys,” said Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). “They worked hard all day and fought through it all day.”

Stewart was poised to finish among the top-10 until an out-of-control Brendan Gaughan tagged him in turn three on lap 479, sending Stewart’s Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy backward into the SAFER Barrier that lines the outside retaining wall.

“Brendan came down and told me and all of my guys sorry, which we really appreciated,” Stewart said. “He went down into (turn three) and the brake pedal went to the floor. It’s kind of good that I was there to somewhat slow him down a little bit, but at the same time, we had a top-10 run going there, which for the way we’ve run here the last couple trips, it’s a big improvement.”

Stewart’s results at the .533-mile bullring have been feast and famine – and more famine in recent years. With the exception of a second-place finish in March 2010, Stewart’s best Bristol result in his last six trips to the east Tennessee oval was 17th in August 2009.

The 52nd annual Food City 500 still proved to be a chore for Stewart and Co., but the reigning Sprint Cup champions persevered all weekend, overcoming their 23rd-place starting spot to crack the top-10 after 380 laps.

Part of that battle to crack the top-10 involved a spirited duel with eventual race winner Brad Keselowski to stay on the lead lap. Stewart raced the driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge for nearly 20 laps around lap 300, eventually succumbing to Keselowski’s blistering pace.

But Stewart hung tough, maintaining his spot as the first car one lap down. And when the caution flag waved on lap 341, Stewart was awarded the “Lucky Dog” to earn his lap back.

As the last car on the lead lap, Stewart took the opportunity to improve his car during back-to-back pit stops on laps 343 and 367, respectively. The adjustments ordered by crew chief Steve Addington worked. By lap 390, Stewart was working over polesitter Greg Biffle for ninth place.

“This was a race just to stay on the lead lap,” Stewart said. “When we finally got the caution – there were only 15 of us at the time that were on the lead lap.

“Normally, 14th isn’t something we’re too happy about, but compared to how we’ve been, I thought we made big gains on it today.”

Stewart’s SHR teammate, Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala, finished 12th.

With round four of 36 complete, Stewart leads the SHR contingent in the championship point standings. He is seventh with 130 points, 27 behind series leader Biffle. Newman is 12th with 118 points, 39 out of first.

Keselowski’s victory in the Food City 500 was the fifth of his Sprint Cup career, his first of the season and his second consecutive victory at Bristol.

Matt Kenseth finished .714 of a second behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-five. Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jimmie Johnson and Paul Menard comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were five caution periods for 49 laps, with five drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Auto Club 400 on Sunday, March 25 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2:30 p.m.

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 39 QUICKEN LOANS CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3^RD.

ANOTHER GOOD QUALIFYING EFFORT; TALK ABOUT HOW PRACTICE HAS GONE AND ALSO ABOUT THE LAPS YOU PUT DOWN TODAY FOR QUALIFYING “I was a little concerned when Brad (Keselowski) ran that .36; if the track had picked up that much or if he had just laid down one heck of a lap. I was glad to see our Quicken Loans Chevrolet pick-up to go from fifth to third; and we were close, I think within a hundredth there or so. It’s just a good run for us; a good starting spot. We’ll have a good pit selection. It’s all the things that you could ask for. We’ll just flip her over into race trim tomorrow and see how good we can make it on the long runs.”

HOW REALISTIC DO YOU THINK IT IS THAT SOMEBODY CAN BREAK YOUR POLE RECORD ANY TIME SOON? “It will take a significant tire change to get that out of the cars around here. The cars are capable of it; it’s the tire that grips the race track. We were looking at our notes and we didn’t realize that Carl (Edwards) in last year’s spring race ran a 14.98 and came back in the fall race with a different tire and ran a 15.62. So, it all depends on the tire. And I doubt it because the tire that we had then, we left sitting in the garage and put a different tire on for the race. So, it will take a significant tire, durability, and softness to be able to do that. I don’t see that in the near future.”

YOU FINISHED IN THE TOP 5 LAST WEEK, AND HAD ANOTHER STRONG QUALIFYING EFFORT TODAY. COULD YOU JUST TALK ABOUT YOUR START TO THE 2012 SEASON? “I think performance-wise, we’ve been pretty good. We didn’t have the car that we had at Daytona last year but at Phoenix, I put ourselves in a bad situation by crashing the primary car and then we got crashed going for fifth in the race with 50-some laps to go. I think our cars have been good. We’ve got the monkey off our back, so to speak, at Vegas with a lucky chance to get up there in fourth and with the No. 17 (Matt Kenseth) and the No. 5 (Kasey Kahne) having their situation, but I’m just really proud of the guys. They’ve worked really hard. It’s obviously been a very hectic start to the season with some rain delays and west coast trips and things like that. But they’ve done an excellent job.”

AS A RACE CAR DRIVER, ARE YOU UNEASY ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF EVERYBODY ELSE KNOWING EVERYTHING YOU DO WITH REGARD TO FIGURES AND NUMBERS AND MAPPING AND SECRETS AND THE WAY YOU DO THINGS? “I think NASCAR has done a really good job in the past about keeping it simple and keeping it old school, so to speak. The EFI opens up a lot of doors. They’ve given us a couple of channels to be able to review when it comes to brake-pressure and throttle position. It’s nice to see those things to compare, but like you said; it does have a catch-22 side to it and that’s the fact that if it is a secret, then it’s no longer; and if it is an advantage, it may not be anymore. ican look at Tony Stewart’s curve and try to match it and I can’t do it with my race car or with the line I’m running or whatever. It’s not so much as simple as that as it is as it is that it just gives us an idea of what to maybe change or try at different race tracks. And obviously, that’s going to change as we go into the second race after we can look at some data; it’s all new to us right now. So, it’s an interesting perspective on a change when it comes to technology.”

POLE WINNERS HAVEN’T FARED TOO WELL LATELY AS FAR AS WINNING RACES. WHEN THE GREEN FLAG DROPS ON SUNDAY, IS THERE THAT MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHERE YOU’RE SITTING OR WHERE (POLE SITTER) IS SITTING COMPARED TO THE 20^TH PLACE GUYS? WHAT DOES THAT REALLY DO FOR YOU? “Well, just the way pit road works. There is a significant advantage in having an opening; especially at a tight place like this when it comes to pit road. So I don’t think qualifying, necessarily based off of speed, once speed gets you in qualifying for pit selections is more important than starting third versus first. There are pit stalls that have openings that are more advantageous than others. Ultimately when you have that little bit of break, it can be the difference in coming out of the pits where you were running versus ten spots worse because you were blocked in.

“It was a good run for the Quicken Loans Chevrolet,” said Newman, who has 12 top-10 finishes in 20 career Sprint Cup starts at Bristol. “We’ve been pretty decent since we unloaded, but we want to be first – that’s our goal. If we can’t do it on Friday, then we’ll just have to do it on Sunday.”

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 23rd after turning a lap of 15.541 seconds at 123.467 mph.

“We’re gaining on it, but we’ve still got a ways to go,” said Stewart, who won at Bristol in August 2001 and has led a total of 1,354 laps in 26 career Sprint Cup starts. “We’ve made some big gains today from where we started to where we’re at right now. Proud of Steve (Addington, crew chief) and our guys. They’ve worked hard today. We’ve got a pretty good Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy.”

Greg Biffle captured his 10th career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his first at Bristol by posting a lap of 15.324 seconds at 125.215 mph.

A.J. Allmendinger will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 15.325 seconds at 125.207 mph. Newman was third, while Jeff Gordon (15.340 seconds at 125.085 mph) and Brad Keselowski (15.367 seconds at 124.865 mph) rounded out the top five.

Forty-four drivers attempted to qualify for the Food City 500. The lone driver not making the cut in the 43-car field was Timmy Hill.

As far as manufacturers went, Ford took the top spot thanks to Biffle’s pole-winning effort. Dodge was next best at the hands of Allmendinger. The top Chevrolet was piloted by Newman, and carrying the flag for Toyota was ninth-quick Joey Logano (15.392 seconds at 124.662 mph).

The Food City 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with a pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT DANICA (PATRICK) RUNNING THIS YEAR’S PRELUDE TO THE DREAM? “I’m excited.  I told her ‘don’t feel like you have to come do this.’ She said ‘No, I really want to do this.’ I’m excited for her.  I don’t think it’s something that she has had a chance to do very much.  It will be fun to get her in an environment that is definitely new to her for sure.”

SHE’S GOT SUCH A FOLLOWING HER WHEN WE ARE AT THE TRACK WHAT IS THAT GOING TO BRING TO YOU GUYS AT THE PRELUDE? “We will know when we get there.”

SOMEONE WAS TWEETING THIS WEEK ABOUT YOUR BEARD.  I WAS WONDERING IF YOU HAVE ANY OTHER SUPERSTITIONS. “No, I guess my race day deal. I try to sleep as late as I can.  I mean if it’s an afternoon race, I will lay in bed all day.  I just don’t want to be up.  I just try to stay to myself as much on race day as I can.”

LAST WEEK THE DRIVER’S MEETING WAS OUT IN PUBLIC.  IT SEEMS THAT THE DIRECTION IS THAT OTHER TRACKS ARE GOING TO TRY AND FOLLOW THAT.  ARE YOU OK WITH THAT?  WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT GO BACK TO JUST DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS? “I think they did it first at Texas, may have been the spring of last year they did the first deal where they had the public in the drivers meeting with us.  I thought it was fine.  I mean I think it’s kind of cool.  It allows the fans to also know what the rules are too.  Especially when we change the point system to help everybody understand it easier and make it easier to follow along.  If they are a part of the drivers meeting with us it makes it even easier for them to understand the rules and why we may line up in a certain spot on a restart.  I think it’s a good thing.  We just have to make sure they know that we got to get from point ‘A’ to point ‘B’ and from point ‘B’ back to point ‘A’ and we are all on a time schedule on race day.  But, I thought it was good.  I think it’s a pretty cool opportunity for the fans.  You don’t get to sit in pregame meeting with football teams or basketball teams and all that so I think that’s a pretty cool deal.”

WOULD YOU STILL FEEL COMFORTABLE ASKING A QUESTION? “Oh yeah, absolutely.  It’s still our drivers meeting.  If it is a question you need an answer to you need to, no matters whose there, you need to feel comfortable in making sure that you are clear about what that rule is.”

YOU ENDED UP 24^TH IN PRACTICE WHAT DO YOU GUYS NEED TO WORK ON TO MAKE THE CAR BETTER FOR YOU? “For qualifying trim we just have to make it rotate in the center a little better.  In race trim we have a lot of work to do.  It’s loose on entry, tight in the center or loose in the center and loose off.  I was pretty proud; they got a lot of changes done in this first practice session.  The good thing is we have tomorrow, a couple of sessions, to work on it some more but we definitely have some work to do right now.”

Since 2008 in a span of 16 races – eight at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and eight at Dover (Del.) International Speedway – crew chief Steve Addington has notched four wins, six top-threes, seven top-fives and nine top-10s with two different drivers (Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch), who have combined to lead 1,398 laps (1,026 laps led for Kyle Busch, 372 laps led for Kurt Busch). Only three finishes were outside the top-20.

In those same races, Tony Stewart recorded zero wins, two second-place finishes and five top-10 results with 275 laps led. Seven other finishes were outside the top-20.

As the statistics show, Bristol and Dover have proven to be a concrete conundrum for Stewart, as he has struggled mightily in comparison at the only two concrete tracks on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Addington, meanwhile, has excelled. His knowledge of Bristol’s .533-mile bullring and Dover’s 1-mile oval helped deliver three wins to Kyle Busch (June 2008 at Dover, March 2009 at Bristol and August 2009 at Bristol) and one win to older brother Kurt Busch (September 2011 at Dover).

In 2012, the “Addington Advantage” is Stewart’s, as the veteran crew chief joined Stewart-Haas Racing and the driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala at the end of the 2011 season.

The pairing has already proven successful. The duo won the non-points Gatorade Duel in February at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and then scored their first point-paying victory in the third race of the Sprint Cup season last Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Now they head to Bristol, site of Sunday’s Food City 500. Addington plans to pick up where he left off with the Busch Brothers, while Stewart seeks a pick-me-up from Addington, a winner of 17 Sprint Cup races as a crew chief (12 with Kyle Busch, four with Kurt Busch and one with Stewart).

With the “Addington Advantage” now in his corner, expect the Stewart of old, who has led a total of 1,354 laps in 26 career Sprint Cup starts at Bristol – but only two laps led in his last six races in Thunder Valley – to come roaring back.

TONY STEWART, Driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’ve enjoyed success at Bristol in the past, but of late it’s proven to be a challenging venue. Why?
“Whatever we’ve had in the past, we’re not bringing back. I told Steve (Addington) at our competition meeting on Tuesday, I don’t care what package you put in the car, just make sure it isn’t what we ran the last two races there.

“It’s a track where we’ve struggled, but a track that I enjoy and like a lot. We’ve led a lot of laps there. We just don’t have the wins to show for it.

“We’ve run terrible there the last two or three races, so we’re looking forward to a new package, and coming off the win at Vegas is definitely the momentum we need to get started off on the right foot on Friday. I’m definitely looking forward to getting there on Friday.”

It’s still early in the season, but how has your relationship with Addington developed?
“Steve and I spent a lot of time in Daytona together, and we got to spend some time together between Phoenix and Las Vegas. A lot of the crew guys stayed out for that West Coast swing, too. We all got to spend time together as a team. When you have a new team leader like that, it’s important for myself and for all the guys to try and spend as much time with each other as we can, so that all of us to get to know him a little better and for him to get to know his guys. It was fun to watch while we were in Vegas. We’ve all been together a short amount of time, but it looks we’ve been together a lot longer than we really have.”

Can you summarize your history at Bristol?
“Bristol is one of those places where you’ve got to have everything kind of go your way. If you have one hiccup, it’s hard to recover from it. We’ve only won one race there and we’ve kind of been all over the board. It’s been feast or famine for us. It’s like if you have one problem in the first half of the race, it’s hard to recover from it. It makes for a very long day. We’ve had more long days than good days.”

How miserable is it when you get several laps down at a track like Bristol?
“It’s a place where it’s hard to have a good day. There are so many variables that can go wrong at Bristol versus other tracks. If you have that one bad incident that gets you in the back, it’s hard to recover from that. There are guys who have done it and do a good job at it, but you have to have a great racecar to be able to recover from something bad, especially if you get laps down. It’s like going from the bottom of the mountain and climbing and climbing and not getting anywhere. You fight and fight and fight and at the end of the day you’re right where you were when you had your problem.”

Has overcoming adversity at Bristol been made easier by the repaving job the track underwent in 2007?
“I definitely like the track the way it is now. I know there has been a lot of debate on whether it is better or whether it was better the old way. I like it because we at least get to use the whole racetrack now, and we don’t have to just sit there and drive through each other to pass. You actually get to race guys now. I enjoy that side of it. I think it’s a lot more fun. Sometimes because it’s more fun doesn’t mean you’re successful at it. That’s what makes it challenging.”

Bristol is the first short track race of the season. What are your expectations?
“I think the one thing Bristol does is reset all of the grudges from the short tracks. I think guys forget about someone who may have given them fits last year at Bristol or Martinsville. I think everyone starts at square one. It’s nice to start with our first short track at Bristol. It’s something we all look forward to because it’s a one-of-a-kind racetrack. There are high banks like Salem and Winchester in Indiana, but they are nothing like Bristol. Everybody gets excited just because it’s Bristol. It’s hard to win there. One of my favorite trophies is my Bristol trophy from the win in 2000. I keep asking myself why I only have one of them. It’s just a hard race to win. When guys win there, they don’t just stand on the car and go, ‘Whoo.” They usually scream when they get out of the car because it’s such a hard place to win.”

STEVE ADDINGTON, Crew Chief of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re a new crew chief for the driver and team that just won the championship. How important was it to get that first win?
“I’m going to tell you, everybody has been awesome. Nobody put the pressure on me except myself. I really didn’t realize how much I’d put on myself going to work for the championship team the very next year. It’s been a lot of pressure. I think that even when Tony feels good about the car, I’m still questioning. He’s just like, ‘Relax, dude. It’s going to be all right.’

“The night before the Vegas race, I texted him a couple of times and I told him a couple little things. He was like, ‘Ok, we’re good. Just go ahead and do what you feel like you need to do.’ He was real confident in the racecar. It was just me wanting to get that win. It was the first mile-and-a-half racetrack we’d run together and I was just a little nervous about it.”

Your record at concrete tracks is impressive. Can you describe why you’ve been so successful at Bristol and Dover?
“We worked mechanical grip into the car and that seemed to pay off for us. Plus, we learned some stuff. We had an accident with Kyle there at Bristol – the first time we were ever there together in ’08. We were leading the race and had a steering box issue, so we learned a lot with the steering and how he drove the racetrack. Hopefully, some of the stuff that we’ve learned over the years at those places and implementing them here for Tony will give him the feel he needs to pick the performance up at Bristol and Dover this year.”

How different is the setup for a racecar at a concrete track?
“Well, it’s a different animal just because of the speeds you carry at both of those places. Keeping our tires and tire geometry to where we really watch our camber wears and stuff like that because it’ll mislead you in places like that and you can get off. That’s the big thing – our front-end geometry and how we put the ride in the car.”

You’ve had success with Kyle and Kurt Busch at concrete tracks, and when you were at Joe Gibbs Racing you saw all the data and how Tony approached the concrete tracks. Now that you’re working directly with Tony, do you feel like you have the best of both worlds – your winning history at concrete tracks and who Tony Stewart is when he climbs behind the wheel?
“Yes. I’m really looking forward to it to see if we can implement the stuff that we’ve done before here with Tony. They’ve done a really good job with the way they’ve built cars here at Stewart-Haas Racing, so I’m looking forward to going there and seeing if some of the stuff that we’ve ran there in the past works even better with Tony now. He and Zippy (Greg Zipadelli, competition director at Stewart-Haas Racing and former crew chief for Stewart at Joe Gibbs Racing) were pretty successful there. I think we can get it back in a hurry.”

How similar are Bristol and Dover?
“You can be a little bit more aggressive at Dover with the way you’ve got to drive back up into the banking. At Bristol, it kind of falls away from you off of (turn) four. The difference between Dover and Bristol is you drive back up in the banking on corner exits, so you can get a little bit more aggressive with your rear-end package than what you can at Bristol. If you try something like that at Bristol, then you’re really loose because the part of the track falls away from you on exit. There are two different deals with the back of the car, though they’re very similar with what you do in the front of the car.”

When it comes to the actual race, how stressful is Bristol on a crew chief?
“Everything happens so fast there. You just about run three-quarters of a lap sometimes before it comes up on timing and scoring and you’re able to give your driver his lap time. You’re trying to watch that. You’re trying to watch your car come off the corner. You’re trying to keep up with lap times. You’re looking at your car and taking the driver’s feedback. Stuff happens so fast at Bristol, you just have to stay focused on that and not let any outside distractions get to you, especially on green-flag runs. You have to be on top of it and have in your mind 50 laps before a caution – are you going to try to come and pit or are you going to hold your track position? It just seems like you have such a short time from the time a caution comes out to decide whether you want to pit, so you’ve got to have that in the back of your mind the whole time. You look at your laps and how many laps you have on that set of tires and if the caution comes out in five more laps or 25 more laps, what are you going to do? It’s pretty hectic.”

TONY STEWART’S BRISTOL PERFORMANCE

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.
† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.
? Race was finished by Todd Bodine, who took over for Stewart in a relief role on lap 367.

The always-analytical Newman can rattle off reasons why Stewart is more teammate – or even competitor – than boss in his eyes. But the fact remains that, as co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) with Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation, the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world, three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Stewart is indeed the driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet’s boss.

So, what better way to keep the boss man happy than to follow in his footsteps?

One way to do that would be with a win this weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway to follow Stewart’s impressively dominant victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last weekend. After watching Stewart’s epic and historic run to his third championship last season, during which the boss man claimed victory in five of the season’s final 10 races, Newman has his eyes set on keeping SHR not only in the winner’s circle, but also at the head table at season’s end by making his own run for the 2012 Sprint Cup Championship.

Of course, any designs on a championship would mean earning a berth in the Sprint Cup Chase for the Championship – and a win at the Bristol .533-mile bullring this weekend for Newman and his No. 39 Quicken Loans race team would be a step in the right direction.

Newman enters Bristol fresh off his first top-five finish this season – a fourth-place effort at Las Vegas. He currently sits 13^th in points, 39 behind Sprint Cup leader Greg Biffle.

For Newman and the No. 39 team, Bristol could be the track that propels them into the top-10 in points. While there’s no doubt any race around the high-banked, concrete Bristol oval is one of survival, and a distinct “you-never-know-what-you’re-gonna-get” attitude dominates the racing there, it’s been a favorite of Newman and his Tony Gibson-led team.

The Tennessee short track has been one of the best on the circuit for Newman since joining forces with SHR in 2009. In six previous starts with the No. 39 team at Bristol, Newman has one pole position, an outside pole position, and he’s posted five top-10 finishes with his worst finish at the half-mile track being a 16^th-place effort in the spring of 2010.

While Newman wants to keep Stewart – the boss – happy by keeping alive the No. 39 team’s run of top-10 finishes at Bristol, or even by earning their first win of the 2012 season, Newman’s sponsor Quicken Loans is offering the opportunity for one lucky fan to be the boss at Stewart-Haas Racing.

The national sweepstakes, which launched last weekend, will give one lucky fan the chance to be Newman’s boss for one weekend this season and win $10,000. Newman’s No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet will carry the sweepstakes Web site address – www.QLRacing.com – on the car’s TV panel.

With the momentum of a solid run at Las Vegas and a history of solid performances at Bristol on their side, Newman & Company are confident that Bristol could be the track where they put Stewart – albeit as the boss man – in victory lane, celebrating a win by the No. 39 team.

RYAN NEWMAN, Driver of the No. 39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Since joining SHR, Bristol has been without a doubt one of the No. 39 team’s best racetracks. Why do you guys seem to like Bristol so much and do so well there?
“We have a good package when we come to Bristol, and I think that’s easy to see by how we have qualified and run there. It’s a track I’ve always liked, and Tony Gibson (crew chief) has a history at Bristol, too. The combination of the two of us working together at places like Bristol – his setup and my driving ability – has really proved to be pretty impressive. We haven’t gotten a win there, yet, but it’s a track where we are very confident. For me, personally, I like the short tracks because I like using the middle pedal (brake). In all seriousness, I think it adds another parameter of a driver’s input when you have to modulate that third pedal. We have to go to places like Las Vegas and you’re using very little brake. When you are using a little bit, it’s hard to screw up. I think our team has done a really good job with the brake package we have. I like the short tracks. I like having the character added to the program of modulating the brake. At places like Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix and Richmond, we’ve been really strong as a team.”

What do you like so much about Bristol?
“It’s just a great racetrack and a great short track. I’ve always liked the banked racetracks, in general, over the flatter racetracks. So, I guess in some ways, you could say I’m more comfortable at Bristol. I think Bristol has always been one of those short tracks that everybody loves. And, obviously, that’s changed with the different surface and the way they’ve changed it a little bit. But, ultimately, it’s still a great short track. I really love the banking and I love the fact it’s concrete and doesn’t seem like it changes a whole lot. Once you get a car right, it’s typically right for 500 laps, which is difficult to get on some of the racetracks. Honestly, there’s just no place like Bristol. I’ve told people before that Bristol is like a baby superspeedway. If something happens in front of you, it may not be your fault, but you can get caught up in somebody else’s wreck in the blink of an eye. You have to really be on your toes at Bristol. Everything happens so fast there. You don’t have time to think or blink. To me, the racing is at an all-time high at Bristol compared to the way it used to be. We can race side-by-side and actually gain spots without having to wreck someone.”

You are pretty adamant that the racing is better than it has ever been at Bristol. Why?
“I like the racing better now than it was before. The track to me, before, was more demanding. Now, it’s smoother and there’s more maneuverability. If you miss your line just a little bit, you wash up the racetrack and you come down the hill and you come back off the corner where, before, if you missed your line a little bit, you were going to get freight-trained maybe 10 or 15 spots back. I think the racing from a driver’s perspective is much better than it used to be with the old configuration. I think one of the best races we ever had there was when it was brand new – that combination of track and tire –we ran three-wide in the Nationwide race the last 20 or 30 laps and it was awesome. It was like, ‘Holy cow, what is going to happen next?’ Each lap was different. I like it the way it is.”

You earned the name “Rocketman” at Bristol because of how quick of a lap you turned in qualifying back in 2003. Why is it so important to qualify well at Bristol?
“It’s huge. 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. And it’s really pretty cool going into turn one on that first lap.”

What does it take to win at Bristol?
First thing that comes to mind is patience because it can be a track that really challenges your mentality. And, obviously, you have to have a good car, and good pit stops and the things we talk about every week, but here more so than most racetracks. It’s that mental stamina of controlling your emotions and controlling the racecar according to your emotions and making the best of all the situations you are in. Bristol is different every time you come here. It can go a lot of green-flag runs and a lot of single-file racing, or it can be crazy and it can get randomly crazier.”

So, what do you mean when you say you don’t consider Tony Stewart your boss?
“I always laugh when I get the question, ‘How is it to have Tony Stewart as your boss?’ That’s because I don’t consider Tony my boss. I know he’s my car owner and his name is on the sign on the shop, but I don’t necessarily consider him to be my boss. I consider him to be a teammate and a friend, first. It’s an honor to drive for Tony and to be part of his team. I know how much last week’s win at Las Vegas meant to him. It was an awesome day for Stewart-Haas for us to get a fourth-place finish in the Quicken Loans Chevy, too. Hopefully, we can keep that up with another pair of top-fives this weekend at Bristol.”

Your sponsor Quicken Loans is running a sweepstakes in which one fan has a chance to be your boss. What can they expect?
“It’s a pretty cool sweepstakes in which one fan can have the chance to be my boss during a race weekend later this season. That’s what the ‘QLRacing.com’ is on the TV panel of the No. 39 this weekend. I’m sure it would be a pretty cool deal for a race fan to win – come to the race shop, be part of the team at a racetrack one weekend and even win $10,000. We hope a lot of fans go to the Web site and register for a chance to win the sweepstakes. I don’t really know how it will be to be my boss, but I think whoever wins will have a lot of fun with our team.”

RYAN NEWMAN’S BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY PERFORMANCE PROFILE

† Qualifying canceled due to weather, starting position set via car owner points.

× Race length extended due to green-white-checker finish.

The two-time Sprint Cup champion started an uncharacteristic 42nd after struggling on Friday during practice and qualifying. The struggle came as a surprise to many considering Stewart has one pole, one win, four top-three, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes in 26 career Sprint Cup Series starts at Bristol. In addition to leading 1,354 laps, prior to tonight, his average start was 13.5, his average finish was 17th and he had a lap completion rate of 96 percent. But, this was not an average Bristol night for him.

“It was better than it was shaping up to be, yesterday,” said Stewart, who won at Bristol in August 2001. “Thanks to our teammates for the help that we got from them. That definitely made us better, for sure. It was just a rough night, but we struggled through it.”

Ryan Newman, Stewart’s teammate and driver of the No. 39 Bass Pro Shops/Realtree Chevrolet Impala for SHR, started from the pole and finished eighth. He ran with the leaders most of the night to score his 12th top-10 finish at Bristol and his 12th top-10 of the season.

Brad Keselowski won the Irwin Tools Night Race to score his fourth career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Bristol.

Martin Truex Jr. finished .951 of a second behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Newman, Carl Edwards and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 42 laps with eight drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

With round 24 of 36 complete, Newman continues to lead the SHR duo in the championship point standings. He remains seventh and now has 762 points, 68 markers back of series leader Kyle Busch and 73 points ahead of 11th-place Keselowski. Stewart remains 10th and now has 710 points, which puts him 120 points behind Busch while giving him a 21-point cushion over Keselowski.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Sept. 4 AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 6:30 p.m.

It was Newman’s 12th top-10 finish in 20 career starts at Bristol and his 12th top-10 result of 2010.

More importantly, the driver of the No. 39 Bass Pro Shops/Realtree Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), put more distance between himself and those drivers on the outside of the top-10 in points. He entered the race seventh in the standings with a 55-point cushion between himself and 11th-place Clint Bowyer, and he exits Bristol still seventh but with a 77-marker lead over the new occupant of 11th, Brad Keselowski, who won the Irwin Tools Night Race.

Following the conclusion of the Sept. 10 Sprint Cup race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway, the Chase field will be set with the top-10 drivers in the standings qualifying for the Chase. Spots 11 and 12 in the Chase will be occupied by drivers with the most wins this season who are between 11th and 20th in the standings.

“It was a good points day for us, looking at the big picture,” Newman said. “It is going to take a better performance than that in those last 10 races to be a champion, but I feel like we have something to work with, for sure.”

During Friday qualifying, Newman captured his 48th career Sprint Cup pole, his second of the season and his third at Bristol. With his pole, he remained 10th on the all-time pole-winners list but is now just one pole behind Bobby Isaac, who occupies the ninth spot.

Newman jumped to the lead from the pole position and led the first four laps around the .533-mile oval before being passed by four-time champion Jeff Gordon on lap five. From there, Newman never held the point again but remained in the top-15 for the entire 500-lap race.

The critical moment of the night came on lap 415, when Newman pitted under caution while in 14th place. Crew chief Tony Gibson made the call for two tires and fuel and sent Newman on his way, gaining him 11 spots and putting Newman in third place for the restart.

After the green flag flew on lap 420, other drivers with four fresh tires were able to work their way around Newman in the final 80 laps, but he hung on for a solid eighth-place result.

“It was a good call there at the end to put two tires on,” Newman said. “We just weren’t as good as we should have been, car-wise, all night. We had about a sixth- to 10th-place car depending on what run it was and we finished eighth. I’m proud of the guys. I have to thank Bass Pro Shops and Realtree for jumping on board with our Chevrolet.”

Newman’s SHR teammate, Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished 28th. Stewart remains 10th in the Sprint Cup Series standings with 710 points, which puts him 120 points behind series leader Kyle Busch while giving him a 21-point cushion over Keselowski.

Keselowski’s victory in the Irwin Tools Night Race was his fourth career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Bristol.

Martin Truex Jr. finished .951 of a second behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Newman, Carl Edwards and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 42 laps with eight drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Sept. 4 AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 6:30 p.m.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for SHR, finished 28th.

Brad Keselowski won the Irwin Tools Night Race to score his fourth career Sprint Cup victory, his third of the season and his first at Bristol.

Martin Truex Jr. finished .951 of a second behind Keselowski in the runner-up spot, while Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-five. Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Newman, Carl Edwards and Marcos Ambrose comprised the remainder of the top-10.

There were six caution periods for 42 laps with eight drivers failing to finish the 500-lap race.

With round 24 of 36 complete, Newman continues to lead the SHR duo in the championship point standings. He remained seventh and now has 762 points, 68 markers back of series leader Kyle Busch and 73 points ahead of 11th-place Keselowski. Stewart remained 10th and now has 710 points, which puts him 120 points behind Busch while giving him a 21-point cushion over Keselowski.

The next event on the Sprint Cup schedule is the Sept. 4 AdvoCare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 6:30 p.m.