This is awesome, I couldn’t be a happier right now. I guess unless our client Mark Martin could have won the Daytona 500! Instead another driver that I have had the privilege to work with in the past won. Ryan Newman finally got his first Daytona 500 victory! It was a huge victory for Ryan because as any of you that follow NASCAR know, he hasn’t had a Cup Series victory since 2005.
I had the privilege of meeting Ryan a few years back and gpt to sit down with him for a minute when he was in town doing a promotional project we were both involved in. He’s a great guy, doesn’t talk a whole lot though, it’s going to be funny watching him being interviewed a couple hundred times this next week because he simply doesn’t ever say a whole lot!
One thing that I have always liked about Ryan is his ability to qualify well, this doesn’t come by chance either, a lot of folks out there might not know this but in addition to being a NASCAR driver he is also an Engineering Graduate from Purdue University. He’s a sharp guy, just doesn’t usually have as much to say as the other drivers. I have two die-cast Newman Alltel 12 cars in my office, he’s always been one of my favorites and it’s great to see him walk out with his biggest win of his career. This was a huge win for Penske South racing also, Kurt Busch, who is actually growing on me a little bit finally, came in close second to Ryan and helpd to push his team mate to victory lane.
Ryan Newman is primarily sponsored by Alltel Racing and has been since he came on board with Penske. He’s also worked closely during his career Arkansas’s own Forrest Wood of Ranger Boats in various promotions, he’s an avid fisherman also.
Other Highlights from Speedweek…
It was exciting watching Speedweek this week, although I didn’t get to enjoy the entire 100 hours in High Definition that Speed Channel and Fox put together because I have been so busy this past week. I did however get to see the whole Stewart and Busch thing unfold at the final practice. It was just the right amount of controversy to get the season started.
Another highlight came when Junior pulled off a victory last weekend in the shootout driving the #88 Hendrick’s Motorsports car. I can see already that his season this year is going to be dramatically different than it was last year, even though he didn’t finish in the top 5 in the 500 doesn’t discourage me in my forecast for him this year, Hendrick’s simply just had a little run of bad luck this week. Gordon was out of the race earlier than expected with a suspension issue and Jimmy Johnson got spun also. I have all of the confidence in the world that Hendricks will pull it off.
That’s all for now, fixing to jump over and work on another project I have running for a while, it’s a TOP SECRET NASCAR project too… More info on this project coming in the near future!
Things to Watch out For…
I got some inside scoop that there might have been a rift after the race between a few of the RCR drivers, I hear that Burton and Boyer had words on the way back to their Motor homes. If anyone can get this straightened out it will be Richard Childress.
I also don’t think that the thing between Stewart and Busch is over completely, the guys seem to be able to find each other and bump heads like ants on a snow cone. I think that after the 6 race probation thing is over they will lock horns again, if not sooner.
I also have to wonder how happy Matt Kenseth is right now with his teammate David Ragan after he wrecked him? I was listening to their radio chatter and Kenseth didn’t sound none to happy and he’s usually pretty cool headed.
Speaking of radio chatter, I was surprised to hear Tony and Kyle Busch talking back and forth on their in-car radios, I wouldn’t have ever predicted this… Kyle is a good driver, not one of my favorites but he’s got talent, I am hopeful that Gibbs is going to put a positive influence on this guys career.
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