Ryan Newman will find Kurt Busch in the No. 2 Dodge, starting in 2007. Credit: Autostock

Newman enthusiastic about Busch's hiring
Future Penske Racing teammates have a lot in common

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Matt Kenseth found out that Jamie McMurray was his new teammate at Roush Racing by reading about it on the Internet.


Ryan Newman

Quite the opposite happened at Penske Racing. Roger Penske kept Ryan Newman in the loop throughout the entire hiring process for the No. 2 Dodge, which eventually went to Kurt Busch.

Busch's signing was undoubtedly the shock of the year in NASCAR, but not to Newman. He's welcomed Busch with open arms.

The fact that Newman has enthusiastically backed Busch might also be classified as a surprise.

The Newman-Busch relationship can best explained by the fall race in New Hampshire in 2002. Newman won, but Busch was all over his bumper in the closing laps.

That day went a long way towards the drivers building a respect for each other and that respect eventually helped Busch land at Penske Racing.

"We've gotten into accidents on the racetracks, but it's because somebody else caused them and put us in the wall," Newman said. "We are clean drivers. You don't see us out there purposely crashing other cars."

As far as appearances and background, the two couldn't be more different. Newman is a stocky sprint car driver from Indiana, while the lanky, Vegas-bred Busch had a very traditional ascent to Nextel Cup through NASCAR's lower divisions.

"I think in some ways we have a lot in common and in some ways we don't have a lot of things in common," Newman said. "Having things that aren't in common you can learn a lot of things from each other."

The two have some similarities. Newman is exactly eight months older than Busch, and each won before their 50th start. Both men are quiet until you get them talking -- after that, the words flow.


Kurt Busch

Newman did a lot of talking at Watkins Glen. His words show just how strained his relationship has gotten with teammate Rusty Wallace

The two have never been chummy, but the whole situation came to a head in 2004 at the fall race at Martinsville. The two bumped on the track, costing each a shot at the win. The bad blood flowed.

Partly because of that, Penske Racing set out to find a good fit for Newman, who they signed to a long-term extension that will keep him in the No. 12 Dodge until at least the end of the decade.

"I don't think [Penske] made any decisions off my opinion, but he definitely wanted to know what I thought about certain situations and he thought it was important obviously because of the whole teammate situation," Newman said.


Rusty Wallace

"Like I said, I'm better off having a teammate that doesn't even talk or does anything than one that works against me, and that's what I've had to deal with the last five years."

By hiring Busch, Penske Racing has upped its ante in securing its first NASCAR title of any kind. The team has fielded Nextel Cup entries for well over 10 years but has always watched while Hendrick, Childress, Gibbs, Yates and Roush took the championships.

"I think Kurt is an excellent driver, and he's proved that by winning the championship," Newman said. "We also have a championship to win and he has a championship to win. We both look at it that way, but it'll be interesting how the relationship begins."

NASCAR.com

 

That will be the first Dodge I won't want to win.