Penske Racing begins search for Newman's replacement
By Bob Pockrass - Associate Editor
Monday, July 14, 2008
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John Harrelson / Getty Images for NASCAR
Penske Racing is searching for a teammate for Kurt Busch (left) after Ryan Newman (right) announced he would part ways with the team after the 2008 season.
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Penske Racing President Tim Cindric says that the team has not decided who will replace Ryan Newman in the No. 12 NASCAR Sprint Cup car beginning next season.
What he does believe, however, is that whoever steps into that car will have potential to win a championship.
Newman and Penske Racing announced Monday they would part ways after Newman’s contract expires at the end of the 2008 season. After four consecutive years of finishing in the top seven in points, Newman was 18th in 2006, 13th in 2007 and currently sits 16th this year.
“We can’t sit here forever [negotiating], and the point came and we agreed it was best to go different directions,” Cindric said Monday night in a phone interview with NASCAR Scene. “We’re completely focused on doing everything we can to finish it off on a high note.”
Throughout the negotiation process, Newman said he had to do what was best for himself in terms of being competitive and having the potential to win a championship. Newman, whom team owner Roger Penske brought from USAC to stock cars in 2000, won 13 Cup races, including the 2008 Daytona 500. Penske has never won a Cup title.
“Without a doubt, the commitment is there to winning a championship and being successful at even a higher level for Roger,” Cindric said. “Just because he won Daytona, he certainly is not content as a car owner in NASCAR.
“If you look at it, it’s certainly unfinished business for him and our organization to win a Cup championship. I can assure you we’re as hungry as we’ve ever been. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t convince Newman of that fact.”
Several drivers have been mentioned as possible replacements for Newman, who likely will move to the Stewart-Haas Racing team.
David Stremme, a former Chip Ganassi Racing driver, currently is a Penske test driver. Hendrick Motorsports’ Casey Mears and his family have a tie to Penske as his uncle Rick Mears was a star for Penske on the Indy side. Dale Earnhardt Inc.’s Martin Truex Jr. also is a candidate.
“We need to talk to the guys that are readily available – you know who they all are,” Cindric said. “I’m sure we’ll talk to all of them. We’ve been contacted by some of them.
“Obviously David would be a candidate for us. He’s done some testing and so forth. We certainly have not made a decision on that front.”
Cindric did cut one name off the list – Helio Castroneves, who has starred in the IndyCar Series for Penske.
“Castroneves is going IndyCar racing,” he said. “I’m positive it won’t be Helio. As fun as it would be to watch, that’s not going to be the route we go.”
The team likely won’t have a replacement named at least for a couple of weeks.
“The first step in our process for ’09 was to determine whether Ryan was going to be the guy or not,” Cindric said. “We obviously crossed that road and now the next step is to figure out who is going to drive the 12 car.
“We haven’t started that process until today. We wanted to focus on determining if Ryan was going to be our guy or not. Now it’s time to determine what makes the most sense for us and what makes the most sense for [sponsor] Alltel going forward.”
Alltel will be involved in the decision-making process, Cindric said. Alltel has a long-term commitment to Penske Racing but if government regulators approve a sale to Verizon and the name changes, Verizon would not be able to put its logo on the car.
“Obviously they’ll have some say in it like any sponsor would,” Cindric said. “All the people that we’ve worked with at Alltel over the years, we’ll continue to work with on this process. … We’ll figure out jointly what makes the most sense – short term, long term, etc.
“It’s going to be balance there for sure. You take a guy of Ryan’s credentials and the time that he has been with us, whoever it is [that replaces him], it’s not going to be an easy decision.”
- Mentioned Drivers:
- Ryan Newman
Comments
3 responses to "Penske Racing begins search for Newman's replacement"
Janet Bell said:
Jul 15, 2008 at 8:26 AMWould really like to see Martin Truex on this team, as he would be a great driver for the Penske team He also is a very clean cut gentleman
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjerry swiatek said:
Jul 15, 2008 at 10:09 AMIf Newman also goes with CNC there is something big that is going to happen there that we don't know anything about,they have struggled a lot.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportjenny mac said:
Jul 15, 2008 at 6:36 PMplease go with anyone but with stewart. i would like to see newman with rcr racing or maybe gibbs if mears didnt clinch the position.
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