Credit: Autostock

Conversation: Ryan Newman

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. -- Ryan Newman was considered one of the favorites for the 2004 Nextel Cup championship when the season started in February.

AUDIO Ryan Newman Listen to the Conversation

Now, though, with four races left before the Chase for the Nextel Cup, Newman finds himself on the outside looking in. A rough day at Watkins Glen International has dropped Newman to 12th in the Nextel Cup points standings, meaning he and crew chief Matt Borland will have to scramble in the coming weeks to break back in the top 10.

Newman spoke recently with NASCAR.COM staff writer Lee Montgomery about his team's chances to make the Chase. Surprisingly, Newman doesn't seem too concerned about making it or not, though appearances can be deceiving.

Newman also talked about how he spends his time away from the track, with or without his new bride, the former Krissie Boyle.

Q: First, a serious question. You've been married a little while now. Is Krissie sick of you yet?

Credit: Autostock

Ryan Newman: No, nothing's really changed as far as getting married and being married vs. not being married or being engaged. I enjoy that part of it for sure. We've had a lot of fun together and plan on continuing to do that.

Q: Not to get too personal, but after a bad race, do you go and talk to her immediately? Or are you a person who doesn't like to talk to anybody?

Newman: She's more of the person to come talk to me after a bad race. But I'm the kind of person who doesn't want to talk about it a lot. Usually, in the grand scheme of things, it all turns out fine.

Q: So she's not like, "Oh, Ryan, you don't talk enough"?

Newman: No, no, she's not like that.

Q: All right, enough about Krissie. Unless you want to talk more about her.

Newman: Nah, that's OK.

Q: OK, this whole deal with the Chase for the Nextel Cup, are you and Matt - I don't know if you're comfortable in your points position, but are you comfortable and confident enough that you're going to make into that?

Credit: Autostock

Newman: The only comfortable person is Jimmie Johnson, and he's not as comfortable as he was last week. But we can still gain a lot, and we can still lose a lot in the next five races. We'll stay focused and do what we know how to do, and that's make the racecar go faster and win races.

Q: There are some people who see you maybe slipping out of it, as far as momentum goes. Do you ignore that kind of talk? Do you even think about the points?

Newman: Anybody that's not on our team has no affect on making our racecar go faster or slower, so they can say whatever they want and do whatever they want. We're going to stay focused on doing what we have to do and get to the checkered flag first.

Q: Do you look at the points immediately after the race?

Newman: Not immediately after, but it's nice to see what's going on and try to track who's gaining, who's losing, whose consistent and who's not.

Q: Have you felt any more pressure than normal this part of the year? Or do you ever feel that kind of pressure?

Newman: I don't feel pressure, and I don't put pressure on myself, and the team doesn't put pressure on me, and vice versa. Like I said, the bottom line is try to do the best job we possibly can.

Q: Assuming you do get in the Cup or the Chase or whatever it's called ...

Newman: Yeah, exactly.

Q: You can't really call it the Chase for the Nextel Cup, can you, being an Alltel guy?

Credit: Autostock

Newman: We still can do that. It's a good marketing scheme that might fail. We'll have to see how it turns out.

Q: It'd be great if an Alltel guy won that, wouldn't it?

Newman: It doesn't matter who sponsors the deal. We're just out there to do our job, and that's win races.

Q: Anyway. Assuming you get in the Chase, is the advantage that Jimmie and Jeff (Gordon) and those guys have where they are now, leading the points and using this as test stuff, is that any kind of disadvantage to you guys?

Newman: Again, we can only do what we're capable of. All we can do is focus on our team. If we spend more time thinking about what they're doing and what they're not doing, then we're not thinking about ourselves and how to make our car faster.

Q: Saw you at IRP for the Silver Crown last weekend. Is there ever any inkling to get back in an open-wheel car like that?

Newman: I'd definitely like to and it would be a lot of fun, but I don't want to take away what I've been doing or what I can do as far as a championship contender. No plans.

Q: Is that in your contract to not do that? Is Roger not as restrictive?

Newman: It's not in my contract, other than making sure if I was to do something, it's agreed upon.

Q: It's talk every year about open-wheel guys and the Indy 500. Is that something down the road that you'd want to try?

Newman: It's not necessarily a goal of mine. Maybe it will be, and the potential is there, as far as having a good team to do it with. I can only focus on one thing at a time right now.

Q: And that's this team.

Credit: Autostock

Newman: You got it.

Q: In your mind, there's nothing else going on in the world but your car? Or is it a juggling act with your personal life and everything else?

Newman: Oh, personal life, as well as racing and relaxing time and spending time with family and friends. No different than anybody else's life. It's just a different role.

Q: And you relax by working on cars. Do you still do a lot of that in your shop at home?

Newman: Old cars.

Q: Older cars.

Newman: Yeah, working and restoring and just piddling. Definitely driving and enjoying them. I prefer to drive an old car over a new car. It's just my personal preference. All the things that go along with it.

Q: What are you working lately? Any special project?

Newman: A '57 Dodge Super D-500. It's a pretty rare car. It's not desirable from a body standpoint, but it's definitely a cool car.

Q: A lot of horsepower in that thing?

Newman: It's 325 Hemi with two four-barrels. You tell me.