Ryan Newman's engineering talents are some of the secrets he may try to share with new teammate Kurt Busch. Credit: Autostock

Newman adjusting to new role at Penske

Team striving to continue late-season burst from '05

Just because Ryan Newman has Kurt Busch as a new teammate doesn't guarantee he will shift his way of doing business in 2006. But he admits he might try.

"We never depended on the other teams," said Newman, whose differences with former teammate Rusty Wallace were well-documented. "We depended on ourselves.

Credit: Autostock

Inside the Numbers Ryan Newman in 2005 Wins 1 Top-5s 8 Top-10s 16 DNFs 3 Poles 8 Laps Led 391 Avg. Start 6.3 Avg. Finish 15.3 Earnings $5,202,628 ARCHIVE •   2006 Driver Previews Aiming highRyan Newman talks about his expectations for 2006 Fresh startRyan Newman looks to build on what he learned last year 10 QuestionsRyan Newman on everything from his first car to his favorite TV show Sign up for TrackPass now BUY THE NEXTEL i836

"We look forward to the opportunity to work with Kurt and his team. It's going to be a learning experience. It's a team sport, and I've always said it's a conflict of interest when you're helping somebody you're competing against. It's something we'll have to work on, but in this sport, you don't want to be dependent on anybody else other than your own team."

For Newman, that hasn't been too bad.

In his fifth year of Cup racing coupled with the retirement of Wallace, that leaves Newman as the shepherd of Penske Racing South's flock, although newcomer Busch has one more year of experience. In Newman's four years, he's had respective finishes of sixth, sixth, seventh and sixth in the points.

But Newman aspires for more. How much more depends on the improvements of his Dodge Charger. The aerodynamic challenges of the car left only three of the camp's drivers in Victory Lane last season. Newman was one of them. He also finished as the highest-ranked Dodge driver in the points.

"We felt like we finished the season off on a strong note," he said of last year's Chase for the Nextel Cup, when he had five top-10s, three poles and a win at New Hampshire. "I think we're definitely more confident. We were the best Dodge team in the end result in the Chase and points, but we still weren't happy at all with our results. We were capable of a lot more.

"Last year we didn't have the right tools. I'm talking about the lack of success Dodge had as a whole, and that's very important for us to correct in 2006. Otherwise we're going to be fighting the same battle and we don't have much more blood left in us."

His success may also depend on how much he works with Busch. After virtually running solo every year at Penske, Newman now faces the opposite end of the spectrum, with Busch coming in from his former team environment at Roush Racing compared to Newman's do-it-yourself attitude.

But the new dancing partners seem to be hitting it off just fine, according to Busch. He said Newman makes for a unique teammate because of his technological education of cars.

"He's definitely engineering-minded," Busch said of Newman, "and when you have that you have special secrets that come up day to day, and those don't need to be revealed until they're proven and until they are 'scienced' out I guess."

Being able to share those secrets openly, though, is what Newman admits he has to work on as this season nears.

"Kurt has got more experience than anybody as far as sharing information as far as an individual for one team," Newman said. "I don't, so it's going to be difficult for me, maybe. Maybe it'll be easy, but I see it as something I'll have to adapt to."