1on1: Ryan Newman (cont'd)

Q: Twenty-one races into the new car, have you seen a need to focus on physical fitness more due to how the car handles?

Newman: Yeah, I cut back on the cookies -- I cut down to like five a day. It's definitely more physical, but we're still sitting in the easy chairs if you ask me. There comparable and comfortable, because we have to sit there for four hours sometimes, when we have red flags it's five hours. You have to be in physical shape, don't get me wrong, but I've not lifted a single piece of iron or pumped any metal or did any push-ups or sit-ups the entire year. I'm not in Mark Martin shape, but I don't think that I'm giving up anything sitting in the car on Lap 499 -- I'm just as strong as I am in the beginning.

Q: You said you love Darlington but it's not the perfect racetrack so what is your idea of the perfect racetrack?

Newman: I think Atlanta and Michigan -- even Charlotte has matured quite a bit with the new asphalt to the point that I think they're great racetracks. Michigan is an easy track to drive -- you don't have to have a ton of talent to get around there fast. Darlington you have to have a good bit of talent -- and that's the difference. That's why I like Darlington; I've always claimed it as my favorite. Dover is a great racetrack. You can really make up some time, move your line around, get offline in the corners -- it's very demanding."

Q: Your dad is the spotter for your No. 12 Cup team, how did that come to be?

Newman: He was threatening to have to get a real job so I gave him a side job. He started spotting in the Busch Series in 2005. When we won six-out-of nine-races, he was the spotter. My spotter for the time was a guy I went to college with and works with our team there in Oakley. He was spotting on Sundays and when he decided to come off the road and be more a family man, it gave my dad the opportunity and he wanted to do it. We started in 2006 with him spotting and it's been a progression of arguments [laughs] and high-fives since.

Q: Speaking of family, it has to be nice to have this week of for Easter?

Newman: Like you wouldn't believe; it's been a lot of work. I was home one day this week which is kind of rough. I'd prefer three -- it's just kind of a vacation at home with the dogs, with Krissie, fishing and doing stuff outside. I might fire-up the lawn mower for the first time even though the grass doesn't need to get cut. Just enjoy being around the house.

Q: It's been a month since your historic win at the Daytona 500, talk about your trip to Detroit to celebrate the victory?

Newman: We went to Chrysler headquarters and basically gave a 'thank you' to all the people there. I've never realized how many people or how big the building was. They said that the Chrysler headquarters is the second largest building under one roof to the Pentagon in the United States. It's a huge building. They have over 12,000 people that work there and we had about 8,000 that were watching us. It was pretty cool. We were at the bottom-floor level and it's four or five stories up. They have stairs and mezzanines -- all these people looking at us -- it was like Wizard of Oz or something.

Just to have all those people be thankful and sign some autographs for them is great. We sat down and had lunch and to have the head people tell us how important it was -- people were smiling that usually weren't smiling -- just because we won that race. It meant a lot. It was nice to sit down with [Chrysler CEO] Bob Nardelli and get to know him a little bit better. To give back to people that make a big difference to us. Dodge has helped us out a ton between the wind tunnel testing and everything else they do to help our Alltel Dodge go faster.

Q: Past history shows the top-12 leaving Bristol usually make the Chase. You're currently eighth -- how important is it to start the season off strong?

Newman: It might change a little bit. It typically only changes from the bottom -- from ninth to 12th. We're happy to be in our position -- we'd like to be first. It's been a good start to the season and that momentum and those finishes kind of help play out and keep going. You see a guy like Carl Edwards struggle the last couple weeks for various reasons -- he's sitting outside looking in. He's obviously a great competitor and I think he'll be in the Chase. It's much easier to be in the top-five and have a race to give then to know that you can't afford to screw up or mess up or have a bad pit stop or anything. You may not make it in. It's easier to work your way down a little bit then to work your way up.

Q: Is there more pressure when you're on the outside looking in?

Newman: I wouldn't say there's pressure. Being 15th in points right now won't cause you to make mistakes. It's just difficult to beat the other guys in the higher positions. You're going to get to a point where you're going to finish 10th and not gain any points. A situation like that, you really have to be winning races --15 races into the season -- to make up that difference if you're sitting 15th in points to be able to make it in the Chase. If you're sitting sixth around 15 races in, you've got six races to give and that's a big difference.