Newman on baby watch, Hornaday set to stand in

Ryan Newman is the latest Sprint Cup Series driver set to become a new father, so in conjunction with Krissie Newman expecting the couple's first child sometime this month, Stewart-Haas Racing has a contingency plan in place.

A Stewart-Haas team spokesperson said Krissie Newman's due date is "right around Thanksgiving," so Ron Hornaday will be on standby the next two weekends, at Phoenix and Homestead, if Newman needs to go to his wife's side.

Ryan and Krissie Newman

Hornaday, the four-time Truck Series champion who has 501 career starts and 51 victories in NASCAR's three national series, has extensive experience in five NASCAR series at Phoenix, including Truck wins in 1998 and '99.

Hornaday, whose primary role is driver of Kevin Harvick Inc.'s No. 33 truck, which sits 94 points out of fifth in the drivers' championship coming to Phoenix, has competed there in the three national tours along with NASCAR's regional West series and the former Late Model South West Tour.

Ironically, Hornaday's last Cup start came at Homestead in the 2003 season finale, when he finished 20th in a No. 90 Richard Childress Racing car. That was the first of two full seasons in which Hornaday drove for Childress in the former Busch Series, finishing third and fourth, respectively, in the championship in 2003-04.

In the past two years a number of Cup drivers, including Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Jamie McMurray, Sam Hornish Jr., Carl Edwards, Casey Mears and Matt Kenseth have all had children that were expected during the season. Most of them had standby drivers waiting during events, but no substitutes were ever called into play during a race weekend.