Newman

CONCORD, N.C. -- Ryan Newman began the year by getting upside down at Daytona and his season has been topsy-turvy ever since.

Despite having a victory and perhaps the best qualifying record in the series, Newman arrives in Charlotte 27th in the standings. This is far short of expectations after winning Rookie of the Year honors and finishing sixth last season. Nonetheless, Newman doesn't believe there's any credence to the fabled sophomore jinx.

"I don't think it's a sophomore slump," Newman said. "You create your own destiny. Just because it's our second year doesn't mean we should be worse than our first year. We should be better and I think we are better. We just haven't had a chance to show it."

There have been various reasons why they haven't been able to show it. Several on-track incidents and some mechanical failures have negated stellar qualifying efforts. In 11 events, he has started inside the top-five eight times, including two poles.

Perhaps more notably, Newman has been stripped of opportunity and has destroyed tremendously strong cars. All things considered, frustration would be an understandable emotion. Yet publicly Newman has remained composed.

"It's just part of racing," Newman said. "You can find logical reasons for everything. You just have to go on."

After crashing at Talladega and California within the first three laps of those events, Newman restrained his comments, showing wisdom beyond his years.

"I've been wide open angry about things," Newman said. "You know some people criticize me for the way I handle myself after getting in a crash, with post crash interviews. Bottom line if I say what's on my mind sometimes people will take it and turn it around and twisted it to something that's not good. I'd rather just be quiet."

Where Newman wants to make noise is on the track. Over the next couple weekends he may have opportunities to create quite a clamor. In four races at Lowe's Motor Speedway, he's never started worse than fourth. And last year he was the winner of The Winston.

That victory, although it was a non-points event, was the first for Newman in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series.

"I don't want to use the word surprising but I didn't really see it coming in the Winston," says Newman, reflecting on last year's race when he held off Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the win.

Newman earned a starting position in The Winston by winning the 16-lap "No Bull Sprint." His combined weekend's winnings totaled $794,326. This year, the winner of The Winston will take home $1 million. But Newman says that won't make him race any harder.

"It's just money," Newman said. "If you're here to race for the money, you're going to go home unhappy. You have to be here racing for the glory and racing for the win."

Elliott overcomes personal demons
It may sound strange but with a qualifying effort that lasted more than two minutes, Bill Elliott won the pole for Saturday night's running of The Winston.

In a span of 123.192 seconds Elliott turned three circuits on the 1.5-mile track and made a complete four-tire pit stop.

"I was pleasantly surprised at the end of qualifying. I felt like we had a pretty good racecar. I felt like we ran a pretty good first lap, and then we tied it all together," said Elliott, who won the all-star race in 1986. "I got down pit road, got in my stall good and the guys did an awesome job on the pit stop."

This marks the fifth time Elliott has won the pole for The Winston.

Over the years the qualifying format for this race has taken many twist and turns. This year was the first time a full speed pit stop was involved and it concerned Elliott heading into the event.

"I've always been sensitive to the issue on pit road because I had my guys hurt several years ago in an incident on pit road," Elliott said.

During a 1990 event at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Elliott's rear tire changer, Mike Rich, was killed when Elliott and Ricky Rudd collided on pit road. That incident has stayed with Elliott since.

"It's always been just a little bit of an issue because I've always had that in the back of my mind," Elliott said.

At the front of his focus now is Saturday's big event. But he says just because he's on the pole doesn't mean he's the guy to beat.

"Sometimes the guy coming out of The Winston Open has an advantage on the guys in the Winston," Elliott said. "For me, looking at the guy who wins the Winston Open, he's probably going to have a better handle on how the race track is going to be than the rest of us. It'll give him an opportunity to run The Open, then run the segments to the end."

Park's first impression
Sometimes change is good. And that appears to be the case for Steve Park.

In his first appearance since being released by Dale Earnhardt Inc., and being signed by Richard Childress Racing, Park won a pole.

With a qualifying lap of 184.244 mph, Park earned the right to lead the field to the green flag in Saturday night's Winston Open. The winner of the 30-lap race will transfer to the evening's main event, The Winston.

"I'm just elated," Park said. "The last seven days have been unbelievable. Losing one job, and then landing at RCR."

The switch has energized Park, who admittedly had been unhappy with his previous surroundings.

"I haven't been this excited and this relaxed to come to the racetrack in about a year and a half," he said.

Dale Earnhardt was Park's mentor. He was the man who brought Park's career to life, recruiting him from the Modified ranks in 1997 to drive DEI's Busch car. But since his untimely death in 2001 there has seemingly been a void in Park's career, one he hopes Childress can fill.

"Richard Childress led Dale Earnhardt to numerous championships, and it's just great to have a mentor in him and to have the opportunity to work with him, and America Online," Park said.

By his own estimations, Park was unemployed for just 14 hours before Childress called.

"(Richard's) the same way as Dale," Park said. "He said, 'Come up here and let's have dinner tomorrow night.' It wasn't like, 'Hey, do you think you want to come up here?' So, I was like, 'Yes sir.' He was just like Dale, very stern and to the point."

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