Mammoth Blog

Stewart-Haas owner Tony Stewart has easily qualified his No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet for the 2009 NASCAR Championship.

The team's second driver, Ryan Newman, still needs solid finishes in the next three races to join Stewart in the Championship run. Newman currently is ninth in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings to make the 12-car field.

Newman will be spreading himself thin at Bristol Motor Speedway when he attempts to race in four different NASCAR series in the same week.

The timing of this event-filled weekend, with so much on the line, is not the best. The Sprint Cup race will be the fourth event in a long week for the driver of the 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automotive Chevrolet.

On Wednesday Newman will participate in NASCAR's Whelan Modified Tour which will make its Bristol debut. The race will be followed by NASCAR's Camping World Truck series where Newman will be behind the wheel of the No. 2 Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) Pringles Chevrolet Silvarado.

Newman will drive the No. 5 Fastenal Chevrolet for JR Motorsports in the Nationwide Series Foodcity 250 on Friday night. He was originally scheduled to drive this car at Kansas on October 3 but JR Motorsports swapped the date with Scott Wimmer to allow Newman to race in all four events.

Ryan Newman fans and his owner Stewart will have to wait until the fourth race to see if Newman gets a strong finish in the Sprint Cup series Chase. Saturday night he will get back into his Stewart-Haas Chevrolet where he will need to finish strong to keep his Chase hopes alive. source>>>