Ryan Newman, or Rocketman, could have been greater than Jimmie Johnson himself. When the duo made their debuts in the 2002 season, it was Newman who was named Rookie of the Year ahead of Johnson. But what followed over the next two decades doesn’t quite tell a pretty tale for Newman.
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Though his stats don’t provide a proper definition of his caliber it should not be forgotten that he came ridiculously close to having his name etched in the highest orders of the sport not once, but twice.
The fantastic season that Newman and his #12 crew at Team Penske had in 2003 is often left out of conversations. In just his second year in the top tier, he scored 11 poles and won 8 races. Though he had 6 DNFs, he did also post 17 top-5s and 21 top-10s on the leaderboard. The DNFs and some subpar performances ended up being his villains as he stuttered to 6th place in the standings.
He said in the wake of the finale at Homestead, “We fought back from 27th in points to finish sixth, so I guess that was a great race in itself this year. We’ll look back on 2003 as another learning experience that will make our ALLTEL team even stronger on into 2004 and the future.” Unfortunately, it would be a while before he contested for the title again.
When Kevin Harvick won the championship in 2014, Ryan Newman finished the year second in standings behind the wheel of the #31 Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing. Though it was only his debut year with the team and NASCAR itself was adjusting to the new playoff format, Newman displayed exemplary consistency throughout the season. He ended up attaining his career’s highest average finish (12.7) without even scoring a single win. 2014 was also the closest that Newman came to a Cup Series title.
The ultimate dream that never became a reality for Ryan Newman
The peak of Newman’s career came when he won the 2008 Daytona 500. Until the day he retired, the driver was clear that a Cup Series championship was his goal and purpose. He said in 2021, “That’s always been my ultimate goal from the time I was in elementary school. That’s on my radar still and will always be on my radar, whether I achieve it or not because that’s just the nature of the beast when it comes to the competitiveness of what we do.”
In 2023, he ran sporadic races in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series. He also continued his work behind the wheel in Tony Stewart’s SRX Series. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for him to be named champion in that arena as he took the crown in 2023.
