Monday on “SIRIUS Speedway” on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, host Dave Moody spoke with Don Miller, former president of Penske Racing and mentor to Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman. Don Miller: “That kid (Ryan Newman) is like my son. I couldn’t care more for any individual that I know. He’s just a great young man. We’re really close and our two families are really close. When he does well it really makes me extremely proud and yesterday I was just proud of everybody, the whole team and all the time we’ve spent putting it together and making it work.” On the outlook for Penske Racing for 2008: Don Miller: “I think they’re going to be pretty tough all year long. We’ve got our Dodge engines running really, really good. We’re making some really good power and I think that the reliability is back. And I know, in looking at the tests that both Kurt [Busch] and Ryan just completed out in California and in Las Vegas, they both ran really, really good. In fact, Ryan was quickest for quite a long time there in California. So I think they’re going to be pretty tough to deal with, those two guys, all year long. And I know, with a little bit more seat time, Sam [Hornish Jr.] is going to make it, too. He’s a savvy cat. He’s one of those guys that you probably have to spend a little bit more time whoaing him down than you do speeding him up because he’s always looking for the edge. But he’ll be fine. We just need a little more time with him and giving him these three or four races to get his feet on the ground is really great.” On the teamwork shown by the Penske teams during Sunday’s race: Moody: “The team concept, the Hendrick guys have gotten it forever, the Roush-Fenway guys have come to the dance on that, and it seems like now Penske Racing has really got the concept working at long last.” Miller: “Yeah. You know, I’ll be very frank with you. We struggled getting the cooperation between our two drivers a couple of years back, as you know. It was difficult because even though you are in the same building and you’ve got two guys who really want to win, if they don’t want to work together it makes everybody’s life a little bit more difficult. But over the past couple of years that Ryan and Kurt [Busch] have been running together, they have built a really strong confidence situation as far as [one saying], ‘Hey, if I’m in a position to help you, you know I’m going to help you.’ And people that paid attention probably saw that quite a few times last year.” “SIRIUS Speedway” airs weekdays (3-7pm/et) exclusively on SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, channel 128.(Sirius PR)(2-19-2008)
