Inside 'The Chase' With Ryan Newman: Alive With the Sound of Music

As NASCAR's Chase for the Championship enters week 3 of its 10-week playoff run, FanHouse delivers its third installment of Inside the Chase with Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet.

Newman sits seventh in the championship -- 110 points behind leader Mark Martin -- as the Sprint Cup Series visits the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway for Sunday's Kansas 400. Newman won this race in 2003 and has three top-5 finishes in eight starts.

Sponsorship obligations, press tours, cross-country travel, high speeds and risky maneuvers -- those are just the requirements of Ryan Newman's day job.

In the midst of his pursuit for NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series championship, Newman and his wife Krissie have launched an independent record label and this week Newman is making a 360-mile round trip jaunt -- twice -- from Kansas City to Knoxville, Iowa, where he and his NASCAR team owner Tony Stewart are entered in the Late Model Nationals.

Spare time? That's when the Newmans devote their efforts to raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Ryan Newman Foundation, which benefits pet charities and encourages pet adoption.

Gone are the days that these drivers simply showed up at the speedway on Friday to prepare for a Sunday afternoon race. Newman, like so many of his competitors, are more like high speed moguls -- businessmen with interests far from the drivers seat.

Krissie is spearheading the couple's production company: Music Row Publisher (MRP) -- RPM backwards. She concedes it wasn't anything either had ever really considered before.

"But the timing and opportunity were right,'' she said. Krissie spent this week's NASCAR stop at Kansas Speedway traveling to Kansas City area radio stations to promote the company's first artist, country singer Bridgette Tatum.

"I look back at the last 10 years of my life and it's taken a different direction than I ever thought," she said. "I'm a big believer in not putting all your eggs in one basket.

"Everyone is growing different interests and the more connections you make, the more relationships you form, and you learn about different industries. Your interest gets piqued. I like having a lot of different projects on the table.''

The Newmans aren't alone in capitalizing on outside business opportunities.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr., has a thriving bar in downtown Charlotte. Carl Edwards also has a record label. Stewart owns his own race track.

The difference though, is that for Newman, this record label is more personal, a mission not a fluke. He sees it as a way to maintain the type of generous spirit that people offered him when he was trying to break into NASCAR's big leagues.

"From an investment standpoint and notoriety, we can make a difference in someone else's life,'' Newman said. "Someone did that for me. We'd like to at least help give back in that way.''

For Newman it was longtime motorsports executive Don Miller who, Newman said, helped him "get my first stock car ride, and helped me buy my first house.''

It was a huge benefit, having someone believe in him, willing to take a chance on him.

It paid off for Miller. And Newman, who has 13 victories -- including the 2008 Daytona 500 -- and 43 pole positions in his eight-year Cup career.

Newman hopes his efforts with Tatum will produce similar results. Her name and debut country single, "I Like My Cowboys Dirty" will be the logo on the hood of his late model car in Knoxville Saturday night. She's also singing the national anthem prior to the race.

Newman sees an important similarity between himself and Tatum.

"A lot of desire,'' Newman said. "She is very talented and she has a lot of desire.''