Auto racing notes: Newman gets another new number

Turns out Ryan Newman won’t be driving the No. 4 Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing next year after all.

It will be the No. 39.

Stewart surprised Newman with the news Monday night during his show on satellite radio.

“That number was my first Silver Crown number, my first USAC midget win at IRP … so that’s a very special number to me and that’s definitely cool.”

Stewart, who will drive for his own team with the No. 14 used by boyhood hero A.J. Foyt, said he gave up on the No. 4 when it became clear that longtime car owner Larry McClure, whose team has used that number for years, might return to NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series next season.

“We had some hiccups in the No. 4 with Larry McClure,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure there was enough due diligence when it came to knowing for sure if Mr. McClure was going to have a car for next year. We spoke with NASCAR and NASCAR said that that number was available and I’m not sure that, all the way around, that enough due diligence was done.

“We’ve been told that he’s going to run some races next year and, to us, especially me as a car owner, we know how much car numbers mean to teams and organizations. Even though NASCAR has given us that number for next year, if Mr. McClure is going to run a car we’re excited to have him back in the series, and we’re glad to see him come back, so we wanted him to have his number.”

Stewart noted that there are a lot of available numbers that he could have paired up with the No. 14, but he chose a number that would mean something to his soon-to-be teammate.

“This was a great opportunity to give Ryan and (his wife) Krissie a gift that we know would mean something and mean a lot to him,” Stewart said. “Having the No. 14, and knowing how much that means to me, I thought this would be just be a great way for us to kick this week off.”

Stewart will finish out this season in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota before moving to the team of which he recently became part owner. Newman will finish the 2008 season in the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge.

SAFE RECORDS: In the wake of Michael Phelps winning a record eight gold medals in the Beijing Olympics to surpass the seven Mark Spitz won in Munich, it’s time to look at seemingly unbeatable records in other sports.

In NASCAR, the safest record appears to be the 200 victories by stock car king Richard Petty, 119 more than Jeff Gordon, the leading active driver with 81 wins.

“I know records are made to be broken, but I don’t think anyone will ever win 200 races again,” said former NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Bobby Labonte. “That’s one record in a league of its own. Someone would have to win 10 races a season for 20 years straight. I just don’t see that happening. Richard Petty is going to have a long reign as king of that achievement.”

Labonte does believe it may be possible for some to break the modern-era record (since 1974) of 13 wins in a single season. That mark is held jointly by Petty and Gordon.

“It would be tough, but someone could break it,” Labonte noted. “It’s going to take an outstanding driver and a phenomenal team, and a few lucky breaks along the way, but it’s not impossible.”

Kyle Busch already has eight wins this season with 13 races to run.

Petty also jointly holds the record of seven Cup titles with the late Dale Earnhardt.

“Racing is more competitive than ever before, but there are a few drivers coming up through the ranks that stand a real chance of winning multiple championships,” Labonte said. “Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are part of an awesome organization (at Hendrick Motorsports) and they have tons of talent. They’ll be championship contenders for years to come.

“It would take a career of near-perfect seasons to win seven championships, but a young driver who gets drafted into a top-tier team could be a threat.”

DIFFERENT STROKES: Sports car driving star Max Angelelli likes to find his speed on land these days, but there was a time when he spent most of his days in a swimming pool, nurturing his family’s dreams of Olympic gold.

From the time he was 6 years old until a racing career of a completely different kind began to take hold at age 16, Angelelli remembered having to endure “agonizing” and “monotonous” daily workouts in the pool during the week, then constant travel on the weekends from swim meet to swim meet throughout his native Italy.

Angelelli now co-drives the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Dallara for Wayne Taylor Racing in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, a job he enjoys far more than racing in water.

“I don’t think it was my dream as much as it was my family’s dream,” he said. “I swam for 10 years, every single day. I would practice for hours at a time. I would go racing all around Italy. … I even had a picture made with Mark Spitz when he was at one of my swimming meets.

“I was just going and going and going. … I just couldn’t do it anymore. I hated it so much. I wasn’t winning. Maybe that’s why I didn’t like it. I was always leading up to the last 25 meters, but then I was done. All the way I was flat out. That was the problem.”

That’s also why he loves auto racing.

“I still go flat out all the time, but in car racing we have yellow flags, so we can catch our breath every once in a while,” Angelelli said. “You don’t have those in swimming.”

Angelelli and co-driver Michael Valiente will compete in Saturday’s Grand-Am race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.