Ryan Newman has been said to be the rumored second driver for Tony Stewart's new race team for next season. Stewart has yet to confirm Newman as the prime candidate for his second car, but Newman himself confirmed that he is in the running for the spot before the LifeLock.com Sprint Cup race at Chicagoland Speedway two weeks ago.

Newman announced to NASCAR.com's David Caraviello that "driving for Tony's team is an option." He went on to comment on Stewart: "Tony's a great competitor in a great many ways, because he's tough, but he's also respectful," said Newman, like Stewart a native of Indiana. "He's been a good friend on and off the racetrack, specifically off. He's done a lot to help me and guide me. He's an Indiana boy, so I have a different respect for him because of that. But in general, he's just a hard-nosed racer, and I've always appreciated him for that. Whether we argue on the racetrack or not, we're two hard-nosed racers."

Stewart is leaving his long-held seat at Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of this season to become an owner-driver with the newly formed Stewart-Haas race team. The two-time Cup champion will own half the race team, which will start as a two-car operation in 2009. Now that Newman will no longer be affiliated with Penske Racing after this season, the driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge and the organization decided to part ways before the Chicagoland race, his name has shot to the top of possible candidates who could join Stewart in his new team. There has been speculation that Stewart would name Newman as his second driver in a press conference as soon as Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The only announcement from Stewart is that he's going to drive the No. 14 car with Office Depot and Old Spice gracing his hoods.

Newman hasn't made his mind up according to sources close to the situation. Joe Gibbs Racing has an opening with Stewart leaving and could sway this year's Daytona 500 winner. Nationwide Series phenom Joey Logano has also been linked with the No. 20. Though it remains to be seen if that was to happen with Newman in a new team or if Newman would jump in the 20 car with Logano in a fourth team for JGR.

Stewart wants a driver not content with running in the top 15 to 20 positions in points and he wants to be able to mesh with that driver. Both drivers want to contend for championships and want to be put in a position to do so. Newman has not made the Chase since 2005 and would like to get back there soon. He comes to Indianapolis ranked 16th in the points and looking to move up.

Newman wants to do way better and be more consistent on the track than he is right now. If Stewart's team is the right fit then so be it, but Newman is going to be a hot commodity as a free agent since Greg Biffle went off the market after re-signing with Roush Fenway Racing for another three seasons. This story will keep going until Newman announces where he's going so stay tuned. 

It is a week away from the MLB Trade Deadline and it is awfully quiet in Cincinnati.  The Reds continue to hover just below .500, barely out of contention.  They continue to tease and confuse their fans and decision makers about their direction.  Here are some thoughts to help with this dilemna as well as some other random thoughts...

• Who is going to play outfield for this team next year?  If Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. leave after this season, Jay Bruce, Norris Hopper, Ryan Freel and Jerry Hairston Jr. are the only in- house candidates.  That group is not a playoff- caliber outfield.  Hopper, Freel and Hairston are all injury- prone and hard to count on.  There are also no candidates to contribute from the current crop of minor leaguers so that leaves us with...  keeping Adam Dunn.  Here is a guess on what will happen to Dunn:  he will not get traded at the Trade Deadline because the Reds will be unable to get the same value for him as the draft picks he brings when he leaves as a free agent.  So they keep him for the rest of the season and he files for free agency, but... he ends up accepting an arbitration offer (one- year deal) from the Reds.  The Reds have very few trading chips to bring in another outfielder of starting quality.  They may be cornered into doing this.
  
  
• If they do trade Dunn, a logical destination for him would be the injury ravaged, playoff- contending New York Yankees.  The Yanks could easily pay Dunn's remaining salary and they have an interesting minor league outfielder in Austin Jackson that could play centerfield for the Reds next year.  He is a five- tool player who is currently hitting .297/ .375/ .456 with 15 stolen bases in 20 attempts at Double- A Trenton.
  
  
• The San Franscisco Chronicle recently reported that the Reds were interested in Oakland A's closer Huston Street.  This is ridiculous and probably planted in the newspaper to drive Street's value up as the A's prepare to trade him to Milwaukee, St. Louis, Detriot, or Tampa Bay.  The Reds are stuck with their struggling closer Francisco Cordero through next year because he has a no- trade clause in his contract until then.  Hopefully, the Reds front office has learned their lesson about giving closers- particularly those in their mid 30s- big contracts.
  
  
• Probable trade bait relievers David Weathers and Jeremy Affeldt will not bring the Reds in a trade.  These type of role players usually bring grade- C prospects in return.  Examples of these type of grade- C players from the Reds' past include outfielder Mike Kelly and pitchers Scott Winchester, Roger Salkeld, Chris Booker and Luke Hudson.  Not a great list.
  
  
• All of the above flops listed were attained by ex- Red General Manager Jim Bowden.  Bowden may soon add ex- National General Manager to his resume.  His team is again, among the worst teams in the major leagues and his minor league drafts, though lauded at the time, have turned out to be awful.  He recently signed shortstop Christian Guzman, who is having a full solid year for the first time in four years, to a lucrative contract extention and he recently traded his valuable (and cheap) closer, Jon Rauch, for a fringe prospect (see above bullet point again).  The large contract he gave Dmitri Young this past winter looks as bad as the contract the Reds gave Mike Stanton.  He has, as usual, set his franchise back four or five more years instead of making any progress.
  
  
• Single- A Dayton shortstop Zach Cozart was left off of my Top 22 Reds Prospects List last week, but I believe he will be on the next one.  He already has the glove to play in the major leagues and he is showing some signs that his bat may play:  .276/ .334/ .474.  He has hit 12 home runs in 272 at- bats in the Midwest League, a league known for its pitchers' parks.
  
  
• On a final note, many readers and friends still wonder why ex- Red GM Wayne Krivsky was fired.  They say that he brought in Josh Hamilton for free and flipped him for pitcher Edison Volquez.  He got Brandon Phillips, Jeff Keppinger, Jerry Hairston Jr. and Bronson Arroyo for basically nothing.  His trade to the Washington Nationals for Bill Bray, Gary Majewski and Daryl Thompson is looking better and better... true- all of it, but his blunders outweighed all of this.  His top five worst blunders that cost him his job:  1.  Hiring Dusty Baker- pick your reason (or look up my reasons in my achives).  Baker will never get another team to the playoffs.  2.  Extending contracts to Mike Stanton, Rheal Cormier, Todd Coffey, Ryan Freel, Scott Hatteberg amongst others that ownership got tired of paying in return for negative production.  3.  Cutting Jorge Cantu (.289/ .337/ .486 with the Marlins with 18 home runs and 58 RBIs) so he could draft Sergio Valenzuela in the Rule 5 Draft.  Valenzuela, who had awful minor league numbers, did not make it past Week Two of Spring Training and is possibly the worst Rule 5 Draft of all- time for ANY franchise.  4.  Selling Cody Ross to the Marlins for peanuts.  Ross is currently hitting .264/ .313/ .517 with 16 home runs and 49 RBIs.  He and Cantu are outhitting half of the Reds position players.  5.  Not trading Ken Griffey Jr. over the past two years when he actually had some trade value.  Now the Reds are stuck with a huge bill and a declining superstar who has no leadership skills.