Winless Newman not apologizing

— -- HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Irony abounds in this year's NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup, and it seems Ryan Newman is at the center of most of it.

Most observers believe NASCAR's creation of the Chase a decade ago was a reaction to Matt Kenseth winning the 2003 Cup series championship with a single race victory. But Newman played a big part, too.

The Indiana native and Purdue engineering school graduate won eight races that year while driving for Penske Racing. He claimed pole position 11 times. He led nearly 1,200 laps, or four times as many as Kenseth did.

Yet Newman ended what looked on paper like a dominant season a distant sixth in the standings. That, NASCAR evidently concluded, was an injustice, and the Chase was duly introduced in 2004, initially with 10 drivers.

Conspiracy theorists will try to convince you that the changes made to the Chase format over the years -- first to 12 drivers, then 13, then this year to 16, with a trio of three-race elimination rounds -- were made to end the championship domination of Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team.

And as it happens, six-time Cup series champion Johnson is not one of the four drivers who will compete for the Sprint Cup title this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET, ESPN and WatchESPN), despite putting together a championship-worthy 2014 campaign with four wins and 1,310 laps led.

Newman, however, did make the final four, despite leading just 41 laps all season and notching only four top-5 finishes.

If Newman prevails in the championship Sunday -- the Cup champion will be the top finisher in the race among Newman, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin -- he will tie or break a record for the fewest top-5 finishes by the champion. Red Byron had five in 1949 -- out of six starts.

So there's your irony. After being hurt by the point system in place in 2003, Newman has been the biggest beneficiary of the rethink that resulted in Chase version 4.0.

The guy who lost a championship despite winning a lot of races is potentially NASCAR's first winless champion.

You could say it's a case of lesson learned, because Newman is unrepentant about being in the position he's in.

"I don't really pay any attention to it," he said. "I'm not really so worried about what somebody thinks of me, and if I'm a 'sleeper' or an 'underdog' or the odd man out, or whatever you want to call me. I'm having fun and that's what it's supposed to be about.

"We're just doing our job," he added. "We've kept ourselves in the hunt. We're doing our job and having fun doing it. I don't let the emotions side of it carry any real weight."

Maybe it's not surprising that an engineering major is taking a calculated, numbers-based approach toward this year's elimination-style Chase.

The elimination format was supposed to favor winning, but the final four ended up having two drivers (Newman and Hamlin, who has one win) who got there by good old-fashioned points racing.

"The mathematics have definitely worked in our favor," Newman said. "It's not the typical equation that you have where performance is equal to a championship run. Our consistency has been our strength, and our consistency has been not in the top three. Our consistency has been basically fifth to 11th more often than not, and it's been very difficult to lead laps for us.

"But in the end, the championship trophy doesn't have the number of wins under it. We've got victories -- maybe just not in the 2014 season."

NASCAR CEO Brian France is certainly not worried about the prospect of Newman winning the championship.

"We would like that," France said. "The best team will win on Sunday. There has always has been the possibility that someone could win the championship without winning an event. I think it's great that we have three drivers competing that won races and one that didn't. I do think whoever comes out as champion on Sunday has to think about winning the race.

"It's all about the balance," he added. "We don't want a system that ignores consistency. The question is do we have the right balance and I would say unmistakably we do. Ryan is the underdog at this point, but they kind of like that, so we'll see how it plays out."

Whether or not he wins the championship, Newman's move to Richard Childress Racing this year has been a success. That's another twist to the 2014 NASCAR storyline -- what was pretty much a straight driver swap between Childress and Stewart-Haas Racing, with SHR hiring Harvick to take Newman's place and Newman sliding into Harvick's old spot at RCR.

It may look like SHR got the better end of the deal, because Harvick has often been the driver to beat in 2014, amassing four wins and leading a series-best 2,083 laps.

But Newman and RCR have the same chance of winning the championship as Harvick and SHR on Sunday.

"We have not been a dominant car by any means, if you look at our laps led and top-5s, but we've been a consistent car and guys have gotten better," Newman said. "When I say 'guys,' I mean me included because we've matured this year as far as getting to experience more things coming back to the racetracks for the second time and improving on the things that we've learned. Richard has given us the tools that we need. ECR [engine builder Earnhardt-Childress Racing] has given us the tools that we need. We've been very reliable and it's a big part of what's got us to this point.

"We've gotten stronger as the year has gone, without a doubt. But to win the championship will take us continuing to perform and outperform where we have performed."

A victory at Homestead would definitely be timely, and it would certainly minimize the scrutiny and second-guessing that would inevitably accompany a Newman championship.

"You win the race this weekend, you win the championship, if you're one of us four," Newman said. "To me, that's really what it's all about, and that's why, on our side at least, our intent is the same. We've gone into every race with the intention of winning it and leading the most laps and winning the pole and everything else that goes along with it. We just haven't been as successful as some of these other guys.

"It's really a storybook, I guess, in some form or fashion," he added. "But hopefully we can get through Sunday and write our own book."