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RYAN NEWMAN JOINS STEWART HAAS RACING FOR 2009 AND OTHER RACING NEWS

IT’S OFFICIAL: Stewart Haas Racing officially announced the hiring of Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman as its second driver for the 2009 season.

INVESTOR?: Danny Sullivan, the 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner, is part of a group of investors that are trying to buy Bill Davis Racing, the NASCAR team, which fields cars in the Sprint Cup Series and trucks in the Craftsman Truck Series.

NEW ROAD: Humpy Wheeler, who retired as president and general manager of Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May, has created the Wheeler Company, which will be a management-consulting operation focused on sports, motorsports and general business.

ROAD RACING: IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon will be joining the de Ferran Motorsports American Le Mans Series team for the October 4 Petit Le Mans event at Road Atlanta. He will team with car owner Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud in the team’s Acura ARX-01b for the 10-hour endurance race.

IT’S BACK: The Southern 500 name will return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Darlington (South Carolina) Raceway next May. The Southern 500 was traditionally held Labor Day weekend, but the race went away in 2004 when the track lost one of its two Cup Series dates.

POWER RANKINGS: NHRA Top Fuel point leader Tony Schumacher remained at the top of the National Speed Sport News Power Rankings after his 10th victory of the season in just 17 races on Sunday at Pennsylvania’s Maple Grove Raceway. The National Speed Sport News Power Rankings are published weekly in the 74-year-old motorsports publication

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