Not Quittin' Time: Ryan Newman Brushes Off Retirement Talk

Ryan Newman, 43, isn't ready for the rocking chair. Instead, he said he intends to keep driving toward a NASCAR Cup Series championship.

“The reality is any driver that goes out on their own terms has quit, right?” Newman told NBC Sports. “That’s the only way it works. So I’m not quitter. I haven’t achieved my goal. So the only way I would go out on somebody else’s terms is if they quit me. That’s not good teamwork.”

Believe it or not, Newman was No. 1 among all athletes in Google's top-trending searches for 2020 -- but not necessarily for the right reasons. It actually had way more to do with his crash at last year's Daytona 500.

“You don’t become the most Googled person because I won races,” Newman said. “I became the most Googled person in the year because of what I experienced in that crash and that’s part of today’s society.”

You know what else is part of today's society? Those who participate in sport retiring from competition once they reach 40. Newman reiterated he has other plans.

“I’ve got to put myself in position with the right people that have a common goal of winning races and eventually winning a championship," he said. "I know that I’m at that place. That doesn’t mean I’ll stay at that place, but I’m at that place."

So where you place is really the only number that matters.

“As long as I’m capable, in other words, able to do the things I need to on and off the racetrack to be successful, then I’ll continue to do so with the hopes of living out my lifelong dream to be a Cup champion," Newman said.

Newman finished 25th in 2020. His last win came at Phoenix's Camping World 500 in 2017.