CHARLOTTE N C AP — If Ryan Newman is indeed in line to join Tony Stewart s new team next season neither driver is saying Stewart said Tuesday he s still trying to fill the two-car lineup at Stewart-Haas Racing while Newman joked the only new offer he s received was to drive for one of Stewart s sprint car teams All kidding aside Newman is believed to be the top candidate to drive for Stewart next year The Daytona 500 winner announced last week he ll leave Penske Racing at the end of the season a decision that makes him the top current free agent Stewart who is leaving Joe Gibbs Racing to become part-owner of what s now known as Haas-CNC Racing said he s still looking at who is available quot There are a lot of drivers in the running right now quot he said quot It s not narrowed down to just one driver right now quot But Stewart does have a list of criteria he d like his future teammate to meet and among the things he s looking for is the commitment to help the new team drive from the back of the NASCAR field and start contending for wins and championships quot We definitely want somebody that you feel like is dedicated to what we re trying to do and realizing that we re taking an organization that s not had the success that it wants and has the foresight to look forward and see what we re trying to accomplish quot Stewart said quot You want a driver that has that same attitude with what they do every weekend You don t want a guy that s just content to run in the Top 15 or Top 20 You want a guy who has every intention every year and a realistic intention of saying I expect to make the Chase quot Based on that description Newman sounds like his guy Newman is in his seventh full season driving for Penske where he s won 13 races and 43 poles He s finished sixth in the standings three times but has not qualified for the Chase since 2005 Although he won the season-opening 500 this year he s got just seven top-10 finishes and heads into Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend ranked 16th in the standings He cited Tuesday his continued performance drop-off since 2005 as his reason for leaving Penske quot The stats speak for themselves but going back to 2003 we were a dominant race team Eight wins 14 poles quot Newman said quot That s awesome and we have been dominant we just aren t dominant right now and that cycles quot Roger Penske always says it says right on his Web site — Effort equals results If you re not getting your results then you question the effort quot But Newman said he s committed to finishing the season strong in the No 12 Dodge for Penske no matter where he ends up driving He said he s not set a timeline for figuring out his future quot Maybe it s like being in high school and having a bunch of girls and if you get an opportunity to date one or the other And you don t know the timeline of how everything s going to go you don t know when you re going to get a date quot he said quot It just happens Maybe on a Friday night you go out and think Maybe that s how things are going to work out for me quot Stewart meanwhile said he d like to fill his second seat sooner rather than later He s expected to announce this weekend in Indy the sponsors for his car and Haas-CNC has applied for a trademark on the No 14 for certain souvenirs — an indicator that Stewart will use childhood idol A J Foyt s longtime number on his new team But he needs to work out those details on a second car and finding a driver is the first part of the puzzle quot As soon as we can get a driver signed I want to announce it right away quot he said quot That will be key in being able to attract sponsors to the second car We re still working on that I feel like that is a big key in this whole program being successful next year is having the right teammate I definitely want to get that done as soon as possible quot