After Stewart, now the rest of the dominos able to fall

Once the biggest domino of all fell -- and no, Tony Stewart fans, that is not a shot at the girth of your favorite driver -- you just knew the others would begin to fall in place more quickly right behind it.

So it began when Stewart made it official last week that he was leaving Joe Gibbs Racing at the end of this 2008 season to drive for, well, himself at the newly formed Stewart-Haas Racing. For no money up front at all, the good folks at Haas CNC Racing simply handed Stewart half of their company along with half of the name.

It was, as has been said often since it went down, simply an offer Stewart could not refuse.

It also set in motion a wave of events that now is beginning to pick up speed, particularly with Monday's announcement -- only mildly surprising -- that driver Ryan Newman will part ways with Penske Racing at the end of this season. Newman has been mentioned most often as the leading candidate to fill the second driver's seat at Stewart-Haas Racing, and most likely will be headed either there very shortly (even though Newman said Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway that it isn't his only option).

Assuming Newman ends up paired with Stewart in that new operation, what's next on the musical drivers' front?

Other possibilities
Well, a driver still needs to be officially named for the fourth car that Richard Childress Racing will run next year -- and sources have insisted that Casey Mears, recently ousted (at season's end) from the No. 5 Chevrolet at Hendrick Motorsports in favor of veteran Mark Martin, will be tabbed for that position.

Movers and shakers

• Newman to leave Penske
• Message Board: Sound off!

But now there officially is an opening at Penske, once considered one of the top rides in the garage. Who takes Newman's place?

The Penske job is an intriguing one. No doubt Roger Penske already has someone in mind -- maybe Dario Franchitti, if he wants to take another former open-wheeler into the fold and Franchitti truly is finished with Chip Ganassi; maybe Mears, who has kept all his options open and whose uncle, Rick, enjoyed great success on the open-wheel side while driving for Penske; and maybe long shot David Stremme, who truthfully never should have lost his ride with Ganassi last season (Franchitti replaced him) and has done some test driving for Penske.

But just how attractive a job, really, is it? Like the Chip Ganassi Racing operation that pushed Franchitti out of his Sprint Cup Series ride less than half a season after luring him away from IndyCars, one has to wonder what in the heck is happening on the NASCAR side of Penske's organization.

This season started with a huge bang when Newman won the Daytona 500 out of the gate, but the driver's No. 12 Dodge team has been unable to build on that. Following his 10th-place finish in the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Saturday, Newman remains mired in 16th in the standings.

The top 12 after 26 races make the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship, so it's likely Newman will be left on the outside looking in again when the Chase commences. After finishing in the top 10 in points 2002 through 2005, he finished 18th and 13th, respectively, the last two seasons while failing to win a single race in either season.

The other Penske driver, Kurt Busch, recently won a rain-shortened race to give his sagging season a boost -- but he's 18th in points and headed nowhere fast this season, with only seven races left before the Chase cutoff. He won three races and made the Chase a year ago, so it's obvious he's still a top driver, but he clearly has been frustrated with the way his No. 2 Dodge has run this season.

Sam Hornish Jr., another former open-wheel standout in his rookie Cup season, currently sits 33rd in the points standings in the third Penske car, the No. 77 Dodge.

Connect the dots
So is Newman to Stewart-Haas a done deal? Well, nothing is official until it's official, of course, but it seems so.

Stewart-Haas Racing

• Deal Stewart couldn't refuse
• Gibbs grants Stewart release
• Menzer: Gamble worth taking
• Aumann: Driver-ownerships
• About Haas CNC Racing
• Stewart's ownership roles

Did we mention that Matt Borland, who was Newman's crew chief at Penske when Newman captured 12 of his 13 career victories and 37 of his 43 career poles at the Cup level, now works at the present Haas CNC operation as director of competition? Since they split ways, Newman's productivity has nose-dived.

So the next dominos to fall into place likely will be Newman making it official that he's joining forces with Stewart; and Joe Gibbs Racing abandoning all remaining, and thinly veiled, attempts to disguise its plans to promote 18-year-old phenom Joey Logano into the No. 20 Toyota that Stewart is vacating at season's end.

Speaking of Logano, it makes too much sense not to happen. Sure, he needs more experience driving Sprint Cup cars (since he has absolutely zero at the moment, as far as driving them in actual races). Yes, he's very young.

But the guy has excelled in everything JGR has ever put him into, and JGR has a history of throwing youngsters to the wolves in Cup racing -- having done so with Denny Hamlin even as Hamlin protested that he wasn't ready. Logano will be in the No. 20 car, you can count on that.

Newman appears headed for Stewart-Haas, too. After that, the game of driver dominos will continue to fall into place in order of relevancy -- meaning it likely will get less interesting along the way.

It will be up to Penske Racing or Richard Childress Racing, those left with openings, to spice it up again if they can come up with a surprise or two.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer.