KANNAPOLIS, N.C. — If you're going to win, win big.

Cranberry Township native Travis Geisler helped Ryan Newman win the biggest.

Geisler, 27, serves as engineer for the Newman No. 12 race team, which found its way to Victory Lane at the 50th running of the Daytona 500 last Sunday.

It was the first Sprint Cup win for Geisler, who served as race engineer for Elliott Sadler and Dale Jarrett with the Robert Yates race team in 2006 before joining Newman and the Roger Penske race team last year.

"This wasn't a bad way to get my first Cup win,"Geisler said. "The 50th Daytona 500, Penske's first Daytona victory, my family in the stands — it's all good."

Geisler's family has been part of Daytona for years. His grandfather attended nearly every Daytona 500 from 1959 until his death two years ago.

Geisler's father is Lynn Geisler, who has more than 100 career Late Model wins at Lernerville Speedway.

"I'm in this line of work because of him,"Geisler said of his father. "I grew up racing with my dad. For him to be here was only fitting."

Lynn Geisler was more than just at the Daytona. He found his way to Victory Lane as well.

"I've been to this race with my father for years,"Lynn Geisler said. "I know my way around that place. I weaved my way down toward Victory Lane. Ryan Newman's father saw me and let me in.

"Drinking champagne in Victory Lane at Daytona with my son. ... it was fantastic. I'll never forget that feeling."

Nor will he forget the impact his son had on Newman's victory.

"He and the crew chief (Roy McCauley) get together and make the critical decisions, then everybody does their job," the elder Geisler said.

"Everyone on that race team played a role in that win, no doubt about that. But Travis played one of the vital roles. Yeah, I'm biased, but I'm so proud of that," he added.

Newman's victory was his first in 81 starts. McCauley is a first-year crew chief with the No. 12 team.

Despite the team going winless in 2007, Travis Geisler could see progress.

"Really, this win is just a carryover from last year,"he said. "I mean, we were so close so many times. And we kept getting better.

"You can't just jump in a car and win the Daytona 500 without building off last year," he added.

Before Geisler joined the No. 12 team last year, Newman struggled badly in 2005 and 2006.

Last year, he became much more competitive and, this year, he's the Daytona 500 champion.

"That's not coincidence,"Lynn Geisler said.

McCauley and Geisler paid close attention to tires and car set-up during the course of the race.

"Tire wear was a big concern of everybody's,"Geisler said. "You see blistering of tires on tracks like that and you have to monitor that constantly.

"The balance of the car had to be close to perfect, too. Loose or tight, you can't be far off one way or the other. The final decisions were Don's, of course, but it's quite an experience being involved in the process."

Newman made pit stops on laps 34, 75, 79, 120, 151 and 161. The latter stop was during a caution and was Newman's final pit stop of the race.

On the final restart of the race — the 197th lap — Newman got drafting help on the high side from Penske teammate and Daytona runner-up Kurt Busch.

"We did a lot of testing on the car before the race and knew we had good speed going in,"Geisler said. "Testing only gives you about half a read, though. you're never 100 percent sure of where you're at.

"There were faster cars, but in drafting, our car was as good as anybody's out there. That was proven."

Geisler graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2003 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He has bounced around in racing circles, beginning with go-karts and moving on to Limited Late Models, capturing his first win in that division as a 17-year-old rookie.

He was the youngest driver to start a STARSNational event that same year.

Geisler began driving an asphalt Late Model in 1999 and progressed from there. He posted seven wins in the NASCARWeekly Racing Series in 2002. He competed in the NASCARTouring Series in 2003 and the Busch Series in 2004.

Geisler tried running his own race program after graduating from college, but eventually signed on with DCTMotorsports in 2004. He broke into the Cup circuit with Yates Racing two years later.

"Racing situations change all the time,"Geisler said. "It's the nature of the business. When I had the chance to join the Penske team, without us (Yates) having a driver for the No. 88 yet, I couldn't pass it up.

"Right now, I'm in a great situation. Ryan, Don and myself, we're all engineers, we've been racers. ... We're on the same page and we make decisions together.

"Every race team has the resources to run well. It's the chemistry of the team, how hard and well you work together that gets it done. If this team stays together, I'd love to stay with Penske for a long time,"Geisler added.