Ryan Newman captured the pole for NASCAR’s longest race of the season—the Coca-Cola 600—after posting the fastest lap in Thursday’s qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Newman turned a lap of 187.546 m.p.h. for his ninth pole at Charlotte, which puts him second for most poles at the track. David Pearson holds the record with 14.
“Ultimately, it was a great lap,” said Newman, who also won the pole for this race one year ago. “I ran the high line, which I have never done here in qualifying before, so it tells you how much things have changed between the tires, the racetrack and the cars, to be able to do something different than I’ve always done to create that ultimate fast lap.”
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Ryan Newman Claims Pole For Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte
Newman recorded his first pole of the season and the 46th of his Sprint Cup Series career, which moved him into a tie with new NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Junior Johnson for 10th on the series’ all-time pole win list.
Kurt Busch, who won last Saturday’s all-star race at Charlotte, qualified 0.04 seconds behind Newman to claim the outside pole. MiamiHerald.com
Martin Truex Jr., who won last Saturday’s Sprint Showdown and finished second in the Sprint All-Star Race that followed, qualified third at 187.188 mph. Kasey Kahne (187.169 mph) was fourth, followed by four-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (186.974 mph).
Defending race winner David Reutimann, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Clint Bowyer will start from positions six through 10, respectively. Series points leader Kevin Harvick qualified 23rd.
After watching other drivers run the high line in practice and during qualifying at the 1.5-mile track, Newman decided to do the same. NASCAR
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 2 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 3 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 4 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 6 0 David Reutimann Toyota 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 8 20 Joey Logano Toyota 9 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 10 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 11 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 12 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 13 83 Casey Mears Toyota 14 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 15 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 16 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 17 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 18 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 19 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 20 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 21 82 Scott Speed Toyota 22 36 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 23 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 24 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 25 21 Bill Elliott Ford 26 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 27 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 28 37 David Gilliland Ford 29 164 Todd Bodine Toyota 30 55 Michael McDowell Toyota 31 99 Carl Edwards Ford 32 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 33 98 Paul Menard Ford 34 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 35 6 David Ragan Ford 36 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 37 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 38 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 39 19 Elliott Sadler+ Ford 40 16 Greg Biffle+ Ford 41 38 Travis Kvapil+ Ford 42 34 Kevin Conway+* Ford 43 46 J.J. Yeley Dodge Did Not Qualify 44 132 Reed Sorenson Toyota 45 13 Max Papis Toyota 46 26 David Stremme Ford 47 9 Mike Bliss Chevrolet
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