Ryan Newman posted the third fastest lap among 56 Sprint Cup drivers in Sunday’s Pole Day qualifying for the Daytona 500. That’s the good news.
The unfortunate news is that the U.S. Army driver out of the Stewart-Haas Racing camp just missed being locked into the front row for next week’s running of the Daytona 500. Pole Day only sets the front row for the 500 and the starting positions for Thursday’s Gatorade Duel 150-mile qualifying races.
Newman will start second in the second 150-mile qualifier. The finishing positions of the 150s will set the remaining starting field for the 500.
Newman’s No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS toured the 2.5-mile oval at Daytona International Speedway in 47.929 seconds at 187.778 miles-per-hour, missing the outside pole by one-hundredth of a second.
Capturing the front-row starting positions were pole-sitter Martin Truex (47.872 at 188.001) and Mark Martin (47.919 at 187.817).
“We came off the truck fast,” noted Newman. “We were fifth fastest yesterday in practice and beat a couple of good guys today that we didn’t beat yesterday. I am really proud of the effort these guys are putting in on this U.S. Army Chevrolet. Tony Gibson (crew chief), Tony Stewart (team owner) and all the people back at the shop who have put a lot of hard work in during the off season to make this happen.”
“We are trying to represent a million Soldiers and make them proud,” added Newman. “This is a good start.”
Stewart, who recorded the 10th fastest speed (187.336) in his No. 14 Chevy, said he was proud of both teams.
“I am really happy for all my guys on the Old Spice/Office Depot team and the U.S. Army team with Ryan,” said Stewart. “Just proud of (competition director) Bobby Hutchens and (crew chiefs) Tony Gibson and Darian Grubb and all the guys on these crews. They have just done an unbelievable job in such a short amount of time.”
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