NASCAR: Newman grabs pole, sets track record for New Hampshire race:

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LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
Ryan Newman lapped New Hampshire Motor Speedway at 135.232 mph to grab the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race.

By AL PEARCE on 7/15/2011

Friday afternoon was one of those “feels good for now” days for Stewart-Hass Racing. Teammates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart qualified their Chevrolets 1-2 for Sunday afternoon’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In the process, both broke the 1.058-mile track’s fairly new qualifying record.

Newman’s pole lap of 135.232 mph easily shattered the 133.572 mph that Brad Keselowski ran last September. Stewart’s second-best lap was 135.064 mph, making him the only other driver in the 135-mph range. All told, the fastest 12 qualifiers broke Keselowski’s one-race-old qualifying record.

David Reutimann in a Toyota and Kurt Busch in a Dodge were third and fourth, with Keselowski in a Dodge and Jeff Burton in a Chevrolet fifth and sixth. The rest of the top 10 on the 43-car grid: Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya in Chevrolets, and Paul Menard in a Chevrolet and Kasey Kahne in a Toyota.

The pole was Newman’s first this year and his 47th in 351 Cup starts, making him 10th on NASCAR’s all-time pole list. It was the first time Newman and his owner/driver/boss have qualified 1-2 on a Cup grid in their two-plus seasons together.

“It was a really good lap,” Newman said. “It wasn’t a perfect, perfect lap, but the car has a lot of speed and it felt really good.”

Stewart said the 1-2 performance came at a good time. Neither driver has won a race this year and they’re ninth (Newman) and 11th (Stewart) in points, leaving both somewhat vulnerable to missing the Chase for the Championship. Newman has two wins and 12 top-10s at New Hampshire and Stewart has two wins and 14 top 10s.

“We have a great group of guys at SHR and we’ve got great engines and great chassis from Hendrick,” Stewart said of his team’s relationship with Hendrick Motorsports. “We’ve been fighting hard and we’re in the middle of some internal changes. It’s definitely not an easy time for us at the shop. But we’ve got a group of guys who are racers and they don’t care how bad it gets. They don’t care how much of a struggle it is.

“They keep focused and keep working. This is for all of our guys at the fab shop and the prep shop and the job that they do to get us here. Plus, I’ve got a pretty good driver over there (Newman). He’s got two poles in two nights (Newman also won the pole for Saturday’s Modified race). He’s doing a pretty good job.”

Newman went into his qualifying lap unsure of what to expect. Goodyear brought a new tire that gripped better and stayed consistent longer. Drivers credited the new compound with faster speeds.

“They said the track temperature was up and Reutimann was fast and clipped off a lap I didn’t really think that could be beat,” he said. “I’m just proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas to get our first front row together, but for me to be the winning car and have a good start is great.

“The car felt good in practice. The lap itself was nice and smooth. I wouldn’t say it was perfect, but it was good enough and if we can make that a little bit better for Sunday, we’ll be in really good shape. Without a doubt I have higher expectations how about the race. When you have the fastest race car, you have no excuse. I felt really confident in practice today that we would have a shot at the pole, just on the way the car felt. Fortunately that came through and we were able to capitalize.”

STARTING LINEUP

1. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 135.232 mph

2. Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 135.064 mph

3. David Reutimann, Toyota, 134.763 mph

4. Kurt Busch, Dodge, 134.340 mph

5. Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 134.150 mph

6. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 134.122 mph

7. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 134.075 mph

8. Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 133.788 mph

9. Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 133.778 mph

10. Kasey Kahne, Toyota, 133.775 mph

11. Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 133.717 mph

12. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 133.595 mph

13. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 133.450 mph

14. Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 133.431 mph

15. Carl Edwards, Ford, 133.408 mph

16. Joey Logano, Toyota, 133.361 mph

17. A. J. Allmendinger, Ford, 133.114 mph

18. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 133.096 mph

19. Kyle Busch, Toyota, 133.026 mph

20. Greg Biffle Ford, 132.993 mph

21. Brian Vickers, Toyota, 132.938 mph

22. Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 132.905 mph

23. Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 132.845 mph

24. Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 132.725 mph

25. Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 132.702 mph

26. David Ragan, Ford, 132.665 mph

27. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 132.531 mph

28. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 132.402 mph

29. David Stremme, Chevrolet, 132.232 mph

30. Matt Kenseth, Ford, 132.131 mph

31. Casey Mears, Toyota, 132.132.126 mph

32. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 131.888 mph

33. Michael McDowell, Toyota, 131.406 mph

34. David Gilliland, Ford, 131.401 mph

35. Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 131.306 mph

36. Jeff Green, Ford, 131.175 mph

37. Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 130.977 mph

38. J. J. Yeley, Ford, 130.950 mph

39. Mike Skinner, Toyota, 130.761 mph

40. Erik Darnell, Chevrolet, 130.184 mph

41. Mike Bliss, Ford, 129.980 mph

42. Scott Wimmer, Dodge, Owner points

43. Andy Lally, Chevrolet, 129.913 mph

Did not qualify: Tony Raines, Scott Riggs, Dennis Setzer

 

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