J.J. O'Malley
RacingOne Contributor Posted Thursday, May 24, 2007
Newman captured his sixth career pole at LMS.
Two weeks ago, Helio Castroneves gave Roger Penske the pole position for the 91st Indianapolis 500.
Friday night, Ryan Newman gave Penske Racing a sweep of the poles for the Memorial Day Weekend classics by capturing his fourth pole for the Coca-Cola 600.
The driver of the No. 12 Alltel Dodge turned a quick lap of 185.312 mph, good enough for his fourth pole position for his sixth career pole at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.
"It's a big deal for Roger," Newman said. "Each race is equally important to him, and I look forward to the opportunity to get him into Victory Lane -- not only Roger Penske, but everyone at Penske Racing, and all the effort and emphasis they've put on this race. Roger and I joked about it, that there's a car (at Indianapolis) for me if I want it, but I always said I didn't want to take any time away from our emphasis on the Cup car. It's ironic, because growing up in Indiana, I was always a fan of stock cars."
In the final moments of qualifying, teammate Kurt Busch ran a lap of 185.065 mph in the Miller Lite Dodge to give Penske Racing both front row positions for the longest race on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule.
Newman wasn’t sure he won his 39th career NEXTEL Cup Series pole when the checkered flag waved at the conclusion of his qualifying run.
“I looked and saw the No. 19 on top,” Newman said. “I guess when you’re running 200 mph it doesn’t update too quickly.”
Sadler’s run of 185.001 in Ray Evernham’s Fantastic Four Dodge held on to the inside of the second row. Fastest in practice, he qualified early in the session before the track began to cool.
“I left a lot on the table,” said Sadler, whose 2005 pole run of 193.216 mph remains the track record. “It was a bitter sweet run. I made a few mistakes out there. The guys gave me a car perfect enough to get on the pole, I just messed it up a little bit. I was so overanxious getting in the corner.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., working without suspended crew chief Tony Eury Jr., clocked in fourth with a lap of 184.634 mph in the camouflage-themed Budweiser Chevrolet.
“We tried an experimental car for the NEXTEL All Star Challenge, and it didn’t work out,” Earnhardt Jr. said. “I knew this car was great from when we rolled it off the trailer. That’s basically the way we qualified the car.”
Starting in the third row for Sunday evening’s race will be Matt Kenseth, who ran 184.231 mph in the R&L Carriers Ford, and Denny Hamlin, who ran 184.225 mph in the FedEx Chevrolet. Rounding out the top 10 were Ricky Rudd, Dave Blaney, Bobby Labonte and David Stremme.
It was a bittersweet evening for Michael Waltrip Racing. Dale Jarrett qualified 22nd with a lap of 182.389 mph in his Toyota, while his teammates both crashed on their qualifying runs to miss the show. For car owner Michael Waltrip, it was his 11th consecutive DNQ since he made the season-opening Daytona 500 as he lost control on his second qualifying lap. Rookie David Reutimann crashed on his first qualifying lap. Jeff Green also was involved in a qualifying accident.
Joining Waltrip and Reutimann in missing the event were Paul Menard, Ward Burton, Kevin Lepage and Mike Bliss.
There is no scheduled NASCAR activity at Lowe’s Motor Speedway Friday. Final NEXTEL Cup Series practice begins at 6:20 p.m. Saturday, followed by the Carquest Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch Series race at 8:10 p.m.
Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 is set to take the green flag at 5:40 p.m.