Newman rockets his way to the front in Atlanta
Waltrip, Mayfield among drivers who failed to qualify

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Suddenly, Rocketman is back.

Ryan Newman, NASCAR's premier qualifier from his rookie year in 2002 through 2005, piling up 35 poles, slumped to just two last year -- none after taking the top qualifying spot at New Hampshire in July.

But Friday night he looked like the speed demon of old, turning a fast lap of 193.124 mph that was nearly 1 1/2 mph faster than runner-up Elliott Sadler's 191.894 on a cold, windy night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

It's the first time this season the Penske Racing driver has qualified better than 16th.

"We were good in practice, worked on it a little bit, exchanged some notes with Kurt's team and improved it quite a bit,'' Newman said, referring to teammate Kurt Busch.

So why has he been so slow in qualifying?

"Just getting things right with our Dodge,'' Newman said. "This is the exact same car that qualified 39th last week and finished eighth [at Las Vegas]. We knew it was a good race car, we just needed to get it figured out.

"We struggled last year and it feels good to be back in this seat,'' he added.

Newman ran away with the pole despite a miss in the engine.

"It did it in both straightaways,'' Newman said, grinning. "I was really surprised. But the car got through the corners so fast that the Penske Jasper engine was still able to get it done. It's a great effort for us and a great result.''

The fast lap, besides earning Newman his 38th career pole, gave him his seventh Atlanta pole and ninth front row start in 10 tries on the fast 1.5-mile oval. Qualifying last fall was rained out and the lineup was set by points, with Newman starting 17th.

Full story here on NASCAR.com

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/head....ap/index.html

__________________
2008 Daytona500 Champ


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Hey I was there for that!!! Then the poor thing had to change his engine. But he still had #1 spot on pit road, which made our seats a lovely view of that pretty blue Alltel Dodge. And let me tell ya, that guy is WAAAY more handsome in person!! It's no wonder his wife follows him around the way she does.......