LOUDON - Chuck Hossfeld is in the thick of a tight battle for the Whelen Modified Tour title, trying to make up 63 points on Ted Christopher with just four races remaining, and winning a pole yesterday would've certainly been a nice boost in that endeavor.

But Hossfeld couldn't be too disappointed by winding up second - because the only car quicker was driven by Ryan Newman.

And when it comes to qualifying, there may be no active driver who's better.

Even in his first-ever attempt at steering a modified car, Newman still found a way to put it on the pole, completing his 1.058-mile oval in a time of 29.658 seconds that meant he was moving almost half a mile per hour faster than anybody else in the field.

The Sprint Cup star who's already among that series' top 10 all-time qualifiers was better entering Turn 1 than was Hossfeld, who will join Newman a row in front of Jimmy Blewett and Eric Beers for tomorrow's 100-lap race.

"It took me quite a while to get used to it, pushing it, taking it farther into the corner and getting back to the gas," said Newman, who drew on his background in open-wheel and Silver Crown cars. "I didn't run my quickest lap in practice until the very last lap, so that gave me a little bit more confidence for qualifying, and it was a good run for us."

A fan of the track, and the area, Newman accepted an offer to run Kevin "Bono" Manion's No. 7 Chevrolet when he was approached by some of the crew from the No. 01 Cup team of which Manion is chief. It's the same modified ride Kyle Busch was going to drive in June until ownership at Joe Gibbs Racing thought the better of it, but Newman jumped at the chance to make it a three-race weekend.

He's also planning to race tonight at Lee USA Speedway, planning to head there after Cup qualifying today, when he could well land his sixth career pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. After yesterday, he can remember just one type of car he's run without putting it on the front row, that being the dirt late model - though he's quick to note he's only tried it somewhere between six and eight times.

Then again, in some series it only takes him once.

"To be second to Ryan Newman is pretty cool," Hossfeld said, "because we know how good of a qualifier he is." Concord Monitor Sept 12 2008

Nice article.

The tape delay of this race will be aired on Sept. 24th.