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Newman blazes way to Vegas pole
By Tom Zulewski March 11, 2005 |
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LAS VEGAS - After finishing with a series-best nine poles in 2004, there was an open search for what was wrong with Ryan Newman. New rules on spoilers and changes in tires may have slowed the Rocket down a little, but they couldn't replace the return of the pole-winning feeling. Newman went off early and won the Bud Pole position in the No. 12 Mobil 1/Alltel Dodge for the first time in 2005 in qualifying for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 on a warm, sun-splashed Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His time of 31.080 seconds (173.745 mph) was .006 better than Elliott Sadler in the No. 38 M&M's Ford Taurus. "We're really happy," Newman said of his first pole at Las Vegas. "It felt like we had a car capable of the pole right off the truck." After going off third of 49 drivers competing for spots in Sunday's race, Newman won his 28th career pole that stood up as the track cooled in the late afternoon sun. In the land where luck sometimes can cause more grief than good, Newman wants no part of luck when the green flag drops. "We've lost more races on luck and won more races on talent. Hopefully, talent will take over," he said. "It's definitely easier to for anybody to qualify than race because there are fewer variables. You don't have pit stops, you don't have traffic, and you don't have a lot of things." Even while finishing second, Sadler wanted to keep the focus on the positives in what was easily his best start of the young season and first top-10 in seven tries at Las Vegas. "All we did was race runs. To come back and qualify this good, my team never ceases to amaze me each and every week," Sadler said. "We kept working on (the car) and there's a never-quit attitude that has never been brighter than it is right now on our team." Sadler thought Biffle was the only other driver that had a shot to knock him off the front row, but the driver of the No. 16 National Guard Ford Taurus ended up with a lap of 31.181 seconds (173.182 mph) and wasn't totally happy with the effort. "Truth be known, I feel terrible. I had a car to qualify on the pole here and any driver is disappointed when he doesn't live up to what he thinks he can do and what the car can do," Biffle said. "I'm still beating myself up and probably will half the night because of that small mistake I made over there." The "over there" was in turns 3 and 4, where Biffle lost just enough speed to miss supplanting Sadler. Among the rest of the top 10 qualifiers, Kevin Harvick was fourth, but his time was disallowed for failure to have a full tank of gas. Scott Riggs qualified fifth, but he will start from the back of the field after running into transmission problems. Hometown favorite Kurt Busch, Travis Kvapil, two-time defending champ Matt Kenseth, Jimmie Johnson and Kurt's younger brother Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10. With the new Dodge Charger package, Newman's pole was the first since Richard Petty at Ontario Speedway on Nov. 18, 1977. Each of the three manufacturers - Ford, Dodge and Chevrolet - has one pole on the season. For the Sam's Town 300 Busch race to be held Saturday, Carl Edwards claimed the pole with a lap of 170.951 mph (31.588 seconds). As he did for the Cup race, Sadler finished second (31.731 seconds, 170.181 mph). Running order for Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (car number in parenthesis): 1. Ryan Newman (12), Mobil 1/Alltel Dodge, 173.745 mph 2. Elliott Sadler (38), M&M's Ford, 173.712 mph 3. Greg Biffle (16), National Guard Ford, 173.182 mph 4. Scott Riggs (10), Valvoline Chevrolet, 171.920 mph 5. Kurt Busch (97), Sharpie Ford, 171.865 mph 6. Travis Kvapil (77), Mobil 1/Kodak/Jasper Engine and Transmission Dodge, 171.717 mph 7. Kasey Kahne (9), Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 171.527 mph 8. Matt Kenseth (17), DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 170.946 mph 9. Jimmie Johnson (48), Lowe's Chevrolet, 170.848 mph 10. Kyle Busch (5), Kellogg's Chevrolet, 170.832 mph 11. Jeff Gordon (24), DuPont Chevrolet, 170.336 mph 12. Joe Nemechek (01), U.S. Army Chevrolet, 170.283 mph 13. Dale Jarrett (88), UPS Ford, 169.934 mph 14. Ken Schrader (49), Schwan's Home Service Dodge, 169.886 mph 15. Casey Mears (41), Target/Energizer Dodge, 169.854 mph 16. Bobby Hamilton, Jr. (32), Tide Chevrolet, 169.817 mph 17. Jason Leffler (11), FedEx Express Chevrolet, 169.806 mph 18. Mike Bliss (0), NetZero/Best Buy Chevrolet, 169.753 mph 19. Mark Martin (6), Viagra Ford, 169.465 mph 20. Carl Edwards (99), World Financial Group Ford, 169.258 mph 21. Rusty Wallace (2), Mobil 1/Miller Lite Dodge, 169.226 mph 22. Jamie McMurray (42), Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 169.199 mph 23. Tony Stewart (20), Home Depot Chevrolet, 169.173 mph 24. Jeff Burton (31), Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 169.125 mph 25. Sterling Marlin (40), Coors Light Dodge, 169.051 mph 26. Jeremy Mayfield (19), Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 168.993 mph 27. Robby Gordon (7), Harrah's Chevrolet, 168.729 mph 28. Scott Wimmer (22), Caterpillar Dodge, 168.676 mph 29. Dave Blaney (07), Jack Daniel's Chevrolet, 168.503 mph 30. Mike Wallace (4), Lucas Oil Chevrolet, 168.439 mph 31. Bobby Labonte (18), Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 168.345 mph 32. Brian Vickers (25), GMAC/ditech.com Chevrolet, 167.937 mph 33. Ricky Rudd (21), Motorcraft Quality Parts Ford, 167.717 mph 34. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (8), Budweiser Chevrolet, 167.198 mph 35. Kyle Petty (45), Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge, 167.017 mph 36. Michael Waltrip (15), NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 166.631 mph 37. John Andretti (14), VB/A Plus at Sunoco Ford, 166.164 mph 38. Randy LaJoie (34), Mach 1 Inc. Chevrolet, 165.787 mph 39. Jeff Green (43), Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 165.695 mph 40. Hermie Sadler (66), Peak Fitness/Stratosphere LV Ford, 165.350 mph 41. Eric McClure (73), ARC Dehooker/RFA Chevrolet, 165.279 mph 42. Kevin Harvick (29), GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, time disallowed 43. Morgan Shepherd (89), Racing with Jesus/Red Line Oil Dodge, 165.234 mph Failed to qualify: 44. Johnny Sauter (09), Miccosukee Resort Dodge, 165.163 mph 45. Kevin LePage (37), Carter Racing Dodge, 164.810 mph 46. Stanton Barrett (92), First Trust Portfolios/Master Spas Chevrolet, 164.444 mph 47. Stan Boyd (79), Michigan Amber Alert Chevrolet, 164.424 mph 48. Carl Long (00), Buyer's Choice Auto Warranty Chevrolet, 162.660 mph 49. Kirk Shelmerdine (27), Freddie B's Ford, DNS |
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