Ryan Newman, last in the 45-car qualifying line, won the pole on Friday afternoon for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Rain interrupted the session for 45 minutes with five cars still in the qualifying line. A few drivers lobbied officials to cancel qualifying at that point and set the grid based on practice speeds. But crews dried the track and four of the last five drivers slotted themselves inside the top 10 after the delay.
Newman took the pole from Kasey Kahne, who’d taken it only seconds before from teammate Brian Vickers. It was Newman’s 49th career pole, tying him with the late Bobby Isaac for ninth on the all-time Cup pole list. It also was his sixth pole in only 20 starts at the New Hampshire track, including July, when he won the Lenox Tools 301 from the pole.
Kahne, Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10. Johnson, Gordon, Kahne and Newman went out after the delay and handled conditions well. Juan Pablo Montoya, first out among the last five, was an angry and frustrated 31st.
Six of the fastest 10 are Chase for the Championship drivers: Newman, the Busch brothers, Harvick, Gordon and Johnson. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 12th, Brad Keselowski 16th, Tony Stewart (last week’s winner near Chicago) 20th, Carl Edwards 23rd, Matt Kenseth 27th and Denny Hamlin 28th.
Teams are scheduled to practice twice on Saturday and run their 300-lap, 317-mile race on Sunday, starting at 2:15 p.m. Eastern on ESPN. After one of 10 championship-deciding playoff races, Harvick leads Stewart by seven points.
STARTING LINEUP
1. Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 135.002 mph
2. Kasey Kahne, Toyota, 134.763 mph
3. Brian Vickers, Toyota, 134.648 mph
4. Greg Biffle Ford, 134.587 mph
5. Kurt Busch, Dodge, 134.382 mph
6. Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 134.354 mph
7. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 134.160 mph
8. Kyle Busch, Toyota, 134.146 mph
9. Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 134.146 mph
10. Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 134.056 mph
11. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 134.056 mph
12. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 133.981 mph
13. A. J. Allmendinger, Ford, 133.821 mph
14. Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 133.816 mph
15. Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 133.792 mph
16. Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 133.769 mph
17. Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 132.785 133.756
18. Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 133.595 mph
19. David Reutimann, Toyota, 133.572 mph
20. Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 133.445 mph
21. Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 133.357 mph
22. Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, 133.245 mph
23. Carl Edwards, Ford, 133.203 mph
24. Joey Logano, Toyota, 133.114 mph
25. Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 132.905 mph
26. David Ragan, Ford, 132.896 mph
27. Matt Kenseth, Ford, 132.896 mph
28. Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 132.591 mph
29. Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 132.572 mph
30. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 132.429 mph
31. Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 132.232 mph
32. J. J. Yeley, Ford, 132.213 mph
33. David Gilliland, Ford, 132.048 mph
34. David Stremme, Chevrolet, 131.856 mph
35. Michael McDowell, Toyota, 131.797 mph
36. Robby Gordon, Dodge, 131.352 mph
37. Casey Mears, Toyota, 131.293 mph
38. Travis Kvapil, Ford, 131.058 mph
39. Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 130.833 mph
40. Mike Bliss, Ford, 130.613 mph
41. Josh Wise, Ford, 130.550 mph
42. Andy Lally, Ford, Owner points
43. Scott Speed, Ford, 130.304 mph
Did not qualify: Steve Park, T. J. Bell
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