Ryan Newman, this era’s expert in Sprint Cup qualifying, showed the rest of the field how to get it done again Thursday night, spinning a lap at 187.546 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
LINK > NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES QUALIFYING RESULTS: COCA-COLA 600
Newman edged Kurt Busch, winner of last week’s Sprint All-Star Race at CMS, to repeat the pole he scored for the 600 last year. Busch ran 187.292.
The pole is Newman’s first of the season but the 46th of his Cup career. It was his ninth pole run at CMS, the record among active drivers, and it keeps him in position to challenge David Pearson, the all-time pole leader at the track with 14.
“That was the most courageous lap I’ve probably ever had around here,” said Newman, who clearly was happy to bring his Chevrolet home without scars, particularly since he said he ran near the top of the race track, an unusual line for him.
“I ran the high line, which I’ve never done in qualifying here before,” Newman said. “I watched [Juan Pablo] Montoya have a good one and two, and he missed three and four. I knew he was going to be the benchmark.”
Montoya led Thursday’s practice but wound up 20th in qualifying.
Following Newman, who tied Hall of Famer Junior Johnson for 10th on the all-time Sprint Cup pole list, and Busch in the top five were Martin Truex Jr., Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson.
Busch barely missed the pole.
“I feel like our setup is going really well,” Busch said. “How it shakes out right now, you take a mix of all-star finishes and qualifying results, and we’ll see who the good teams are. I think we’re in good shape.”
Truex, who finished second in the All-Star race, continued his strong Charlotte race weeks performance.
“It’s a pleasure to drive cars this good,” Truex Jr. said of his third-place run. “We were pretty good in the Showdown [last week] and our best at the end of the All-Star race. I think we understand what it takes during the transition [from day to night].”
Thursday’s qualifying results produced an interesting starting lineup for Sunday’s marathon.
Feuding Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch will start back to back, Hamlin qualifying seventh and Busch ninth. In the middle in eighth will be Joey Logano, the other JGR driver (the one not involved in the feud).
Brad Keselowski slipped on his qualifying run, hit the outside wall and rolled across the track onto the grass separating the frontstretch from pit road. His team went to a backup car.
Failing to qualify were Reed Sorenson, Max Papis, David Stremme and Mike Bliss.
LINK > NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES QUALIFYING RESULTS: COCA-COLA 600
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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