Ryan Newman’s Loudon Love Affair Continues with Pole Run

In spite of the rain drops that yet again delayed action on the track, Ryan Newman continued his love affair with the ‘Magic Mile’, scoring a record-setting sixth pole.

[media-credit name=”Gary Buchanan” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Newman, behind the wheel of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, turned a lap of 28.213 seconds and a speed of 135.002 mph.

This was Newman’s third pole in 2011 and his 59th career pole, tying him for ninth all-time with Bobby Isaac, Hall of Fame Nominee. In spite of it being a personal career pole best, it was the drama of it all that most impressed Newman.

“In general, I don’t think I’ve seen that kind of drama going into the last five cars qualifying in my ten or eleven years of experience,” Newman said. “It’s kind of a tough situation, one hand you’re thinking other guys had to qualify in the sprinkles.”

“My track was dry,” Newman continued. “I don’t know if it was any faster. I think we picked up the same speed as the other guys did earlier in qualifying.”

The drama particularly played out with five-time champion Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Lowes Chevrolet, who started his qualifying run but then pulled off the track, only to be resoundly booed and heckled by the crowd, who were desperate for the completion of qualifying.

“Some of them did and some of them didn’t go out, but in the end we’re supposed to have dry track conditions or at least not be raining when we go out on the race track,” Newman said. “So, I understand where Jimmie (Johnson) came from when he pulled in.”

“I’m just really proud of my team,” Newman said. “We backed up what we did here at least on Friday from the spring race and give the Haas Automation a good starting spot.”

The Red Bull teammates of Kasey Kahne, behind the wheel of the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota, and Brian Vickers, driving the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota, were also part of the drama that played out in Loudon qualifying.

Vickers went out prior to the rain drops falling, where Kahne had to cool his heels with the five remaining cars awaiting the drying of the track. In the end, Kahne still scored the outside pole, while Vickers lost the provisional pole, falling to the third spot.

“Obviously the conditions were tough,” Vickers said. “I would have liked to have seen it play out just running straight through.”

“It is what it is,” Vickers continued. “Either way we started out better than we would have.”

“We ended up with a top-three start,” Vickers said. “So, that’s great and both Red Bull cars are up front.”

“But again, I would have liked to have seen our laps hold if we were heads up in the same position.”

Outside pole sitter Kasey Kahne was second quickest when he finally got to qualify, with a lap of 28.263 seconds and a speed of 134.763 mph.

“It was a good effort,” Kahne said. “We ended up right where we would have been if it would have ended up if it hadn’t rained.”

“The track was definitely slicker,” Kahne continued. “The way my car handled, we were definitely quicker in practice. But I’m glad we got qualifying in.”

Greg Biffle, driving the No. 16 Ford40MPG.com Ford, and Kurt Busch, behind the wheel of the No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Dodge, rounded out the top five for the 15th annual Sylvania 300.  The remainder of the top ten qualifiers were Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

Starting Lineup
Sylvania 300, New Hampshire Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=28
===========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
===========================================
1 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 135.002 28.213
2 4 Kasey Kahne Toyota 134.763 28.263
3 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 134.648 28.287
4 16 Greg Biffle Ford 134.587 28.3
5 22 Kurt Busch Dodge 134.382 28.343
6 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 134.354 28.349
7 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 134.16 28.39
8 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 134.146 28.393
9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 134.146 28.393
10 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 134.075 28.408
11 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 134.056 28.412
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 133.981 28.428
13 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 133.82 28.462
14 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 133.816 28.463
15 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 133.792 28.468
16 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 133.769 28.473
17 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 133.755 28.476
18 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 133.595 28.51
19 0 David Reutimann Toyota 133.572 28.515
20 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 133.445 28.542
21 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 133.357 28.561
22 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 133.245 28.585
23 99 Carl Edwards Ford 133.203 28.594
24 20 Joey Logano Toyota 133.114 28.613
25 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 132.905 28.658
26 6 David Ragan Ford 132.896 28.66
27 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 132.665 28.71
28 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 132.591 28.726
29 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 132.572 28.73
30 51 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 132.429 28.761
31 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 132.232 28.804
32 38 J.J. Yeley Ford 132.213 28.808
33 34 David Gilliland Ford 132.048 28.844
34 30 David Stremme Chevrolet 131.856 28.886
35 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 131.797 28.899
36 7 Robby Gordon Dodge 131.352 28.997
37 13 Casey Mears Toyota 131.293 29.01
38 55 Travis Kvapil Ford 131.058 29.062
39 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 130.833 29.112
40 32 Mike Bliss Ford 130.613 29.161
41 37 Josh Wise Ford 130.55 29.175
42 71 Andy Lally+* Ford 128.784 29.575
43 46 Scott Speed Ford 130.305 29.23

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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