The incredible pole machine that is Ryan Newman continued to roll this afternoon at Darlington Raceway. Ryan captured the Bud Pole for Sunday’s Mountain Dew Southern 500 (the final Labor Day edition) with a time of 24.090 (169.048 mph)….besting Jimmie Johnson for his 6th pole of the year and 13th of his career. Newman’s pole percentage is now at .188 (13 poles in 69 events)….not too shabby. Terry Labonte (3rd) has his best starting spot since he had the pole at Richmond in May. Ricky Craven (8th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 6th at Rockingham in February. Johnny Benson (11th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 10th at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in May. STREAKIN….Bobby Labonte has 6 Top-10 starts in the last 7 races. Ryan Newman has 5 Top-10 starts in the last 6 races. Only 44 cars this week….the Trouble Train is a lonely one for #50-Larry Foyt. He can take solace in the fact he was quicker than all the provisional- seekers, however. The provisional picture looks like this: Michael Waltrip uses his first [actually his third, he also used one at Texas and Richmond ] of the season (and it’s the lone non-charged one this weekend). Jimmy Spencer (Busch’s Best Buddy is Back!!!), Ken Schrader, Kyle Petty, Kevin Lepage, Derrike Cope, and Hermie Sadler all used charged provisionals. Schrader, Petty, Lepage, and Cope (the #49, #45, #4, and #37 cars) join the #43 of Christian Fittipaldi on the OOP list (Out Of Provisionals). With the exception of the #37 of Cope, the aforementioned other four drivers will receive their next provisional at Martinsville in October (race 32). For Cope, he’s only made 18 attempts this season…..his schedule will dictate when he gets another freebie. He’ll receive that one when he attempts his 24th race. Gonna be kind of sad this weekend. Labor Day and Darlington have been together since Johnny Mantz steered his Plymouth around this old joint in 1950. When you look down the list of winners at the Track Too Tough to Tame it reads like a who’s who of our sport. California is nice, but you just don’t build tradition in 7 years….and tradition used to be worth something.( StockCarFans.Com Winston Cup Newsletter )(8-29-2003)
