Well, what did you expect? He hadn’t had a pole in a month! Ryan Newman (who else) set a new track record tonight at Lowe’s Motor Speedway as he toured the 1 1/2 mile quad oval in 28.930 seconds (that’s only 186.657 mph) and grabbed the Bud Pole for Saturday Night’s UAW-GM Quality 500. This is pole #8 for Ryan this year (with only 5 more poles available he’s near to closing out the competition for that contingency in ’03) and the 15th of his Winston Cup career. He’ll be joined on the front row by Jeff Gordon. Wonder if they’ll exchange fuel-mileage recipes? Bill Elliott (4th) has his best starting spot since he started 3rd at The Brickyard in August. Tony Stewart (6th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Watkins Glen in August. Todd Bodine (8th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 6th for the Daytona 500. Brian Vickers (20th) makes his first Winston Cup start this weekend. The latest Hendrick phenom will bear watching the rest of this season as he prepares for 2004. STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 6 Top-10 starts in a row. Jimmie Johnson has 5 Top-10 starts in a row. 47 cars on hand….the Trouble Train contains four cars this week. Ken Schrader (for the third time this season), Hermie Sadler, Mark Green (in for Larry Foyt who’s nursing a bruised kidney and will miss next week as well), and Jeff Fultz are the DNQ’s this weekend. Our first time at night here in the fall should translate to good numbers for NBC & NASCAR….and it never hurts to have a “cooler” fan in the stands, either.( Stock Car Fans )(10-9-2003)
