Oh gee! What a suprise! Ryan Newman won a Pole! The broken record (ya’ll remember those big round black things that used to make music? Well, maybe some of you don’t.) that is the mighty Bud Pole Machine inside that #12 Alltel Dodge just keeps on rolling along. Ryan Newman grabbed his 9th pole of 2003 (he’s a clincher for the most in that category) and 16th of his Winston Cup career tonight at Atlanta Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500. Ryan’s time of 28.534 (194.294 mph) was far from a record, but quick none the less. When you figure that’s on a mile & a half oval it’s hold your breath time. Ryan will be joined on the front-row by Bobby Labonte. He gained his best starting spot since he had the pole at Michigan in August. #25-Brian Vickers (4th) is setting the bar pretty high in just his second Cup start. #54-Todd Bodine (7th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 6th in the Daytona 500. #01-Joe Nemechek (8th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 7th at The Brickyard in August. #1-John Andretti (11th) had his best qualifying run since he timed in 11th at The Brickyard in August [in the #81 car]. #37-Derrike Cope (23rd) has his best starting spot since he started 12th at the Daytona 500 in February of 2000! #02-Hermie Sadler (34th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 18th at Michigan in June (only 6 races). STREAKIN….Jimmie Johnson has 6 Top-10 starts in the last 7 races. Bill Elliott has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races. Elliott Sadler has 4 Top-10 starts in the last 5 races. Provisional Land looks like Roushville tonight….3 Roush Fords and one quasi-Roush team. Matt Kenseth, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, Sterling Marlin, Scott Wimmer, Ricky Rudd, and Ken Schrader all took freebies to make the field. I can’t say I’m surprised to see Kenseth back there….at this time of the season you can expect that the motor in that #17 car isn’t gonna be wound too tight with a Championship on the line and only 4 races to go. The Trouble Train included 6 cars tonight….primary among them the #43 of Jeff Green. He was joined out the gate by Buckshot Jones, Larry Foyt, Mike Wallace, Billy Bigley, and Shelby Howard. The #50 car was withdrawn.( StockCarFans.Com Winston Cup Newsletter )(10-24-2003)
