Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

The pole sitter

Ryan Newman set a blistering lap of 189.394 miles an hour, knocking Jimmy Johnson off the pole who will now start second with a speed of 188.990 M.P.H. Newman Said that he had an advantage by knowing what Jimmy Johnson ran before he went out. Newman said “When I dove off turn four I felt that I had beat Jimmy’s time. You can really feel it here at Lowes, Your going fast enough here that you can feel the speed. I can’t exactly repeat what I said coming off of turn four, but it was all positive.” That is the fifth pole for the Alltell Dodge this season and Ryan’s 42nd of his Nascar career. I’m sure the Ryan Newman fans would be a lot happier if he would turn those poles into wins though. Newman has not won a race in the past 75 races. His last win was in September of 2005.

RACING AT NIGHT

Racing at night has always been one of my favorite things to watch. It is where the vast majority of these drivers got their teeth cut in racing. Good ole Saturday night racing at the local “bullring”. When you step it up to the Nascar level, the production value goes up markedly. One thing you will notice if you have not witnessed a night Nascar race, the paint jobs on the cars are much brighter and bolder. Sponsor decals and logo’s are intentionally designed with the speedway lights in mind. There will probably be some “one off ” paint schemes Saturday night also. Some that will only run on a car one time as to create a feeding frenzy in the die cast model car collectors circles.       

WHO’S IN AND WHO ISN’T

Some notables in the race are Ward Burton, Michael Waltrip, David Reutimann, Bill Elliot, and A.J. Allmendinger. Its good to see Bill Elliot in the race along with the young newcomer A.J. Allmendinger. A.J. is a bit of a wild child and I sorta took to him when I heard him on Sirius Radio’s Sirius Speedway.

Others not making the race include, once again, Dale Jarrett. I may not make a lot of friends here but I don’t think that the car is the problem here. I think that its just time for Dale Jarrett to hang up the helmet. I would venture a guess that if you put David Reutimann in the same car that Jarrett failed to qualify in, Reutimann would put it in the show.

Here is how they will line up Saturday night.
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 189.394 28.512 Leader
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 188.990 28.573 -0.061
3 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios Racing / Pink for the Cure 188.363 28.668 -0.156
4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 188.298 28.678 -0.166
5 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Mopar / Dodge Dealers / UAW 188.088 28.710 -0.198
6 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 188.075 28.712 -0.200
7 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Carhartt for Women 188.016 28.721 -0.209
8 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 187.898 28.739 -0.227
9 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 187.852 28.746 -0.234
10 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 187.585 28.787 -0.275
11 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Kinko’s 187.402 28.815 -0.303
12 01 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 187.214 28.844 -0.332
13 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Kellogg’s / CARQUEST 187.188 28.848 -0.336
14 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Stanley Tools / Valvoline 187.078 28.865 -0.353
15 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet Lucas Oil / State Water Heaters 186.916 28.890 -0.378
16 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 186.883 28.895 -0.383
17 15 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Rain-X / Menards 186.883 28.895 -0.383
18 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 186.819 28.905 -0.393
19 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 186.761 28.914 -0.402
20 00 David Reutimann* Toyota Dominos.com 186.748 28.916 -0.404
21 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M’s / Susan G Komen for the Cure 186.703 28.923 -0.411
22 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 186.516 28.952 -0.440
23 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Yellow Trans. 186.477 28.958 -0.446
24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 186.419 28.967 -0.455
25 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 186.374 28.974 -0.462
26 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Fujifilm 186.322 28.982 -0.470
27 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 186.149 29.009 -0.497
28 40 David Stremme Dodge Target 186.034 29.027 -0.515
29 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 185.842 29.057 -0.545
30 84 A.J. Allmendinger* Toyota Red Bull 185.733 29.074 -0.562
31 6 David Ragan* Ford AAA 185.701 29.079 -0.567
32 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 185.637 29.089 -0.577
33 88 Ricky Rudd Ford Snickers 185.490 29.112 -0.600
34 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar /
CatUsed.com 185.452 29.118 -0.606
35 21 Bill Elliott Ford Heinz / Ore-Ida 185.433 29.121 -0.609
36 42 Juan Montoya* Dodge Texaco / Havoline 185.427 29.122 -0.610
37 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Best Buy 184.887 29.207 -0.695
38 36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 360 OTC 184.672 29.241 -0.729
39 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 184.628 29.248 -0.736
40 7 Robby Gordon Ford Motorola Digital Audio Players 184.559 29.259 -0.747
41 96 Tony Raines+ Chevrolet DLP HDTV 183.874 29.368 -0.856
42 45 Kyle Petty+ Dodge Tire Kingdom 183.617 29.409 -0.897
43 49 John Andretti Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 184.508 29.267 -0.755

Television coverage begins at 7 P.M. Saturday night on ABC. I will Be back here Sunday to talk about the race and how I think this chase is going to play out. Until then stay safe out there and thank you for what you do.