Ryan Newman Starts 38th at Charlotte on Sunday
May 22, 2008
CONCORD, N.C. (May 22, 2008) - Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, qualified 38th for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Newman posted a lap of 181.867 miles per hour (29.747 seconds). Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, took the pole with a quick lap of 185.433 miles per hour (29.121 seconds).
"We had an ok car in practice - we were eighth pretty much all day - but we missed it tonight in qualifying," Newman said "We changed some things hoping that we would go faster, and we changed the wrong things.
"Hopefully, we'll have some good practices here on Saturday, and we'll have a good enough car that we can pass a lot of cars that we're starting behind on Sunday. It's a long race. We will have our work cut out for us."
On Sunday, Newman will try to capture his first victory at Lowe's Motor Speedway in the season's longest race. Newman has five top-10s in 14 starts at the 1.5-mile quad-oval.
Newman is currently 13th in the NASCAR Cup Series points standings, just two points shy of the coveted top 12, who will compete for the Series championship.
Coverage of the Coca-Cola 600 begins on the FOX television network on Sunday, May 25 at 5 p.m. EDT. The race can also be heard on the PRN at 5:30 p.m. EDT.
DRIVER: Ryan Newman
STARTING POSITION: 38th
POLE: Kyle Busch
PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES
8. Kurt Busch
20. Sam Hornish Jr.