News

TALLADEGA, Ala.  (Oct. 4, 2008) - Ryan Newman, driver of the Penske Racing No.12 Alltel Dodge Charger, qualified 24th today for the AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Newman turned a quick lap of 185.945 miles per hour (51.499 seconds) at the 2.66-mile track. Travis Kvapil, driver of the No. 28 Academy Sports and Outdoors Ford qualified on the pole with a fast lap of 187.354 miles per hour (51.109 seconds).

"It was an uneventful lap for us, but it was about what I expected out of the car in qualifying compared to where we were yesterday," Newman said. "We wanted to go out there and get a good temperature reading for our teammates and help them out with their qualifying runs - just kind of returning the favor for them that they have done for us in the past.

"The Alltel Dodge doesn't feel super strong, but I think we have a fairly good car for tomorrow. We have had really good cars at the superspeedways this season - we won the Daytona 500, had a solid car at Talladega in the spring and had a great car at Daytona in July before we got caught up in a wreck. You can't predict how the race will go, but I am looking forward to it."

In 13 previous starts at Talladega, Newman has three top-five and six top-10 finishes. Newman, who scored Penske Racing's first superspeedway victory in the season-opening Daytona 500 in February, also has three consecutive top 10s at the Alabama speedway. Newman is currently 15th in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.

Live coverage of the AMP Energy 500 begins on the ABC television network on Sunday, October 5 p.m. EDT. The race can also be heard on the MRN Radio Network at 1:15 p.m.

DRIVER: Ryan Newman
STARTING POSITION: 24

POLE: Travis Kvapil

PENSKE RACING TEAMMATES
34. Kurt Busch
DNQ. Sam Hornish Jr.