Full Throttle

“Rocket” Ryan Newman captured another pole, this one for Sunday’s Samsung/Radio Shack 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The No.12 Alltel Dodge circled the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 28.040 seconds (192.582 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Newman’s third of the season and 30th of his 123-race Cup career. His percentage of poles to starts (24.39%) is the best in NASCAR history for any full-time driver. Newman has started every race in 2005 from a top-10 starting position.

“The track has lost a great deal of grip (since morning practice),” said Newman. “But it was a great run for our Alltel Dodge. We unloaded here good and tested here good. We look forward to the rest of the weekend.”

Starting on the front row with Newman will be Jeremy Mayfield who posted a second-best time of 28.062 seconds.

Interestingly, the race has never been won from a driver starting in the first row. Elliott Sadler won last year’s event starting 19th on the grid. He beat Kasey Kahne to the checkered flag by 0.028 seconds.

Kahne and Ricky Rudd will start in row two. Rudd continues to reset the record book each week and will make his 759th consecutive start. It is also a milestone for Dale Jarrett who will make his 350 consecutive start.

Jeff Gordon will start seventh and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start a much improved 11th. Gordon has never won at TMS, but has earned four straight top- five finishes. It is one of only four tracks (Chicagoland, Homestead and Phoenix are the others) where the four-time champion has never visited Victory Lane.

Gordon’s teammate Jimmie Johnson qualified 18th quickest. He continues to show the way in the championship and leads the series by 160 points over Greg Biffle. The No.48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet has scored five wins among his 12 consecutive top-10s dating back to October 2004.

And speaking of consecutive streaks, Tony Stewart has been in the top-10 points for 51 straight weeks (since September 2003). The No.20 Home Depot Chevrolet driver, who was dominant at Martinsville until a broken wheel cost him the race, will begin in the 10th position.

There have been no repeat winners at TMS, however owner Jack Roush has collected three wins (1997 - Jeff Burton, 1998 - Mark Martin, 2002 - Matt Kenseth).