Newman bounced back Thursday with his 43rd career pole

Winning poles never gets old for Ryan Newman, NASCAR's Rocketman.

Still smarting from the indignity of being penalized 25 points after his fourth-place car was found to be an eighth of an inch too high after last Sunday's race at Texas.

The Daytona 500 winner will start Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 500 from the front, a solid chance to get back to Victory Lane.

Newman, who drives for Penske Racing, has won at least one pole in each of his eight seasons in NASCAR and moved into a tie with NASCAR pioneer Buck Baker for 10th on the career qualifying list.

Asked if the thrill of winning poles has lessened over the years, Newman, whose last pole came at Charlotte last October, shook his head and said, `No. It's been a while for me.

"I was really happy. I was as happy after practice as I am now because it's been a while since, even in practice, we were P1 (position one). We've won some poles but we hadn't been P1 in practice. To be P1 in practice and then back it up in qualifying, that shows consistency and I that's a good thing for the race this weekend."

Newman's fast lap on the mile Phoenix oval was 133.457 mph, just 0.045 faster than runner-up Elliott Sadler's 133.412.

"I thought it was a good lap, a bit conservative, but a good lap," Newman said. "Obviously, it wasn't too conservative because it was good enough. I think we've got a good car. It's been a while since we've had a car this good around this racetrack."

Being docked 25 points dropped Newman from eighth to 10th in the standings, but he said that he and the No. 12 Dodge team have put it behind them.

"We learn from our mistakes," he said. "You have to think positive and go forward.

"You never make up points that you lost, but you can make the effort, obviously, to put yourself in position so those points didn't matter," Newman added. "Obviously, we're trying to do that."


Mo: Yeah I saw him won at Michigan International Speedway in 2003
Good Luck Ryan at PIR on Saturday!

#12 team gets 25-point deduction

Ryan Newman and crew chief Roy McCauley got hit by NASCAR with penalties yesterday for their Dodge being too high on the right-rear quarterpanel in post-race inspection after they finished fourth in the Texas Samsung 500.

The sanctions: a $25,000 fine, fairly standard these days; a 25-point deduction, relatively light, all things considered; and McCauley will be on probation the rest of the season, but he got no suspension.

25 point seem not much but it's does hurt drop points
The penalty dropped Newman from eighth to 10th in the Sprint Cup standings.

This Be Dale Jr's Weekend?

Dale Earnhardt Junior and his huge loyal fan base are smiling after Friday's performance at Texas Motor Speedway. Earnhardt Jr. captured the pole for Sunday' Samsung 500.

Junior posted a lap at 190.907 mph to earn his 8th career top spot for a cup race.

The Driver of the #88 car hopes to snap his current winless streak. Junior's last victory was in May of 2006 in Richmond, Virginia.


WOW!
McDowell after his horrifying crash during qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway. He is okay without being hurt. Im sure He will be very sore today!

Quietly, Earnhardt Jr. is living up to all the hype

No wins, but five top-10s have No. 88 firmly in top 12



Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick are surging, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are regrouping, the bunch at Roush Fenway Racing is on its feet again after starting so unsteadily last year. A new car and an old tire are struggling to adapt to one another, familiar faces risk missing races, and a kid from Las Vegas is proving he can win in almost any vehicle on four wheels. Eclipsed by all these dominant storylines from the first few months of the 2008 season, NASCAR's most popular driver goes quietly about his business, each week continuing to live up to the hype.

Last Sunday at Martinsville Speedway brought an under-the-radar sixth-place finish, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s fifth result of ninth or better in six Sprint Cup starts this year. Everybody's waiting for the end of that now 68-race-long winless streak, which dates back to Junior's last victory at Richmond International Raceway almost two years ago. That will come, eventually. Right now, he's doing the less glamorous but absolutely necessary under-the-basket dirty work of getting himself in contention for the championship, churning out top-10 after top-10 to solidify his place in the Chase.

"The wins will come," Earnhardt said after the Martinsville race. "We just have to be patient and be happy and mindful about the points we are getting in this stretch. We have a little bit of a period in the summer where we go to tracks that we are off and on, hot and cold at. We need to get a good base of points built up as early as we can, in case we have any kind of struggles in mid-season, so we're just trying to be guarded and smart."