Newman claims pole at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE - Ryan Newman edged Jeff Gordon in qualifying for tomorrow's Tums Fast Relief 500, turning a lap of 96.795 mph yesterday to secure the pole position as the second half of NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup gets under way.

"It's the place to be, no doubt, and it's the place to finish," said Newman, who is eighth in the championship points standings through the first five Chase races. "Obviously, that's what we want."

Three-time defending Sprint Cup champion and points leader Jimmie Johnson qualified 15th.

"It'll hurt us on pit road for sure," Johnson said, "but I really think that the way the car's going to be and how well I can work traffic here, that it shouldn't be too big of a problem."

The pole is Newman's second of the season and 45th of his career.

Gordon finished second with a fast lap of 96.519 mph, clinching his 22nd top-10 start of 2009. He will start alongside Newman's U.S. Army Chevrolet on the first row tomorrow.

Martin Truex Jr. placed third, followed by Mark Martin, David Reutimann and Casey Mears. Joey Logano, who finished seventh, was the fastest-qualifying rookie. Bobby Labonte, Reed Sorenson and Kevin Harvick round out the top 10.

Only four of the 12 Chase drivers qualified ahead of Johnson.

"Any time that we can put a gap in between us, as well as the pit selection, then that's a step in the right direction for us," Gordon said about Johnson starting 15th. "We're going to take anything good that comes our way and try to take advantage of it."

Pole-winner's season turned at Martinsville

Ryan Newman, who qualified for the pole, believes that the spring race at Martinsville Speedway was a turning point for Stewart-Haas Racing.

"This was the place that to me was a turning point for our organization, getting the two cars good finishing positions and showing what we were capable of to everybody," Newman said. Tony Stewart finished third and Newman finished sixth in the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 on March 29. Newman has yet to win a race this season. Stewart has four victories to his credit in 2009.

The rain delay created an abbreviated practice session. Three-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson spent little time in practice working on his team's setup and qualified 15th. Stewart did not do a qualifying run in practice.

They were not alone as teams scrambled to do the best they could. Martin Truex Jr., who qualified third, said "we did one qualifying run right there at the end and it wasn't really good so we just took a shot in the dark for qualifying and it worked good."

This is the first qualifying session where there are only three Chase drivers in the top 12 on the starting grid. Newman, eighth in the standings, earned the pole. Jeff Gordon, third in the standings, qualified for the second spot. Mark Martin, second in the standings, starts fourth tomorrow. The next highest starting spot for a Chase driver is 13th, where Stewart will begin.

Martinsville has been kind to Hamlin

Denny Hamlin has seen a string of success at Martinsville, earning a win and three top-five finishes in the past three races, including a runner-up finish in March.

Hamlin earned his first points-race in a Camry here in March 2008, which was also his first Cup win in his home state. Hamlin is a former Chesterfield resident. Hamlin earned his second Sprint Cup win in Virginia at Richmond in September.

Small track seems strange to Montoya

Martinsville Speedway, weird? Juan Pablo Montoya thinks so. "It's a very different racetrack. It's really, really slow," he said. "It's kind of weird." At 0.526 miles around, the paper clip-shaped oval is the smallest track on the Sprint Cup circuit.

Montoya, who is sixth in the Chase standings after wrecking last week at Charlotte, N.C., and finishing 35th, has one top-10 finish in five races at Martinsville and hasn't won a race since 2007. "I think we're way overdue," he said, "but as I say that, it could take a year before I win . . . so I don't know."

Jason Wolf writes for the