Newman On Pole at Darlington in South Carolina 200

DARLINGTON, S.C., (Aug. 31, 2001) - Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 02 Alltel Ford for Penske Racing, licked the competition on Friday, claiming the pole for Saturday's South Carolina 200 NASCAR Busch Series race at Darlington Raceway. The South Bend, Ind., native blew away the competition turning a lap of 29.056 seconds, 169.246 mph.

The next closest competitor on the speed chart was Winston Cup veteran Mike Skinner, who turned a lap of 166.163 mph in the No. 21 Rockwell Automation Chevrolet. Rounding out the top five at the "Track Too Tough Tame" was Jason Keller (166.096), Saluda, S.C. native Lyndon Amick (166.029) and 2000 Busch Series champion Jeff Green (165.855). Current Busch Series points leader Kevin Harvick qualified the No. 2 ACDelco Chevrolet in the 14th position.

"Just an awesome lap," said Newman, who was the pole winner of this spring's SunCom 200 Busch Series race at Darlington. "You get everything you can out of that one lap with those tires that they go away so fast. Just hats off to my team. I couldn't do it all without them. It's all their work that goes into my one lap."

Said Skinner: "Several cars there were really close, and then Ryan came along and embarrassed all of us. I guess we were best in class?"

Newman, who has now claimed four Busch Series poles this year, and the rest of the 43-car field now turn their attention to Saturday's South Carolina 200, which goes green at 1 p.m. According to Newman, the key for every driver will be managing their Goodyear tires.

"One lap around this place when you've got great tires from Goodyear is not bad, but when the tires start to fall off, and you get the traffic and things like that and try to pass lapped cars, it makes it a lot more difficult," said Newman, who'll move to a full time schedule in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in 2002. "This place is definitely tough, I'll give it that."

For tickets and more information, call the Raceway ticket office at (843) 395-8499.