Newman Qualifies 10th in Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas – Ryan Newman will start 10th for Sunday’s Samsung Mobile 500 Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Driving the No. 39 Army ROTC Chevrolet at the 1.5-mile oval, Newman’s qualifying time and speed in Friday’s time trials were 28.421 seconds at 190.00 miles per hour.

“We made a nice improvement from today’s practice and that is always a good sign,” said Newman, who won last week’s race in Phoenix. “The Army ROTC Chevy made a good lap that got us an important top-10 starting position. It’s important that we build on our momentum and we’ll be working hard tomorrow to get the car dialed in for Sunday. We want to give our Army Strong Soldiers another proud weekend.”

Grabbing the pole was Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, who ripped off a lap of 28.224 at 191.327. Rounding out the top-five in order were: Sam Hornish Jr., Greg Biffle, Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.

Prior to today’s practice session, Newman was a big hit with more than 600 Texas high school students. He was a coach in the Army’s School Challenge — a relay format comprised of three challenges — mission, mental and physical, which stresses the importance of teamwork to be successful. Newman was also a panel member at the Strength for the Future, a unique educational program presented by the U.S. Army.

Sunday’s race will be televised on FOX, beginning with a prerace show at 2 p.m. ET (1 p.m. local)