Newman Qualifies 18th in New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. — Ryan Newman will start 18th in Sunday’s Sylvania 300, the opening round of the 10-race Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

In Friday’s qualifying session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Newman’s No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS covered the 1.058-mile oval in 29.024 seconds at 131.229 miles per hour.

“That was not the lap we were looking for,” said Newman, one of the 12 Chase drivers. “The car got a little free and that cost us valuable time. The good news for the Army/Haas Automation team is that we were strong in race trim in today’s practice and we’ll have a couple of more practice sessions tomorrow to get the car dialed-in for Sunday.”

Newman added, “I’m just so proud of the team for working so hard to get to this point and give us an opportunity with the U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet to go for a championship. I’m just going to do my best with each and every lap. I look forward to the opportunity.”

Newman’s teammate, Tony Stewart, qualified second.

The pole winner was Juan Pablo Montoya (133.431 mph). Rounding out the top-five in order were: Stewart, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards.

Sunday’s race will be televised on ABC, beginning with a prerace show at 1 p.m. ET.

Newman will be competing in Saturday’s NASCAR Whelen Modified Touring Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.