Sports: Newman, Elliott top qualifying

Motorsports

Newman, Elliott top qualifying

By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer

HAMPTON, Ga. -- NASCAR's new speed demon and its old speed merchant will share the front row for Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Ryan Newman earned the pole; Bill Elliott was second.

Newman, who has four poles in the past nine races and eight in 48 career Winston Cup starts, lapped the 1.54-mile oval in 191.417 mph in the No. 12 Dodge. He nipped Elliott's No. 9 Dodge by .028 seconds to reverse the order of the top two a year ago.

Atlanta is one of NASCAR's fastest tracks, and most drivers shut it down after the first of two possible qualifying laps. Newman and Elliott each turned two.

"It's tense," said Newman, 25, the 2002 Rookie of the Year. "but if you're going to put a lap down you have to be on edge. That's part of it. It's fun to go around here and drive that fast, but when something goes wrong you know you're going to hit hard."

Elliott, 47, a local favorite from nearby Dawsonville, Ga., holds the record for NASCAR's fastest lap at 212.809 mph at Talladega Superspeedway in 1987, before the use of restrictor plates. He also won the pole at Texas Motor Speedway last season at 194.224 mph, the fastest lap of the season.

"I've always liked going fast," said Elliott, who leads active drivers with five AMS poles. "it suits my driving style, I guess. As long as you can keep it between the ditches, you've had a good afternoon."

Elliott Sadler was third in a Ford, five-time AMS winner Bobby Labonte fourth in a Chevrolet. In addition to the all-Dodge front row, there were three more Intrepids among the top 10.

"When you go into Turn1, you feel like you're going from a five-story building all the way down to the ground floor," said Sadler, whose best start in eight AMS races is 15th. "You just kind of hold your breath for one lap. ... One lap here is enough for me."

WHERE'S JUNIOR?: Two of three Dale Earnhardt Inc. cars qualified among the top 15. Michael Waltrip was sixth, Steve Park 15th and Dale Earnhardt Jr. the odd man out. He will start 37th.

"We were just a few inches from a backup car, so I'm pretty glad we've still got the car in one piece," said Earnhardt, who said his No. 8 Chevrolet was extremely loose. "We just tried some stuff that didn't work."

WHEW: One week after failing to qualify at Las Vegas, Greg Biffle was the fastest rookie. He will start 20th in the No. 16 Ford, second among the five Roush Racing entries.

"Our Vegas car was not as fast as it needed to be," Biffle said. "It was not any good in the wind tunnel and not any good on the racetrack. We paid the price for being behind, but we're starting to get caught up."

All six rookie-of-the-year candidates made the 43-car field. Larry Foyt and Jack Sprague used provisionals.

ARCA: Morning rain washed out qualifying for today's race. The field was set according to 2002 owner points, which put series champion Frank Kimmel on the pole.

PIT STOPS: Seventeen-year Winston Cup veteran Brett Bodine qualified for his first race of 2003. The owner-driver failed to make the Daytona 500 and did not attempt Rockingham or Las Vegas. ... Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Jeff Fultz failed to qualify.