Ryan Newman will be on the pole for the third time this season in Saturday’s Busch Series Hills Bros. 300 at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. Newman won the pole at 181.886 m.p.h., but that 29.689 second lap was a a bit of a disappointment at first. “I didn’t know if it was going to hold up,” said Newman, a native of South Bend, Ind. “I wasn’t really enthused, but after thinking about it, I thought it was a good lap.”
Newman said the speed of the track changed from the time of his last practice laps and qualifying. Newman will start alongside Jimmy Spencer, who posted a 181.080 m.p.h. lap.
Saturday will be the first race for Newman since he finished fifth June 10 in the Kmart 400 at Michigan Speedway. He used the time off to relax and get some test runs at Joliet.
Newman and rookie Greg Biffle, who finished seventh in qualifying, both drive Fords; all the other cars in the first four rows are Chevrolets.
“I’m happy to start where I am,” said Biffle, who had a 179.904 m.p.h. lap. “I think we’ll have a good run. I’m pretty excited for tomorrow.”
Biffle is battling Kevin Harvick for the Busch Series lead. Biffle is second in the points standings, trailing Harvick by 102 points, 2,751-2,649. Harvick will be in the second row in fourth position Saturday alongside Matt Kenseth.
Biffle has a 105-point lead over Scott Wimmer in the rookie points race.
In this corner: Fans watching the Busch race Saturday should pay special attention as the cars come out of the corners.
“Ninety percent of the passing will be from the corners and down the straightaways,” Biffle said.
Mea culpa: Spencer, who runs in both the Winston Cup and Busch series, is noted for speaking his mind, which he did shortly after Dale Earnhardt Jr. triumphed at last Saturday’s Pepsi 400.
“I heard before the race that Junior was going to win,” he said then, and the statement only fed the conspiracy theories that quickly surrounded that event.
“The way it came out wasn’t the way I intended it to be, and I apologized [to Earnhardt] for what I said,” Spencer said Friday.
What had he intended to say?
“On Friday, you look and pick your favorite, and Junior looked like the favorite to me,” he said. “The key at Daytona is handling, and when you clocked the corner speeds, he was a tenth of a second faster than everyone. . . . But after two years of frustration with restrictor-plate races, it came out that I said it was fixed. That was a mistake on my part.
“You know how you play golf and hit a really bad shot, and then carry it over to your next shot. That was dumb on my part. I probably should have thought it out and said something more appropriate.”
Robinson misses out: Shawna Robinson failed to qualify for her second Winston Cup race. Robinson became the first woman to complete a Winston Cup race since Janet Guthrie in 1980 when she finished 34th at the Kmart 400.
Robinson finished last in Friday’s qualifying for the Tropicana 400. Making it even more difficult for Robinson is that her sponsor is Tropicana, the sponsors for Sunday’s race.
“It wasn’t my time. The hardest part is I know my career would have made huge gains after this race,” Robinson said. “Now this has set me back about 10 steps.”
Sightseeing: Spencer took some time out from practice runs to visit the Magnificent Mile and Wrigley Field.
“I’m not a Cubs fan, [but] I heard a lot about Wrigley Field so I went by when we were testing, and it’s beautiful up there. It’s just gorgeous along Michigan Avenue.”
Looking ahead: Jeff Gordon, who leads the Winston Cup in points, is the only active driver with a realistic chance at this stage to match the record seven titles won by Dale Earnhardt, who died in a crash in February at Daytona. Does that possibility boggle his mind?
“It would if I thought about it,” said Gordon, who already has three championships.
“But all I think about is four. It’s no different from how I approach any race. I think of the next race, the next win and the next championship. I can’t get ahead of myself because you just never know in this business when things can change. ” . . . Especially with this thing with Dale. We all opened our eyes to, `Hey, we need to enjoy life and take advantage of the opportunities we’ve been given.’ Enjoy racing as much as we can, as hectic and as much of a business as it can be. Take joy in what we can, and be pretty thankful that we can go out and do what we do.”
HILLS BROS. 300 LINEUP
Saturday at Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet
1. (02) Ryan Newman, Ford, 181.886 mph
2. (1) Jimmy Spencer, Chevrolet, 181.080
3. (17) Matt Kenseth, Chevrolet, 180.632
4. (2) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 180.421
5. (26) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Chev., 180.108
6. (92) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 180.054
7. (60) Greg Biffle, Ford, 179.904
8. (21) Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, 179.683
9. (10) Jeff Green, Ford, 179.527
10. (37) Kevin Grubb, Chevrolet, 179.372
11. (43) Jay Sauter, Chevrolet, 179.354
12. (7) Randy LaJoie, Chevrolet, 179.188
13. (18) Mike McLaughlin, Pontiac, 178.891
14. (9) Jeff Burton, Ford, 178.832
15. (38) Christian Elder, Ford, 178.784
16. (48) Kenny Wallace, Chevrolet, 178.524
17. (71) Kevin Lepage, Ford, 178.430
18. (33) Tony Raines, Chevrolet, 178.377
19. (74) Chad Little, Chevrolet, 178.065
20. (00) Buckshot Jones, Chev., 178.000
21. (31) Steve Park, Chevrolet, 177.983
22. (11) Ron Hornaday Jr, Chev., 177.322
23. (87) Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 177.113
24. (34) David Green, Chevrolet, 176.736
25. (27) Jamie McMurray, Chev., 176.661
26. (99) Michael Waltrip, Chev., 176.424
27. (4) Mike Wallace, Chevrolet, 176.350
28. (23) Scott Wimmer, Pontiac, 176.131
29. (36) Hank Parker Jr., Chevrolet, 175.907
30. (66) Geoffrey Bodine, Chev., 175.735
31. (57) Jason Keller, Ford, 175.724
32. (94) Derrike Cope, Chevrolet, 175.416
33. (14) Larry Foyt, Chevrolet, 175.052
34. (95) Steadman Marlin, Ford, 174.921
35. (32) Dan Pardus, Chevrolet, 174.853
36. (46) Ashton Lewis Jr., Chev., 174.820
37. (98) Elton Sawyer, Ford, provisional
38. (59) Rich Bickle, Chevrolet, provisional
39. (63) Shane Hall, Ford, provisional
40. (25) David Donohue, Chev., provisional
41. (77) Mark Green, Ford, provisional
42. (49) Robby Faggart, Ford, provisional
43. (54) Kelly Denton, Chev., provisional
FAILED TO QUALIFY
44. (44) Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 172.728
45. (40) Rich Woodland, Pontiac, 170.358
