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Newman smashes record

As expected, the Martinsville Speedway track record fell like a ton of bricks in qualifying on Friday for the Subway 500 at the repaved track

Ryan Newman won his second pole in a row and series-high seventh of the season, circling the unique, 0.526mi track in 19.513sec (97.043mph), beating Tony Stewart's former track mark by more than three-tenths. Stewart set the prior standard of 19.855 in September 2000.

When the smoke cleared, the top 17 qualifiers had beaten the old record, with No. 17 Bobby Labonte coasting in at 19.818. Rusty Wallace was second at 96.234. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had struggled at this track in the past, ran 96.205 for third, serving notice to his championship rivals. Hometown favorite Ward Burton was fourth, and Craftsman Truck champ Travis Kvapil, last-minute plug-in with the Penske group, was a surprising fifth at 96.102, giving Penske cars three of the top five spots.

Points leader Kurt Busch, who runs well here, was seventh, and remaining championship challenger Jeff Gordon was 15th at 95.651.

The trick, of course, was the old course's new pavement, with new asphalt on the straights and new concrete in the corners. The repave was in part a result of recent chunking of the concrete, which cost Gordon a victory here in April and could have become a safety concern.

Perhaps the most significant aspect of the repave was in improving the rough transition from concrete to asphalt in the acceleration zone off the turns. Drivers always had had difficulty in maintaining traction off Turns 2 and 4, where maximum torque is required. The new pavement appears to help greatly with that concern.

"The track, just being so much smoother, allows the cars to grip off the corners as well as the concrete being farther down the straightaway," Newman observed. "It used to be the hardest part of this track was the transition both getting in from the asphalt to the concrete and then as well the concrete to the asphalt on the exit getting the power down. The fresh concrete is definitely grippy on top of the fact that there's more of it."

Track president Clay Campbell noted that the concrete had been given a "burlap drag" treatment intended to improve grip in stages from the low side to the high side, thus, hopefully, creating a second lane through the corners. Veteran Wallace, however, warned that there could be an unintended consequence.

"These are the same tires we had the first race here, and the track is more aggressive," he noted. "Something is going to give. I don't know what it is.

"You did see a ton of [worn] rubber out there. It's all stacked up out there. When the guys tested here I did hear they had a little trouble with that, but I just hope when the Trucks go out and they get through with their race tomorrow they can lay more rubber down and we'll have to negotiate what we're going to negotiate on Sunday.

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