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Ryan Newman takes sixth Loudon NASCAR Sprint Cup pole after interrupted qualifying

Ryan Newman claimed pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase round at New Hampshire, following a rain-interrupted qualifying session

The Stewart Haas Racing driver made it two-for-two on pole positions at the one-mile oval, where he won in July after setting the pace in qualifying. His sixth career pole at Loudon comes only four days after his team-mate Tony Stewart won for the first time this season in a rain-delayed race at Chicagoland Speedway.

Newman had been fastest in practice earlier and thus had to run last in the order, which usually gives cooler track temperatures and slightly more grip in the afternoon. However right before the last few cars completed their runs, rain made for an unusual turn of events.

Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya, fifth earlier in practice, was put on hold by officials before being given clearance to hit the track due to the rain picking up. When asked to go a first time he refused to do so, as there was drizzle that then led officials to send the jet dryers out.

Nearly 50 minutes later the track was declared dry but Montoya struggled for grip as the first car out and ranked way down in the leaderboard. Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson was next, but he aborted his run before taking the green flag, after having a feel for the conditions.

Officials took a further look at the track and nearly five minutes later Johnson went for his run, running among the top-10 fastest. His Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jeff Gordon ran even faster after him, as did Red Bull's Kasey Kahne, but then Newman put the hammer down with the fastest lap of the session, running only a few hundredths of a second off the track record he set earlier this year.

"It was a little dramatic," said Newman. "You've got to look at what the #48 [Johnson] did. It was raining when he went out, so it's a tough situation, it's a tough call. NASCAR, I thought, did a good job monitoring the situation with us drivers.

"This is the same car we had here in July. We've got a good starting spot but don't know what's going to happen tomorrow with the weather. I feel like we've got a good race car, we just need to keep our nose clean."

Six out of the 12 Chase drivers took top 10 starting positions, Penske's Kurt Busch ended up fifth after holding on to provisional pole for a long time after struggling earlier in practice. Chase leader Kevin Harvick secured his best starting spot of the season with sixth ahead of Gordon and Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch, while Johnson ended up 10th.

Chicagoland winner Tony Stewart was 20th fastest, Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards struggled most of the day and was 23rd, while Denny Hamlin's bad streak continued after running slowest among the title contenders. He will start from row 14 on Sunday beside fellow Chaser Matt Kenseth.

JJ Yeley was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 32nd, while Steve Park and TJ Bell failed to make the field.

Two further practice sessions are scheduled for Saturday, although the weather forecasts show a high chance of rain in the morning at Loudon.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                      Time     Gap
 1.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet        28.213s
 2.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota               28.263s  + 0.050s
 3.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota               28.287s  + 0.074s
 4.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford             28.300s  + 0.087s
 5.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                  28.343s  + 0.130s
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet           28.349s  + 0.136s
 7.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet            28.390s  + 0.177s
 8.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                  28.393s  + 0.180s
 9.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                28.393s  + 0.180s
10.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet            28.408s  + 0.195s
11.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet           28.412s  + 0.199s
12.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet            28.428s  + 0.215s
13.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                    28.462s  + 0.249s
14.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet           28.463s  + 0.250s
15.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota          28.468s  + 0.255s
16.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                  28.473s  + 0.260s
17.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet       28.476s  + 0.263s
18.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet           28.510s  + 0.297s
19.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota                28.515s  + 0.302s
20.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet        28.542s  + 0.329s
21.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet            28.561s  + 0.348s
22.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet             28.585s  + 0.372s
23.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford             28.594s  + 0.381s
24.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                  28.613s  + 0.400s
25.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet   28.658s  + 0.445s
26.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford             28.660s  + 0.447s
27.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford             28.710s  + 0.497s
28.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                  28.726s  + 0.513s
29.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                    28.730s  + 0.517s
30.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet             28.761s  + 0.548s
31.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet   28.804s  + 0.591s
32.  JJ Yeley            Front Row Ford                28.808s  + 0.595s
33.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                28.844s  + 0.631s
34.  David Stremme       Inception Chevrolet           28.886s  + 0.673s
35.  Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                     28.899s  + 0.686s
36.  Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge                  28.997s  + 0.784s
37.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota                29.010s  + 0.797s
38.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford                29.062s  + 0.849s
39.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                  29.112s  + 0.899s
40.  Mike Bliss          FAS Lane Ford                 29.161s  + 0.948s
41.  Josh Wise           Max Q Ford                    29.175s  + 0.962s
42.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                 29.575s  + 1.362s
43.  Scott Speed         Whitney Ford                  29.230s  + 1.017s

Did not qualify:

     Steve Park          Baldwin Chevrolet             29.664s  + 1.451s
     TJ Bell             LTD Chevrolet                 29.877s  + 1.664s

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