Qualifying: Newman does it again

Ryan Newman won his fourth pole of the year in qualifying for this weekend's NASCAR Winston Cup race at the Dover Downs oval

May 31, 2003, 8:40 AM

The Penske South driver, whose name is becoming a synonym for one-lap speed, zipped around the one-mile concrete oval in 22.682s to earn his second pole in a row. Newman led all NASCAR drivers with six poles last year, a mark he looks likely to blitz this season.

"We unloaded off the truck really fast," said Newman. "The guys did a good job preparing the race car. We pretty much left it the same the entire practice."

Starting alongside Newman will be his Panek team-mate Rusty Wallace, who continues his weekly mission to end a career-longest losing streak that now stretches for 74 races.

"Every race I go to I think it's the race," said Wallace. "We ran great last week, and we ran great the week before. The cars are absolutely not lacking in performance."

Jeremy Mayfield qualified third, ahead of points leader Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson, who won the last round of the series at Charlotte.