Motorsports Notebook: Ryan Newman sets track record in New Hampshire qualifying

LOUDON, N.H. - Winning the pole position for the Sylvania 300 gave Ryan Newman the perfect pulpit to make a little fun of NASCAR on Friday afternoon.

Less than a week after the sanctioning body said it would penalize teams for not trying hard enough, Newman broke the track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway by "giving it 100 percent on both laps."

Newman's lap of 136.497 mph was the 16th track record for the new Generation 6 race car.

"I was more focused on being as good as I could be on both laps," Newman said.

Newman will leave Stewart-Haas Racing at the end of the season and move over to Richard Childress Racing in 2014. Before then, however, he's the only driver on his current team in contention to win the Chase for the Championship.

Newman has three career victories at the one-mile oval, and two of them started from the pole.

Kasey Kahne qualified second at 136.082 mph. Jeff Gordon was third, and Kurt Busch was fourth. The top four drivers all were in Chevrolets.

Martin Truex Jr. will start Sunday's race from fifth, followed by Joey Logano in sixth, Paul Menard in seventh, Kevin Harvick in eighth, Matt Kenseth in ninth and Greg Biffle.

Waltrip sticks by story

Given the opportunity to possibly come clean with why Clint Bowyer spun out with seven laps remaining at Richmond International Raceway two weeks ago, team owner Michael Waltrip continued to say the accident wasn't intentional.

While few at New Hampshire Motor Speedway believe the story, Waltrip tried to defend his three-car team Friday morning after longtime sponsor NAPA announced Thursday it was voiding its contract because it "believes in fair play."

NAPA left Michael Waltrip Racing after its driver, Truex, was penalized 50 points after Richmond when NASCAR determined team president Ty Norris ordered the other two team cars to pit road at the end of the race to help Truex gain spots to move into the Chase for the Championship.

Bowyer also got a lot of scrutiny when crew chief Brian Pattie told his driver to scratch some poison ivy with seven laps to go. Seconds later, Bowyer spun out while running by himself.

Newman was leading the race, but he was shuffled back to a third-place finish in the restart.

Those two spots not only solidified Newman's drop from the Chase, it also kept Gordon from the playoffs.

Last week at Chicagoland, NASCAR created a 13th playoff spot for Gordon after hearing radio traffic between two other teams to manipulate the outcome at Richmond.

Bowyer and Waltrip have steadfastly insisted the spin was innocent, although it clearly had a dramatic effect on the playoffs.

"There was no master plan to manipulate the race," Waltrip said. "What do you want, my arm?"

Waltrip also said he's told Truex he's free to find a new ride for next year if he doesn't want to return to the No. 56 Toyota next year.

"We asked if we could have a little bit of time to figure this out, and he [Truex] agreed to that," Waltrip said. "If he came to me tomorrow and said, 'I've got a deal to go do something,' then obviously I would not hold him back. His support and loyalty to our organization has been amazing."