Johnson takes Coca-Cola pole

CONCORD, N.C. — Everyone was waiting on Jimmie Johnson.

For good reason.

Johnson has owned Lowe’s Motor Speedway in his short Nextel Cup career, and even has that company’s logo on the side of his Chevy. Ryan Newman had held the pole for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, but Johnson was the last driver to try and qualify. The 28-year-old swiped it away.

Johnson lapped the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 28.869 seconds at 187.052 mph. Newman will start alongside Johnson on Sunday evening, with Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler on Row 2.

Johnson won The Winston All-Star event and the Coca-Cola 600 in consecutive weeks here last year, and has won the pole position for the 600 the past three years. In 2002, he won the first two segments of The Winston but lost to Newman. Johnson was considered a favorite for last week’s all-star race, but an accident knocked him out.

Likes the track

“This track, there’s something about it I like,” he said. “We’ve got the right package. We felt like we were on track and were able to back it up. The way I got through 1 and 2, I knew the car was pretty hooked up. When I knew we pulled the last position, my confidence skyrocketed.

“I don’t think it’s more important to run better here than anywhere else, but there is plenty of hype here, and that certainly does make it worthwhile.”

Many drivers have complained about race practice being held in the heat of the day even though the race will be run near sunset. Newman was forced to qualify fourth, with the sun still above the track, after pulling the number randomly. That didn’t seem to faze him.

Newman, who held the track record of 28.930 seconds in an ARCA car in 2003, blew past that in his Dodge by running a 28.885 at 186.948 mph. Forty-seven other drivers tried to knock Newman off the pole, but only the last one did.

“We were second in practice, so I guess that’s our number of the day,” said Newman, who has claimed three pole positions this season and enters the race sixth in the Nextel Cup Series points race. “Jimmie had a great draw. I knew we were hurting, but it was a good effort and a good starting spot.”

Said Johnson: “There definitely was an advantage to going out late.”

Gordon content

Gordon, who won his first Winston Cup race here 10 years ago this weekend, was happy with his trips around the track Thursday. Gordon has won two of the past three Nextel Cup races, and his best trip around the track put him second behind Newman, temporarily. Gordon was the 14th driver around the track and knew Johnson was still waiting to run. Gordon could only hope his start on the front line stood up.

It didn’t.

“Jimmie knows how to get around this track very well. He’s very aggressive, and crew chief Chad Knaus is aggressive on the set-up. Those two combinations can make for a fast race car at a place like this.”