Newman earns pole again

Ryan Newman proved yet again that no one is better at qualifying – no matter what the procedure might be.

Aided by a 13-second pit stop by his crew, Newman sped to the pole Friday night for the Nextel All-Star Challenge at Concord, N.C., edging Mark Martin and teammate Rusty Wallace for the top spot with an average speed of 132.306 mph.

The format included three laps and a pit stop, and although Kasey Kahne had a faster speed on the track, the combination of the quick service from the crew and a smooth entry onto pit road put Newman over the top.

Several drivers had trouble getting slowed down in time, including Tony Stewart, who spun out and wound up 17th out of 20 cars.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Dale Jarrett were penalized 20 seconds for speeding on pit road.

Elliott Sadler was fourth, followed by Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, rookie Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Joe Nemechek and defending All-Star Challenge champ Matt Kenseth.

This was supposed to be the final start in the special event for Martin and Wallace, both planning to retire after the season. But because they remain eligible as former winners, they hinted at coming back for the non-points All-Star race in 2006.

Mike Bliss led qualifying for the Nextel Open, setting a track record with a lap of 189.208 mph. That beat the old mark of 188.877 set last October by Newman. Rookie Kyle Busch was second, followed by Casey Mears, rookie Travis Kvapil and Brian Vickers.

The winner of the Open advances to the All-Star Challenge.

Busch is youngest truck winner

Nextel Cup rookie Kyle Busch became the youngest winner in Craftsman Truck Series history, holding off Terry Cook and Ted Musgrave in a three-lap closing sprint at Lowe’s Motor Speedway at Concord, N.C.

The 20-year-old Busch beat the previous mark set by the late Ricky Hendrick, 21 when he won in 2001.

Johnny Benson finished fourth, with Steve Park, Bill Lester, Dennis Setzer, Brendan Gaughan, Matt Crafton and Ricky Craven rounding out the top 10.

Busy day at Indy track

Drivers hoping to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 were searching for more speed, and those already in the 33-car field worked on making their cars more competitive.

Not Jaques Lazier.

The younger brother of 1996 Indy champion Buddy Lazier stood in front of his speedway garage signing autographs and posing for pictures as the sound of race cars on the nearby track reverberated off the walls.

“Nothing to worry about,” said Lazier, one of three drivers who had four-lap, 10-mile qualifying runs bumped by faster cars on the first day of time trials. “We’re ready.”

While other drivers drove lap after lap on the 2 1/2 -mile oval in the final full day of practice before time trials resume, Lazier went around just 15 times early in the afternoon-long session. His top lap was 218.782 mph.

“I’m actually very happy with the way things are going,” said Lazier, who has raced at Indy four of the last five years with a best finish of 17th.

Under the speedway’s new qualifying format, 11 drivers were to qualify on each of the first three days of time trials, with the fourth day reserved for the possibility of bumping the slowest cars.

Rain washed out the opening day last Saturday, so the speedway had 22 drivers qualify on Sunday. The rest of the qualifying will play out today and Sunday.

Tony Kanaan led 22 qualifiers last Sunday at 227.566 mph. The slowest qualifier was Alex Barron, who came back from being bumped out to re-qualify at 221.053. The other driver bumped last week was Patrick Carpentier, a veteran of open-wheel racing but a rookie at Indianapolis.

Lazier had a qualifying speed of 220.034 bumped out of the top 22, but he expects to go faster than that today.