Newman backs up Bud Pole in Happy Hour

LOUDON, N.H. -- As far as Ryan Newman is concerned, his string of second place finishes can end Sunday in the New Hampshire 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway.

	Greg Biffle paced Happy Hour. Credit: Autostock

Newman, who won his third Bud Pole Award of the season Friday on the 1.058-mile oval, has already finished second five times in his career -- in only 34 starts. Although journeyman driver James Hylton holds the unofficial NASCAR record for second place finishes before his first win, with 12 from the late 1960s until he broke his bubble in March 1970.

Stewart has finished second in his last two races, at Darlington and Richmond, and was among the fastest drivers in a pair of 45-minute practice sessions Saturday morning. There were no accidents in practice.

"I hope it (first win) comes Sunday because that's a record I'm not shooting for," Newman said. "We'll just keep doing the best job that we can, like we've been doing all season, and it's got us some good races and some good runs.

"We're waiting for it to happen and we're working hard to make it happen. We haven't changed anything. We've been knocking on the door, but it's tough. The thing that's important is we've been doing a good job as a team and hopefully sometime in the near future we'll get that first win."

New Hampshire 300  •  Lineup  •  1st Practice Speeds  •  2nd Practice Speeds  •  Happy Hour Speeds

Newman, who was fastest by a wide margin in Friday's first practice in his No. 12 ALLTEL Ford, was second best in Saturday's first session, behind Ward Burton's No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge. In the later practice, led by surprising Greg Biffle's No. 55 Schneider Chevrolet, he was sixth.

"We're really happy with it -- especially qualifying up front and starting fourth," Biffle said. "I think I can stay up in the top-10 now.

"Track position is going to be critical. These cars are real aero-sensitive. When you get behind cars it's hard to pass. I got behind Mark Martin in practice and could hardly keep up with him. And then he moved over and just let me go and I was three-tenths of a second faster. It's really hard to pass so track position is going to be important."

One of the biggest issues, in addition to expected rain on Sunday, is a pair of NASCAR Touring Division races that were held Saturday afternoon. The Busch North and Featherlite Modified cars run on bias ply tires, which don't mingle well with the Goodyear radial tires used in Winston Cup.

"The car is gonna struggle early on -- the first five or six laps of the race when the track is cold," Rubbermaid Ford driver Kurt Busch said. "Hopefully, we can keep our car in one piece and we roll from there."

Busch was fourth best in the final practice and had a top-10 finish here in July.

	Ryan Newman has scored nine top-10 finishes in the last 12 races. Credit: Autostock

Two days of running by the heavy, high horsepower Winston Cup have brought no sign of the pavement issues that came up in July, when bits of gravel from the track surface mixed with rubber fragments to create a treacherous surface.

That situation seemed to come about when the Turn 3 and 4 end of the track was repaved only weeks before the race weekend, which saw extremely hot temperatures. The original pavement in the corners at both ends was laid before the NASCAR Busch Series race in May, but one end had to be redone.

The properly cured Turn 1 and 2 end exhibited no problems.

"I enjoy the track thoroughly after the changes they made on it," Busch said. "It creates another groove that if your car is able to adapt to that groove, you can pass cars.

It's very difficult to pass cars on the same tires when two guys are running up front, but here last time we were 29th with 20 to go and we finished eighth.

"We passed a lot of cars with fresh tires, so the track is very raceable after the changes they made and, hopefully, it'll stick together tomorrow."

Jeff Green finished third in July in the No. 30 AOL Chevrolet and was in the top-six in both practices. He said his car was fine after its first 15-lap run.

"Your track position creates race strategy or pit strategy," Green said. "So, who does that the best and who gets the best fuel mileage and whether the cautions work out in your favor are the keys.

"You can sit there and plan a race, but if the cautions don't work out right, it's not going to work to your plan. Hopefully it'll work out in our favor."