CONCORD, N.C. -- Ryan Newman knows all about what it takes to succeed in the Coca-Cola 600, the longest race on the Sprint Cup Series circuit.

He'll sit on the pole for Sunday's 600-mile event that he has never won. But while he's proud of that and the fact that it was the eighth pole he's captured at Lowe's Motor Speedway, he knows starting first won't have all that much to do with who finishes first in the grueling marathon.

“

There is no, 'Well, let's just ride around and save our car.' When people say that now, I don't even know what that means, short of not hitting the wall.

”

JEFF BURTON

Coca-Cola 600

Happy Hour Speeds

Pos.	Driver	Speeds
1.	Jimmie Johnson	183.387
2.	Carl Edwards	183.231
3.	Denny Hamlin	183.150
4.	Joey Logano	183.094
5.	Brian Vickers	182.983
6.	Kyle Busch	182.784
7.	David Reutimann	182.476
8.	Mark Martin	182.309
9.	Bobby Labonte	181.959
10.	Jamie McMurray	181.892

• Happy Hour Speeds

"Getting 400 laps in here is much more difficult than getting one good lap in," Newman said.

True enough. Newman learned as much during the final practices for Sunday's 50th running of the race when he went from running the fastest in qualifying two days earlier to posting less impressive speeds. He was just 16th-fastest in Saturday's first practice with a top lap speed of 182.377 mph. He was 16th again in final practice (181.178) with just eight laps on the track before an afternoon shower wiped out the session.

Denny Hamlin led the early practice (184.338), while Jimmie Johnson was atop the leaderboard for Happy Hour with 10 laps and a fast speed of 183.387 when rain came about 15 minutes into the practice.

Like Newman, Jeff Burton is a veteran driver of the signature event for storied Lowe's Motor Speedway. It has become popular lately to question whether NASCAR races are too long, prompting the obvious question to be asked about the Coca-Cola 600.

Is NASCAR's longest race too long?

"Well, I think the 600 is too long if you run it every week," said Burton, who was 27th on the speed chart in Saturday's first practice (181.214 mph) and 25th in Happy Hour (180.499). "I think it's cool and special and unique to have one 600-mile race. I think it has a lot of history and it's important for our series to have a race that's longer than all the other ones.

"It's also important for our series to have a race that's shorter than all the other ones. So I don't think 600 miles is to long. But if we did it every week, 600 miles will be too long. The fact is that the Coca-Cola 600 separates it from other races, so that makes it OK."

Burton said that variety is the spice of racing life.

"If the race track owners all got together and said, 'Hey, every week we're going to have all 600-mile races,' I would think that would not be in our best interest," Burton said. "I certainly think there are some race tracks on the circuit that would be better shows at 400 or even 350 miles. But the fact is that this is a special and unique race. That actually makes this cool and makes it a good thing."

Burton also gave a surprising answer when he was asked if he employs more strategy now in a 600-mile race than he did when he drove in his first one 15 years ago.

"There is actually less, believe it or not," Burton said. "Fifteen years ago, the reliability rate [on parts] wasn't as high. Today you don't have that mentality of let's hold back and wait and save our stuff and all that. That mentality is no longer.

"The way our cars are today -- with the brakes, the engines, the gears, the transmissions, the springs, the shocks, all that stuff -- there is no, 'Well, let's just ride around and save our car.' There is no such thing as saving your car. When people say that now, I don't even know what that means, short of not hitting the wall."

That led to Burton's most surprising comment of all about Sunday's marathon event, which last year took more than 4 hours, 25 minutes to run.

"It's become more of a sprint race than it used to be, if that makes any sense," Burton said. "How hard you have to drive the cars every lap makes this race harder to run today than it was 15 years ago."