Qualifying: Phoenix

Image details: Subway Fresh Fit 500 Qualifying served by picapp.com

Thursday night’s Sprint Cup qualifying session contained nothing near the drama that was witnessed last weekend at Texas qualifying, but it did feature “Flyin” Ryan Newman turning in the fastest lap of the evening en route to picking up his 43rd career pole award. His lap of 26.975 seconds earned him his first pole at Phoenix International Raceway since 2004, and is his fourth at the track overall. Newman was also the fastest overall in the first Cup Series practice session earlier in the day.

Elliott Sadler was second quickest, a mere 0.009 seconds slower than Newman, and will start Saturday night’s race on the outside of the front row. Carl Edwards looks to continue riding his hot streak by starting third, and Mark Martin and Kasey Kahne will complete the top-five.

Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, the winners of last year’s Phoenix races, will start the race 7th and 11th respectively in search of the Hendrick organization’s first win of 2008, along with Dale Earnhardt Jr – who will roll of the line in 13th. Series points leader Jeff Burton had a rough day of qualifying, turning in a lap nearly half a second slower than the polesitter’s, and will start from the 39th position. Kevin Harvick, second in the standings, will start 17th.

Dave Blaney, Dario Franchitti, Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, Joe Nemecheck, and Johnny Sauter all successfully qualified based on time, while John Andretti and – for the second week in a row – the no. 45 team (this time driven by Kyle Petty) failed to make the show. Bill Elliott used another Past Champion’s Provisional to get himself in the show.

Starting Grid (from nascar.com):