Nascar: Newman wins third straight Cup pole

Long Pond, PA (Sports Network) - Ryan Newman captured the pole for Sunday's Pocono 500 at the Pocono Raceway, his third consecutive pole win. The No.12 Penske Dodge circled the 2.5-mile tri-oval in 52.922 seconds (170.062 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Newman's fourth of the season and 41st of his Nextel Cup career. In his sixth full season, Newman is tied with Mark Martin, who is in his 27th year, for 11th all-time.
"It was a good run, the Alltel Dodge guys did a good job," said Newman. "The car was fast off the truck, which makes a huge difference. We only did six laps in practice."
Starting alongside Newman will be Denny Hamlin who posted a second-best time of 53.167 seconds. Hamlin won the pole and this race last year.
Martin Truex Jr. (53.346) and Kyle Busch (53.527) will make up row two.
Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Truex Jr. was dominant at Dover last Sunday leading a race-high 216 laps and winning by a whopping 7.355 seconds. It was a huge win for a team reeling from the news that their No.1 driver and NASCAR's most popular driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will leave the team at the end of the season. It was also the first win for Truex Jr. and confirmed that the two- time Busch Series champion has finally arrived.
It was at Pocono last year that Hamlin "announced" his arrival by winning both events. Hamlin had made just 20 Nextel Cup starts before surprising both fans and experts with his win on the tough Long Pond, PA track. He repeated the feat six weeks later. Both times Kurt Busch finished second.
"We'll take the same car back and hopefully try to do the same thing and get a win one way or another," said Hamlin on the team's website.
Hamlin went on to make the "Chase" and finished third. He won the 2006 Nextel Cup Raybestos Rookie of the Year award. The No.11 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet driver is currently fourth in the standings with eight top-10s.
Other notable drivers and their starting positions: Tony Stewart (6th), Jimmie Johnson (7th), Kasey Kahne (8th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (13th), Jeff Gordon (18th) and Kevin Harvick (19th).
The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 2 p.m. (et).