Ryan Newman completed a pole sweep at Lowe's Motor Speedway after edging Lowe's-backed Jimmie Johnson out of top spot in Thursday night's Bank of America 500 qualifying at the Charlotte circuit.
It was Newman's seventh pole at Lowe's, and the 42nd of his career, but he will share the front of the grid with the man who has made a habit of winning in Charlotte, and who eyes a return to the head of the Chase standings with a good result on raceday. Just 0.061secs split the pair at the flag as Newman clocked 189.394secs on his qualifying run, and the ALLTEL Dodge driver will look to break a two-year 'losing' streak this time around.
Johnson, however, has won five of the past dozen races at LMS and is confident that he can make that 6 from 13 this weekend.
"The car was maybe a little on the free side, but I really don't think I left anything out there," he insisted, "I'm real proud of the lap we put in. We had a great run. We've had a very smooth day in the Busch car and in the Cup car and I'm looking forward to a good weekend in both races. If we qualify well, it starts the whole weekend off on a good tone for the team. I'm not sure if it's momentum or if it's mental, but it's just better to get off to a good start. "
Bobby Labonte recorded his best qualifying result in more than twelve months, perhaps inspired by the distinctive pink livery his #43 Dodge has adopted for the weekend in order to raise awareness of breast cancer. The veteran held top spot before Johnson moved to the head of the queue.
Chase points leader Jeff Gordon slotted his DuPont Chevy into fourth spot, ahead of Kasey Kahne and best Ford Jamie McMurray, before the next of the Chase 'contenders', Matt Kenseth, in seventh. Kurt Busch, Casey Mears and Greg Biffle rounded out the top ten. Clint Bowyer, third in the Cup standings, managed only 25th, however, one behind Kevin Harvick, but two ahead of Jeff Burton, four clear of Tony Stewart, with Martin Truex Jr the worst of the Chase runners in 32nd. Denny Hamlin, meanwhile, managed to claim eleventh spot, with Carl Edwards 18th.
![Ryan Newman - Alltel Dodge [pic credit: image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/300240.jpg)
