Newman earns pole at Lowe’s

Tonight’s UAW-GM 500, and with it NASCAR’s Chase for the Championship, might get a little highfalutin for the traditionalist blue-collar crowd at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

The race could come down to a guy who understands calculus vs. “the junior senator from Virginia.”

Purdue-educated engineer Ryan Newman will start on the pole. But Elliott Sadler, dubbed the junior senator for his effervescent eloquence, will start fifth and, more important, has the momentum in the playoffs NASCAR calls the Chase. Sadler zoomed from eighth to fourth in the standings last Sunday at Kansas City, Kan.

“I’ve got a lot more to lose now than I thought,” Sadler said.

Newman, by contrast, must play catch-up in the Chase, having wrecked last Sunday at Kansas and fallen to eighth in the standings, 232 points behind leader Kurt Busch.

This is the halfway point in the Chase. Five races remain after tonight.

Sadler’s Ford was fastest in Friday night’s final practice, at 182.051 mph, with all cars running in race trim.

But the “senator,” surveying the experience factor in the other candidates, is concerned about only one driver. That would be Jeff Gordon, the four-time champion from California and the driver Charlotte-area fans most love to hate.

“We think we need to outrun the 24 car (Gordon’s Chevrolet) every single week,” Sadler said. “We think that’s going to be the one, when it’s all said and done, to beat for this championship.”

Bliss wins first Busch race

Mike Bliss used a gutsy three-wide pass to take the lead, and held off a charging Matt Kenseth over the final few laps to win his first Busch series race Friday night.

Bliss sat back and watched a side-by-side battle between Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson when the The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 300 restarted with 19 laps to go at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.

As Kenseth and Johnson fought for the lead, Bliss pulled up next to them and coasted by in a three-wide pass coming out of turn four. He drove away to a sizable lead.

Skinner extends Toyota’s run

Mike Skinner extended Toyota’s streak of poles to three on the NASCAR truck circuit with a record-breaking qualifying run at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

But a prequalifying engine change will force Skinner to fall to the end of the 36-truck field at the start of today’s Silverado 350K.

The top starting spot was the second this season and 17th overall for Skinner. His fast lap of 182.174 mph broke Scott Riggs’ three-year-old qualifying record of 181.953 on the 1 1/2 -mile oval.

Second-fastest was the Chevrolet of Shane Hmiel at 182.051.

Castroneves ties IRL mark

Helio Castroneves tied an IRL record by winning a fourth consecutive pole in qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Castroneves, who matched Billy Boat’s five-year-old record, logged a lap of 215.996 mph on the 1 1/2 -mile track in a Toyota-powered Dallara. The pole for Sunday’s season-ending Chevy 500 was his fifth this year and 16th overall.

The Brazilian edged Tomas Scheckter, who turned a lap of 215.831.