Tony Stewart - Dickies 500 Qualifying Report
FORT WORTH, Texas (Nov. 4, 2005) - Tony Stewart, driver of the #20 Home Depot Chevrolet, qualified 16th for Sunday's Dickies 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Texas Motor Speedway.
"We picked up a little bit in qualifying," said Stewart, who toured the 1.5-mile oval in 28.364 seconds with an average speed of 190.382 mph. "This is the same car we won the Brickyard with, so we know it will drive well this weekend."
Stewart's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates - Denny Hamlin and Bobby Labonte - qualified 14th and 17th, respectively. Hamlin clocked a time of 28.333 seconds with an average speed of 190.590 mph, while Labonte timed in at 28.398 seconds with an average speed of 190.154 mph.
Ryan Newman captured his 35th career pole position and his eighth of the season with a time of 27.987 seconds at an average speed of 192.947 mph. Rounding out the top-five in qualifying were Jeff Gordon (28.067 seconds at 192.397 mph), Matt Kenseth (28.130 seconds at 191.966 mph), Joe Nemechek (28.176 seconds at 191.652 mph) and Jeremy Mayfield (28.212 seconds at 191.408 mph).
Forty-nine drivers attempted to qualify for the 334-lap race. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Reed Sorenson, Stuart Kirby, Johnny Sauter, Robby Gordon, P.J. Jones and Carl Long.
As far as manufacturers went, Dodge took the top spot via Newman's pole-winning mark, while Chevrolet was next best at the hands of Jeff Gordon. Ford maintained parity by clocking the third-quickest lap thanks to Kenseth.
The Dickies 500 gets underway on Sun., Nov. 6 at 3:50 p.m. EST. NBC will carry live coverage of the event.
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