CUP: Rocket Man Leads Charlotte Practice Round

Sprint Cup

CUP: Rocket Man Leads Charlotte Practice Round

Ryan Newman led the opening round of practice at CMS Thursday...

Tom Jensen | Posted October 14, 2010 Concord, NC

Ryan Newman (Pictured) will compete for Stewart-Haas Racing alongside Tony Stewart for a third straight year in 2011. (Photo: Getty Images)

Ryan Newman, who has nine poles in just 19 career starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway, was fastest in Thursday's lone round of practice for the Bank of America 500.

The Indiana native lapped the 1.5-mile CMS track at 189.553 miles per hour in his No. 39 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Next were a pair of Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas, Joey Logano at 189.341 mph and Kyle Busch at 189.330 mph. Completing the top five were Mark Martin’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and David Reutimann in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.

The second five consisted of Tony Stewart, Reed Sorenson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Scott Speed and David Ragan.

NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson was 12th, with fellow title hopefuls Denny Hamlin 30th, Kevin Harvick 21st and Jeff Gordon 33rd.

Qualifying for the race takes place tonight at 7 p.m., when the sun will be going down, while the 90-minute practice round was run during the afternoon.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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Tom Jensen

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