Auto Racing Capsules: Newman takes pole at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) —

Stewart-Haas Racing finally gets top billing.

Ryan Newman won his 47th career pole, turning a track-record lap of 135.232 mph Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Tony Stewart was second to give SHR its first front-row sweep.

Stewart was right behind his employee and teammate at 135.064. They were the only drivers to top 135 mph.

"Awesome for the organization," Stewart said.

Newman won his first pole of the season in the No. 39 Chevrolet, a far cry from the 20 combined poles he earned in 2003-04. Those pole positions early in his career helped boost his total and he’s now 10th on the career poles list, including a record five poles at New Hampshire.

"It works," he said. "It’s like making good macaroni and cheese. Sometimes, it just tastes good. I don’t know what the entire chemistry is, but I like it."

It’s the sixth pole for Stewart-Haas Racing, but the first time both SHR Chevrolets will start side-by-side at the front of the field.

"I felt really confident in practice today that we would have a shot at the pole today just based on the way the car felt," Newman said.

Newman hopes the strong start will translate into his first victory of the season. Newman enters Sunday’s Sprint Cup race ninth in the points standings.

"Without a doubt I have higher expectations; when you have the fastest race car you have no excuse," Newman said. "It’s just a matter of making it the fastest car or the best race car on the last lap, given you have the right position and the right strategy and do the things that are needed to put yourself in that position."

David Reutimann, Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski round out the top five.

"We’re finally running like we’re supposed to," Reutimann said.

Stewart is 11th in the points standings, one shy of cracking the top 10 needed to make the Chase. Stewart, a two-time Cup champion, typically heats up during the summer races.

He hasn’t found the answers yet and hasn’t won a race this year.

"I am frustrated because I keep having to answer the question," he said. "I mean, are you happy when things aren’t going the way you like it to go? Makes you frustrated doesn’t it? So yes, we’re frustrated."

The rest of the top 10 are: Jeff Burton, Jeff Gordon, Juan Pablo Montoya, Paul Menard and Kasey Kahne.

NASCAR vows to fix Kentucky traffic woes

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — Bruton Smith boasted about the largest crowd to attend a NASCAR race this season: More than 100,000 fans filled Kentucky Speedway in its inaugural Sprint Cup Series event.

Unfortunately for NASCAR, it was the fans who couldn’t get there that got the headlines.

The lasting memory of the race is not Kyle Busch taking the checkered flag, but the gridlocked cars filled with fans who were, in NASCAR terms, red-flagged and forced to sit on I-71 with no shot at making the big pass and arriving to the track in time for the start — or even the halfway point — of the race.

Smith, the track owner, and NASCAR officials want answers to why fans were stuck in traffic for hours as they tried to get to Saturday night’s race at the track in Sparta, Ky.

Smith said he will meet next week with Kentucky governor Steve Beshear to start finding some solutions.

Smith absorbed some of the blame, but stopped well short of saying there was more the track could have done to avoid the problem. He blamed everyone from the company running parking ("they did a lousy job"), to I-71 ("a lousy piece of interstate"), to the fans who were warned about the trouble ahead but still left late.

"When I tell you we will fix it, I hope that you believe me," Smith said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

NASCAR President Mike Helton called the traffic a "very serious issue" that must be corrected, adding that NASCAR "won’t rest" until it figures out what went wrong and how to correct it.

Many fans say once they got to the gate, they were turned away by police because the track had run out of parking.

"We’re sorry for the fans that were touched by that unfortunate episode," Helton said. "We will not let this fall to the wayside until we get resolution to it."

Helton said there were numerous meetings with track officials and other organizations, and he was confident a proper plan was in place. Kentucky Speedway had held Truck Series and Nationwide Series races in the past without the massive congestion on I-71. The state spent millions of dollars over the last decade to improve the infrastructure around the venue in hopes of one day getting a Cup date. Yet widening the interstate to three lanes for a couple of miles heading north to Cincinnati did little to expedite traffic.

"Ten lanes wide, everybody would have been in there," Smith said.

Helton has not talked to any Kentucky government officials since Saturday afternoon.

"What I think we have an interest in is finding out exactly what happened Saturday night. Did all those changes contribute to that and did it really maybe compound the situation," Helton said. "Was there overconfidence from the fact they had raced there for 10 years and not taken in full consideration of the physical changes that were taking place. Those are the kind of questions we’ll have to get to the bottom of to figure out the solution."

Kentucky Speedway on Monday offered a ticket exchange to fans who missed the race because of the traffic.

Speedway Motorsports Inc. president Marcus Smith said fans can swap their unused Kentucky tickets for entry into events at any 2011 race at an SMI track. The tickets also can be swapped for entry into the 2012 race at Kentucky.

"I know that we all work on a common goal of making the experience for race fans" appealing, Helton said. "Along the way, we have hiccups."

Maybe a good scare will solve that.

This is the time of the year when next year’s race schedule is set and, while Kentucky is sure to be on it, Helton might have made officials there squirm a bit when he refused to say for certain Cup racing would return.

"I don’t want to speculate on that type of thing," he said. "You look at the history of our sport, we’ve had issues that happen, and we generally figure out how to work through them."

Asked if he threatened the governor with moving the race to another one of his tracks, Bruton Smith cracked, "Las Vegas, baby."

Kentucky gets another shot this season in October when it holds Trucks and IndyCar races.

Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart knows change must come.

"I felt bad for the fans because they are the ones that suffered last weekend," he said. "It put a black eye on us."

Most tracks have dealt with traffic and parking headaches in the past and usually found a way to ease congestion — and complaints.

The foul-up was a big speed bump in what’s otherwise been a solid year for NASCAR. TV ratings are creeping up, first-time winners such as Trevor Bayne, Regan Smith and David Ragan placed fresh names in the news, and Helton believes the revamped points system has added a jolt of interest in Chase qualifying.

The first 10 spots go to the top-10 in points, with the final two wild cards reserved for the winningest drivers not already qualified. Those two drivers, though, must be in the top-20 in points.

"We like the energy or emphasis around what the wild card has placed on winning," Helton said.

NASCAR wants to keep the focus on wins, great races, and the fun on the track.

Instead, it’s dealing with the consequences of having fans miss out on all of that in Kentucky’s first run in the big time.

-- Dan Gelston

NFL receiver takes shots at NASCAR champ Johnson

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — Jimmie Johnson has a pair of titles he’s especially proud to have linked to his name. NASCAR champion. AP Male Athlete of the Year.

Yes, that’s right. The five-time champion driver is an athlete, too.

Johnson was swept into a brief Twitter feud this week because of his inclusion as a nominee for male athlete of the year at the ESPY Awards. Seattle Seahawks receiver Golden Tate posted on his account, (at)ShowtimeTate, "Jimmy johnson up for best athlete???? Um nooo .. Driving a car does not show athleticism."

He continued to tweak Johnson, angering NASCAR fans. Tate later posted, "12th man get these rednecks off me."

Johnson mostly laughed off the barbs Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and invited Tate to the track to learn more about NASCAR.

"I think it’s easy to make a comment when you don’t know," Johnson said. "In a lot of situations, people haven’t been to a race or been close enough to our sport to understand what takes place here."

Johnson often mentions his 2009 AP award, because he’s proud, and because it ran down some stereotypes that drivers shouldn’t be considered athletes. He received a handwritten letter from the grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France that told him how important it was that drivers were considered athletes.

"It’s something we have fought for a long time," Johnson said.

Tate believed men in firesuits aren’t qualified to be called athletes like men in shoulder pads.

Some of his posts:

—"I’ve driven a car on unknown roads at night at 90mph no big deal. No sign of athletism."

—"Guarantee he couldn’t in million year play any SPORT."

—"give me 6 months of training and I bet I could compete."

NASCAR defenders quickly typed in defense of their champion and their slams got Tate’s attention.

"Apologies for my offensive comment to NASCAR fans. I actually read up on it and NO I couldn’t race a car 150 mph."

Johnson found humor in the posts, joking that, "I was impersonating an athlete at the ESPYS."

Drivers have always defended their spot as true athletes. Detractors claim it’s not that hard to sit and turn left for a few hours. But when other athletes get a taste of NASCAR, they’re often hooked — and give credit that drivers are no less a real athlete than a baseball or football player.

"There is just an education process that has to take place across a lot of mediums," Johnson said. "Through sports, I’m excited to see top athletes come in and see what we do and also go for rides in cars and be around. And when they do, they are our best advocates. They are out there telling the story."

-- Dan Gelston

Grandson charged with theft from NASCAR’s Ingram

CANDLER, N.C. (AP) — The grandson of NASCAR driver Jack Ingram is accused of stealing his championship rings and other mementos, then asking Ingram to pay for their return.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reports Buncombe County investigators charged 25-year-old Jackson Layne Ingram on Thursday with breaking and entering and larceny.

Authorities say $5,000 worth of items were taken from Jack Ingram’s home June 29, including the diamond ring he won for his 1982 Busch Series championship , a 1985 championship ring, a watch and his wife’s high school ring.

A few days later, a caller asked for $1,000 to return the items, but Ingram said no.

Jackson Ingram was being held at the Buncombe County Detention Center. It wasn’t clear if he had an attorney.

X Games star Pastrana 22nd at New Hampshire

LOUDON, N.H. (AP) — X Games star Travis Pastrana finished 22nd in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

The action sports star formed a team called Pastrana-Waltrip Racing, with Michael Waltrip and Gary and Blake Bechtel. Driving the No. 99 Toyota, he was never in the hunt to catch winner Max Gresham.

Pastrana is set to make his debut in the second-tier Nationwide Series later this year.

Pastrana is a star in Moto X, X Games and American rally racing. He’s won 16 gold medals in the X Games, and has multiple supercross, motocross and rally championships in his career. He also has set motorcycle and automobile jump records.

He also wants to drive in the highest level in NASCAR.

Indy Car Series

IndyCar upholds suspension of Lights team, owner

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — IndyCar officials have upheld suspensions issued to Indy Lights team O2 Racing Technology and team owner Mark Olson after an appeal, and they remain banned from the series through the end of 2012.

Olson was suspended for allegedly encouraging others to breach contracts with IndyCar and withdraw from the Indy Lights race in Milwaukee last month. O2 Racing Technology was the only entrant to withdraw, removing its No. 36 and 63 entries from the participant list.

IndyCar says the actions violated several Indy Lights rules, including "engaging in unsportsmanlike conduct or conduct detrimental to racing."

The protest hearing was held by race director Tony Cotman on Thursday.