STEWART-HAAS RACING SHELBY AMERICAN QUALIFYING

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Date:               Feb. 26, 2010

Event:             Shelby American Qualifying (Round 3 of 36)

Series:             NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Location:        Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)

Pole Winner:   Kurt Busch of Penske Racing (28.614 seconds at 188.719 mph)

SHR Lineup:   Ryan Newman (3rd, 28.696 seconds at 188.180 mph)

                   Tony Stewart (9th, 28.886 seconds at 186.942 mph)

Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Las Vegas Motor Speedway by qualifying third for Sunday's Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 28.696 seconds at 188.180 mph on the 1.5-mile oval.

"The Tornados Chevrolet was good as soon as we unloaded off the truck," said Newman, who has four top-10 finishes in nine career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas. "Tony Gibson (crew chief) and the guys did a great job. This is a brand new racecar, and this weekend is the debut of a new sponsor for us - Tornados and the Ruiz Family. This is their first weekend on the car and their first time in NASCAR, and we want to make it a good one for them. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the weekend. We were pretty good in race trim, and this is my kind of racetrack."

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start ninth after turning a lap of 28.886 seconds at 186.942 mph. 

"I sent it in a little too hard in (turns) one and two, but it had good grip and was really good in (turns) three and four," said Stewart, who has six top-10 finishes in 11 career Sprint Cup starts at Las Vegas. "I was real happy with the lap."

The last time both SHR cars qualified in the top-10 was in November 2009 at the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway where Stewart qualified fifth and Newman qualified seventh.

Las Vegas-native Kurt Busch captured his 11th career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his first at Las Vegas by posting a lap of 28.614 seconds at 188.719 mph. The time and speed broke the previous track record held by his younger brother, Kyle, who set the old record of 29.033 seconds at 185.995 mph last year.

Jeff Gordon will start alongside Kurt Busch on the outside of row one, as he timed in at 28.625 seconds at 188.646 mph. Newman was third while Dale Earnhardt Jr., (28.697 seconds at 188.173 mph) and Kyle Busch (28.700 seconds at 188.153 mph) rounded out the top-five.

Forty-five drivers attempted to qualify for the Shelby American. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Casey Mears and Terry Cook.

As far as manufacturers went, Dodge took the top spot thanks to Kurt Busch's pole. Chevrolet was next best at the hands of second-fastest Gordon, while Toyota was the third-fastest make thanks to Kyle Busch's fifth-place run. Greg Biffle, who qualified seventh, was the top Ford at 28.785 seconds at 187.598 mph.

The Shelby American gets underway at 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Feb. 28 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2 p.m.