INDIANAPOLIS - The Rocket Man got his fuel back. Finally.

Ryan Newman snatched the pole away from Jimmie Johnson with a blistering lap of 187.531 mph around Indianapolis Motor Speedway to set a track record for NASCAR races at the Brickyard.

Newman was the last of the 45 drivers to make a qualifying attempt Saturday as Johnson’s No. 48 was atop the scoring tower for well over an hour with a lap of 187.438. Driver after driver had failed to knock Johnson from the pole, and the four-time Brickyard winner watched and waited to see if Newman could get the job done.

Newman, an Indiana native, pulled it off as Johnson smiled his approval.

“You can’t count Ryan out, and he put up a whale of a lap,” Johnson said.

Added team co-owner Tony Stewart, “They don’t call him ‘Rocket Man’ for no reason. He had an awesome lap.”

It’s the 50th pole for Newman, who established himself as an elite qualifier with six poles his rookie season. He set a NASCAR record with 11 poles in 2003, and won at least one pole a year for 11 seasons.

But he’d been in a drought of late, and Newman’s last pole was late in the 2011 season.

“I just am ecstatic. It’s awesome because it’s my 50th. It’s awesome because it’s Indy, and it’s a track record on top of that, so it’s like a double triple bonus,” Newman said.

The normally stoic Newman admitted he got emotional on the backstretch of his cool-down lap.

“It’s more special to me because it’s the Brickyard, because it’s Indy, because of the history of auto racing at this facility,” he said. “So many drivers who are my heroes, so many drivers I’ve admired, so many drivers that have worked so hard in their career to get to here on this day, to be the fastest one, that’s what’s the most special to me.”

Carl Edwards qualified third at 187.157, and was already seated for the post-qualifying news conference when he watched on television as Newman knocked Johnson and Edwards down a notch.

“I felt really good - second is the worst,” Edwards said about qualifying third. “It’s the worst to qualify second, and nobody wants anybody to go through what Jimmie just had to go through. We all don’t feel too bad for Jimmie, but that was pretty dramatic. I didn’t really expect that.”

Denny Hamlin qualified fourth and was followed by Stewart, a two-time Indy winner, as Stewart-Haas Racing has two cars starting in the top five.

Kurt Busch was sixth, followed by Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, four time Indy winner Jeff Gordon and Marcos Ambrose.

Today’s lineup

After Saturday qualifying; Lap length: 2.5 miles (car number in parentheses)1. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 187.531 mph 2. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 187.438 3. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 187.157 4. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 187.122 5. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 186.827 6. (78) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 186.722 7. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 186.633 8. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 186.536 9. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 186.474 10. (9) Marcos Ambrose, Ford, 186.281 11. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 185.954 12. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 185.92 13. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 185.789 14. (51) A J Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 185.655 15. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 185.621 16. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 185.448 17. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 185.437 18. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 185.181 19. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 185.101 20. (33) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 184.961 21. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 184.794 22. (93) Travis Kvapil, Toyota, 184.676 23. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 184.64624. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 184.593 25. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford, 184.536 26. (55) Mark Martin, Toyota, 184.305 27. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 184.045 28. (21) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 183.906 29. (40) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 183.816 30. (13) Casey Mears, Ford, 183.752 31. (83) David Reutimann, Toyota, 183.329 32. (35) Josh Wise, Ford, 183.046 33. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 182.938 34. (47) Bobby Labonte, Toyota, 182.826 35. (98) Michael McDowell, Ford, 182.819 36. (34) David Ragan, Ford, 182.448 37. (30) David Stremme, Toyota, owner points 38. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, owner points 39. (36) J.J. Yeley, Chevrolet, owner points 40. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, owner points 41. (7) Dave Blaney, Chevrolet, owner points 42. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, owner points 43. (32) Timmy Hill, Ford, owner points FAILED TO QUALIFY 44. (19) Mike Bliss, Toyota, 181.881 45. (95) Scott Speed, Ford, 177.235.

Sports, Pages 27 on 07/28/2013