Penske Dodges qualify 1-2

The Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut has dominated the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series thus far this season.
But the Penske Racing Dodges of Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch have the front row for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Newman has been steadily improving over the last four races. Busch has shown signs of challenging for wins and dropping off at the end of races.
But it looks like they are in position to give Hendrick Motorsports some competition, at least at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
“I think we’ve been performing well the last three, four or five weeks, but I think we haven’t had the greatest finishes the four or five weeks before that," said Newman, driver of the No. 12 Dodge for Penske Racing. "I think we’ve been running good and performing well. We just haven’t had the finishes with the exception of the last three or four weeks that we felt we deserved. It was just circumstances."
Some crazy things have happened to Newman's team over the past month, but he said every team goes through those kind of stints.
"We had a great car at Talladega. Got involved in that accident and knocked off the fender and came back to finish ninth," Newman said. "To be able to rebound and capitalize points wise is something we hadn’t been able to do in previous weeks."
As for Hendrick Motorsports, Newman said racing against Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon is going to be tough. Johnson has won three of the past four Coca-Cola 600s. Gordon has won three of the past four NASCAR Nextel CUp Series races.
"Between the 48 (Johnson) and even the 24 (Gordon) they’re going to definitely be tough," Newman said. "We look forward to the challenge. We’ve been in position before to win this race. I don’t think they have a strong grip on anything. A lot of teams have their fingertips on it. It’s just a matter of pulling away on Sunday.”