‘Rocket’ Ryan Newman powered his No. 12 Alltel Dodge to the front of the field Thursday to be the fastest of forty-five drivers attempting to make Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500. Newman set the fast time by laying down a lap of 26.975 seconds at a speed of 133.457 mph.

Making it an all Dodge front row, Elliot Sadler had his best qualifying run of 2008 in his No. 19 Stanley Tools Dodge. The Gillett Evernham Motorsports driver laid down a lap of 26.983 seconds at 133.412 mph.

So far this season, Sadler has one top-10 start and has only one top-10 finish. Sadler will have to turn his luck around at Phoenix International Raceway, last season the Virginia-native finished outside the top-25 in both races.

Carl Edwards, Mark Martin and Sadler’s GEM teammate Kasey Kahne rounded out the top-5 in Thursday night’s qualifying session.

Dave Blaney and Dario Franchitti were the fastest of those drivers outside the top-35 in Owner Points.

Blaney drove his Bill Davis Racing No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota into the show by laying down a lap of 27.220 seconds for nineteenth fastest.

After missing the show last week at Texas Motor Speedway, Franchitti and his Chip Ganassi Racing team stepped it up to put their car in the show in twenty-first place.

Only two teams will be heading back to the shop without racing in Saturday night’s event. John Andretti’s unsponsored Front Row Motorsports Chevrolet was the slowest of all forty-five drivers with a lap of 27.814 seconds at 129.43 mph.

For the third week in a row the Petty Enterprises No. 45 failed to make the show. Kyle Petty was back behind the wheel this week, but to no avail. The veteran driver laid down a lap of 27.697 seconds at 129.97 mph.