Engine woes send polesitter to rear

Ryan Newman, who won the pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, will now have to start at the rear of the field after his team changed engines in the No. 12 Dodge Saturday morning.

“We made nine laps this morning," Newman said of the first Nextel Cup practice. “It started tightening up coming off Turn 4 and we had a pretty good amount of oil on one of the spark plugs. Something was wrong."

Newman ran 193.124 mph Friday night to earn his seventh career pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway. But when he drops to the back before today’s green flag, Jimmie Johnson will move up from the third spot to the head of the field on the inside of Row 1.

“This is the best track if you have to go to the rear," Newman said. “Obviously we don’t want to do it, but we’ve got a great. …I am not going to complain at all about luck or a break. This stuff happens once in a while. It’s no fun."