Newman (right) was in the thick of all the action at the 1.5-mile Charlotte, NC track winning the pole position for and finishing fifth in NASCAR’s longest event, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Coca Cola 600 Sunday.

For good measure, Newman also strapped on a NASCAR Busch Series car for the first time in over three years and promptly drove it to a third-place finish in the Carquest 300 Saturday.

Newman got the weekend off to a rousing start Thursday rolling his No. 12 Penske Racing South entry to the quickest time ever at Charlotte – a 27.981-second lap – to win the pole for the 600.

"That was pretty close to a perfect lap," said Newman after becoming the first driver to crack the 27-second barrier in the 45-year history of the track.

The top qualifying effort for Newman, whose Dodge is outfitted with an EMP Stewart Components/MERE Dodge Pro Series Water Pump, was the fourth pole this season and his 31st in just 128 Cup starts.

Newman somehow managed to survive the 600, which was slowed a NASCAR record 22 times for caution flags. The event, which was won by Jimmy Johnson for the third-straight year, took a whopping 5-hours, 13-minutes and 52-seconds to complete. Johnson’s winning speed was a tortoise-like 114.698 miles per hour, a far cry from the 192.988 turned in by Newman in winning the pole position.

Johnson swept around Bobby Labonte at the finish stripe to win by a scant 0.027-seconds with Carl Edwards, Jeremy Mayfield and Newman completing the Top-5 finishers.

Meanwhile, three other drivers with EMP ties – Rusty Wallace, Travis Kvapil and Brian Vickers – all posted mixed results in the marathon race.

Wallace steered his Penske Dodge to a solid 10th-place finish leading at one point of the race. Kvapil, started 18th and powered his EMP Stewart Components/MERE cooled Dodge to the lead on two occasions before settling for a 32nd-place finish after getting caught up in one of the many incidents that plagued the race.

Vickers saw a top performance go out the window when he made contact with Bill Elliott with just over 20 laps remaining. The bump up caused a multi-car wreck with Elliott, Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick all getting swept up in the melee.

Vickers (at left with Jimmie Johnson), led four times for a career-best 98 laps in the event and finished 31st. His Hendrick Motorsports Chevy features associate sponsorship from EMP.

"I messed up there," Vickers said dejected afterward. "I just got impatient."

Vickers will get a chance to redeem himself when the Nextel Cup Series heads for Dover International Speedway and the MBNA 400 on Sunday, June 5. The race will take the green flag at 1:35 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday and will be telecast live on FX. The event will also be broadcast worldwide as it happens on PRN Radio.

Newman also has a hand in the outcome of the Carquest 300 NASCAR Busch Series at Lowes Motor Speedway Saturday.

Driving in his first Busch Series event since the 2001 division finale at Homestead, FL, Newman led nearly 40 of the 200 laps in his Dodge powered by a Penske Jasper engine cooled by an EMP Stewart Components/MERE Water Pump.

At the finish, Newman came up just short of the win as Kyle Busch backed up his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win of a week ago and his victory in the 2004 Busch Series spring race at Charlotte.

Busch took the checkered flag in front of Sterling Marlin, Newman, Biffle and Reed Sorenson in the event that featured 21 Nextel Cup drivers in the 43-car starting field. Included in that group were Vickers, Sadler and Joe Nemechek – three drivers with ties to EMP.

Vickers led eight laps in the early stages of the race before his Hendrick Motorsports Chevy faded to 13th at the finish.

Nemechek, whose Monte Carlo was powered by a Carl Wegner Racing Engine cooled by the EMP Stewart Components GM Pro Series Water Pump, came home 19th.

Sadler completed the EMP Busch Series round-up finishing 36th after crashing out of the race on Lap 142. Sadler’s Robert Yates Racing entry featured the new EMP Stewart Components/Yates Ford Pro Series Water Pump (right).

The NASCAR Busch Series will return to action Saturday, June4, on the Dover International Speedway “Monster Mile.” The MBNA 200 will roll off at 1:35 p.m. and will be telecast live on FX. MRN Radio will also broadcast the event as it happens.

The Craftsman Truck Series will complete the Dover tripleheader weekend with the MBNA 200 Friday, June 3. The event will take the green flag at 4:45 p.m. Eastern Time and will be telecast live on the Speed Channel. The event will also be broadcast live on MRN Radio.

The NHRA Pro Stock crowd was also in action battling the Kansas heat in the O’Reilly Summer Nationals at Topeka this past weekend.

Greg Anderson captured his third-straight Pro Stock event and his third-straight on the Heartland Motorsports Part drag strip defeating Dave Connolly in the finals Sunday.

Anderson’s Summit Racing Equipment Pontiac Grand Am started its march to the title defeating EMP Stewart Components racer Jeg Coughlin in Round 1 eliminations Sunday with a 6.759-second, 203.31 mph pass. Coughlin got a great hole shot to lead early, but Anderson was able to motor past at half track to take the win with the second quick time of the session.

Also in Round 1 eliminations Sunday, Warren Johnson turned in a 6.784, 203.03 pass to defeat fellow EMP Stewart Components driver Larry Morgan. The news wasn’t as good for Kurt Johnson as his AC Delco Chevy Cobalt fell to Richie Stevens Mopar/Valspar Dodge Stratus as Stevens shot out of the gate quickest and scored his first win over Johnson since 1999.

Jim Yates (left) also found the going tough in Round 1 eliminations Sunday as Greg Stanfield trailered Yates’ EMP Stewart Components cooled Pontiac Grand Am.

The road ended for Warren Johnson in Round 2 eliminations as Connolly got the best of Johnson’s GM Performance Parts Grand Am by a scant 0.0014 seconds or approximately five inches. That set up the Connolly-Anderson final where Anderson prevailed for the third-straight year at Topeka.

The NHRA Pro Stock division will take a week off before returning to the track for the Carquest Auto Parts Nationals at Route 66 Speedway near Joliet, IL, Saturday-Sunday, June 9-12.

The Sunday, June 12 final-round action will be televised on ESPN2 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Time.

Also at Topeka this weekend, the Nitto NHRA Sport Compact Summer Nationals rattled the windows in the 17th annual O'Reilly NHRA Summer Nationals.

Matt Hartford won his second NHRA Sport Compact Pro RWD (rear wheel drive) event of the season taking out EMP Stewart Components racer Stephan Papadakis (pictured left) in the final round. An EMP Stewart Components Electric Water Pump (pictured below right) cools Papadakis’ AEM-sponsored 2003 Honda Civic.

Hartford’s Summit Racing 2004 Cavalier started its march to the title by trailering EMP Stewart Components racer Ara Arslanian and his Bullish Racing '2002 Toyota Solara in Round 1.

Also in Round 1 eliminations, Brad Personett defeated 2004 NHRA Sport Compact titlest Matt Scranton in a battle of EMP Stewart Components racers.

Meanwhile, Papadakis advanced past the first round of eliminations with a win of Abel Ibarra.

In Round 2, Papadakis trounced Vince Fourcade to make it to the final round while Hartford eliminated Personett from contention with a solid 211 miles per hour-plus effort. That set up the final where Hartford took top honors on the weekend and moved into the 2005 division points lead as well.

The NHRA Sony Xbox Sport Compact division will return to action June 11-12 with the second-annual Mopar Mountain Madness Sport Compact National at Bandimere Speedway in Morrison, CO.

Finally, Mike Beauchamp steered his Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula Continental entry into action at Memphis Motorsports Park Sunday.

Beauchamp’s EMP Stewart Components sponsored Van Diemen racer qualified second, a scant six-tenths of a second off the pole and finished second in the day’s main event.

“There was no touching the leader in the race,” said Beauchamp. “I was able to keep him in sight for most of the race, but Memphis was hot so my tires went away about half way through the race making sure I wouldn't be able to challenge for the win. I was able to maintain a 30-second gap back to the third- place car for another second place finish. These second-place finishes are getting tiresome. It's high time we made it to the top step of the podium.”

The Green Bay, WI driver is now second in the 2005 SCCA Formula Continental championship standings and will next return to action in the famed June Sprints at Road America near Elkhart Lake, WI on Sunday, June 26.

For news and information about all the EMP Stewart Components drivers, events, new product and trade show news, please visit www.stewartcomponents.com on a regular basis.