"We were fast in practice," said Newman, whose fourth-place finish Sunday at Texas was marred by a height stick infraction discovered after the race (the right rear of Newman's No. 12 Dodge was too high). "It wasn't a perfect lap, but it was a good lap. It was a bit conservative."

Conservative or not, it was good enough to wrest the pole from Sadler (133.412 mph), whose previous best starting position at Phoenix was ninth in 2004.

"We were so close," Sadler said. "I'd rather lose the pole by three tenths (of a second) than a hundredth."

Carl Edwards (133.378 mph) was third, followed by Mark Martin (133.368 mph) and Kasey Kahne (133.304 mph).

"I felt like I left a little bit out there, but I never imagined we'd go that fast," said Edwards, who went out 10th and didn't expect his time to stand up for the pole.

Sure enough, Newman made his qualifying run five spots later and dropped the driver of the No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford to second position, where Edwards remained until Sadler bumped him from the front row.

"It all depends on how your weekend starts out here in Phoenix," Sadler said. "Track position is very important. Pit selection is very important."

Sadler said his back is "about 80 percent." An off-track injury before the March 30 Cup race at Martinsville severely restricted his practice time that weekend.

In his first race this season in the No. 70 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet, Johnny Sauter, who replaced Jeremy Mayfield this week, grabbed the last starting spot on speed. A new driver worked for the No. 70 car, but a new crew chief (Stewart Cooper) didn't work for Kyle Petty, who was bumped from the field by Sauter.