MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Jimmie Johnson finally wasn’t flawless at Martinsville.

The points leader and winner in five of the past six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races on the smallest, tightest oval in the series qualified 15th Friday.

Ryan Newman won the pole for Sunday’s race with a lap at 96.795 mph, followed by Jeff Gordon at 96.519. Mark Martin, who trails Johnson and Gordon at the midpoint of the 10-race playoff, will start fourth, giving Hendrick Motorsports two cars in the front two rows.

The pole is Newman’s second of the season and 45th of his career.

“It’s the place to be, no doubt, and it’s the place to finish,” Newman said.

Newman downplayed Johnson’s poor showing, saying he noticed the three-time defending series champion spent very little time in practice working on his setup for the two-lap run.

Only four of the 12 participants in the Chase for the championship qualified ahead of Johnson. Most chose to focus on their racing setup with prospects for additional practice sketchy. Heavy rain fell early at the speedway, and more is forecast for today.

Johnson said he isn’t concerned with where he will start.

“It’ll hurt us on pit road for sure, but I really think that the way the car’s going to be and how well I can work traffic here, that it shouldn’t be too big of a problem,” he said.

Montoya on Martin

Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin have tangled on the track twice during the Chase. Despite their issues, Montoya regularly seeks advice from Martin, who readily obliges.

“I ask Mark Martin a lot of questions and he helps me out a lot,” Montoya said.

During his Formula One days, Montoya said, rivals not only don’t give other racers advice, they revel in watching them struggle trying to figure out what they are doing wrong.

NASCAR is different, he said.

“It makes no sense. It’s crazy, but he does it and he helps,” he said.

“First of all, one of the biggest forms of flattery is to have someone come and want to talk to me and want my opinion or advice,” Martin said.