Jimmie Johnson fastest in final Sprint Cup practice at Lowe's Motor Speedway
CONCORD, N.C. - If Friday's final NASCAR Sprint Cup practice at Lowe's Motor Speedway is a precursor of things to come, points leader Jimmie Johnson could further pad his advantage in Saturday night's Bank of America 500 at the 1.5-mile track.
Johnson, who leads the standings by 72 over second-place Carl Edwards, paced the session with a lap of 183.007 mph in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Roush Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards turned the second fastest lap at 182.908, followed by teammate Jamie McMurray at 182.100.
Chip Ganassi Racing's Juan Pablo Montoya and Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle completed the top five in the one-hour practice.
Rounding out the top 10 were Hendrick's Dale Earnhardt Jr., Dale Earnhardt Inc.'s Mark Martin, Yates Racing's David Gilliland, Roush Fenway's David Ragan and Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart.
Other Chase For The Sprint Cup contenders to post speeds were Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton (13th), Hendrick's Jeff Gordon (15th), Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth (17th), JGR's Kyle Busch (18th), JGR's Denny Hamlin (24th), RCR's Kevin Harvick (26th) and RCR's Clint Bowyer (38th).
Bowyer spun off Turn 2 early in the session after hitting the wall but won't be forced to a backup car for the race.
Penske Racing rookie Sam Hornish Jr. wasn't so fortunate as he crashed and will go to a backup.
"We just tried to run some different lines because there’s so many different places that you have to be able to run at here if you want to pass anybody," Hornish said. "I started to run up top, make sure that the car was going to work up there and got really loose going into [Turn] 1.
"There wasn’t much I could do about it. [I] just tried to hold on and keep [the damage] as minimal as I could."
Coverage of the race begins at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday on ABC, followed by the green flag just after 7:25.
