News Article

Jimmie Johnson puts down a monster lap to take the pole for Sunday's AAA 400

September 25, 2009
Brian Smith

It’s apparent that when Jimmie Johnson won the "Autism Speaks 400" at Dover back on the last day of May, he and his crew took a lot of notes.

Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday's AAA 400

Those notebooks came out on Friday, as Johnson dominated the field in taking the pole for Sunday’s "AAA 400" at Dover. He took to the track 32nd in the qualifying session and proceeded to swipe the top spot from fellow chaser Juan Pablo Montoya by circling the Monster Mile in 22.878 seconds for a speed of 157.346 mph. It was the fastest qualifying speed at Dover in four years, going back to Ryan Newman’s 158.102 mph qualifying time in September 2005 – a race that happened to be one of Johnson’s four wins.

Johnson was an eyelash shy of a full 1/10th of a second faster than Montoya, who will start alongside Johnson after turning a lap of 22.974 (156.699 mph). The two are separated by just 20 points in the "Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup" heading into Sunday’s race.

“The car has been super fast off the truck,” Johnson said. “I think the track changed more than we anticipated, and I really had to hang onto it the entire way around during the lap. It’s nice when it’s that out of control and you can still produce a lap like that.”

Along with the top starting spot, the pole gives Johnson the coveted first pit stall, which can give a driver a big advantage at Dover.

“There’s so much to be gained here on pit road and the fact that you only have to go a few short feet to cross the camera line makes all the difference in the world,” Johnson said.

Points leader Mark Martin relaxes on pit road prior to his qualifying run

The second row consists of two drivers who have had plenty of success at Dover in Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle. Newman qualified third with a lap of 23.019 seconds (156.393 mph), while Biffle will start fourth after turning a lap of 23.035 seconds (156.284 mph). Biffle has two NASCAR Sprint Cup wins at Dover – including the September race a year ago – and also has won two NASCAR Nationwide Series events here, while Newman has three wins and four poles at Dover in his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.

David Reutimann qualified fifth, while Kasey Kahne rebounded from a poor morning practice session to take the sixth spot as he looks to recover from a 38th-place finish last week at Loudon. Jeff Gordon qualified seventh, with Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish Jr. and Paul Menard rounding out the top 10. Rookie Joey Logano will start 11th.

Among the rest of the Chase drivers, Brian Vickers qualified 12th, Denny Hamlin 13th, Kurt Busch 16th, Tony Stewart 22nd and Carl Edwards 30th. Busch will be part of a family row when he starts alongside his brother Kyle, who qualified 15th.

NASCAR Nationwide Series - Second practice recap

Happy Hour for the NASCAR Nationwide Series still held a distinct Sprint Cup flavor, as did the morning practice – but things shuffled around a bit in the 70 minutes the cars spent making laps at Dover on Friday afternoon.

Matt Kenseth turned the quickest lap at 23.626 seconds (152.375 mph) in a final practice session that saw the top-11 speeds come from NASCAR Sprint Cup regulars. Mike Bliss was just behind at 23.671 seconds (152.085 mph), followed by Clint Bowyer, Ryan Newman and Carl Edwards in the top-five.

Scott Speed was sixth fastest followed by Brad Keselowski seventh, and points leader Kyle Busch in eighth. David Reutimann and Jason Leffler rounded out the top-10.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - First practice recap

Jimmie Johnson started things off at Dover on Friday the same way he left the track back in May when he won the "Autism Speaks 400". Johnson turned the fastest lap in the opening NASCAR Sprint Cup practice on Friday morning, besting the field with a lap of 22.781 seconds for a speed of 158.026 mph. He was a tenth-and-a-half faster than his closest pursuer, Ryan Newman, who circled the track in 22.927 seconds for a speed of 157.020 mph.

Stewart Haas Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart

Johnson, who enters the weekend tied for second place with Denny Hamlin in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup," has been one of the most successful drivers at Dover over the past seven or eight years. He’s won four times here and has led at least a lap in 10 of the 15 NASCAR Sprint Cup races he’s run at the Monster Mile. This weekend, he’ll try to duplicate a feat he accomplished in 2002 when he won both of Dover’s NASCAR Sprint Cup races.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who lurks just 20 points behind Johnson and Hamlin, ran third fastest with a lap of 22.932 seconds (156.986 mph). Kurt Busch, who’s 10 points behind Montoya in the Chase, was fifth fastest with a lap of 23.007 seconds (156.474 mph). In between the two was Greg Biffle, the ninth-ranked driver in the Chase. Biffle ran a lap of 22.937 seconds (156.952 mph).

Points leader Mark Martin was ninth fastest in the practice with a lap of 23.114 seconds (155.570 mph), which came on his 11th and final lap of the practice. Kasey Kahne, who’s 12th in the Chase standings after blowing an engine last week at Loudon, seemed to still be trying to shake his troubles – his fastest lap came in at just 23.599 seconds (152.529 mph), which was 40th out of the 44 cars on the track.

NASCAR Nationwide Series - First practice recap

The NASCAR Sprint Cup crossovers dominated the NASCAR Nationwide Series practice on Friday morning at Dover, with the top eight laps coming from regulars on NASCAR’s top circuit. Clint Bowyer, No. 29 Holiday Inn Chevrolet, was the quickest in the session, posting a lap of 23.488 seconds (153.270 mph) halfway through his 23-lap practice. He was closely followed by Denny Hamlin’s lap of 23.492 (153.244 mph), while Matt Kenseth (23.534, 152.970 mph) and David Reutimann (23.557, 152.821 mph) ran third and fourth, respectively.

NASCAR Nationwide Series points leader Kyle Busch ran fifth fastest at 23.588 seconds (152.620 mph). Last September, Busch won the NASCAR Nationwide series race from the pole here at Dover. Ryan Newman was sixth, followed by Busch’s points pursuer, Carl Edwards, who ran in 23.606 second (152.504 mph).

Rookie John Wes Townley was the fastest driver not on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit. He circled the Monster Mile in 23.692 seconds (151.950 mph).

NASCAR action kicks off on Saturday with NASCAR Nationwide Series qualifying at 10:35 a.m. The NASCAR Sprint Cup cars hit the track for two afternoon practice sessions, followed by the day's main event, the Dover 200 NASCAR Nationwide series race. Gates open at 9 a.m. and tickets are still available by visiting gates 4 or 11 at the Speedway.