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Posted 04/20/2012 at 06:41 PM
Jimmie Johnson had the fastest lap of Friday’s final practice session at Kansas Speedway in preparation for Sunday’s STP 400. Johnson’s top speed of 174.955 mph came on his first lap in the first few minutes of the 90 minute session which was 5 mph faster than his top speed in the days earlier session when he was 29th fastest.
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Speculation that a few teams sand-bagged it a little bit in the first session to get a better qualifying start time looked to become a reality after Johnson, Greg Biffle and Michael Waltrip Racing drivers all finished with considerably better practice times than the first session.
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Mark Martin was 19th fastest in the earlier session, but finished second fastest (174.317) in the final session. Martin Truex Jr followed suit with the third fastest lap (173.801) while slowing the reigns earlier in the day. Biffle was fourth fastest (172.310) while only finishing 30th best in the earlier session. Hamlin also came on strong in the late stages of practice with the fifth fastest lap (172.889).
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The only mishap on the final session was Tony Stewart slapping the wall, but damage to the right rear was minimal and he was able to have the 13th fastest lap when the 90 minutes was over.
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Ryan Newman led the way with most laps run (78).
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Kasey Kahne had the best 10 consecutive lap average (168.565) followed by Martin, Carl Edwards, Matt Kenseth and Johnson.
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Sunday’s race definitely has the look of being a battle between Johnson, Roush and the MWR drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. also look solid in both of the days two sessions.
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