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Posted 08/17/2012 at 03:25 PM
Jimmie Johnson had the fastest lap in Friday’s first practice session in preparation for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400. Johnson’s fast lap of 197.450 mph in qualifying trim was on the final of his 14 laps run, which was more than 7 mph slower than the top speed obtained by Greg Biffle during practice before June’s Michigan race.
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Michigan is one of five tracks on the circuit Johnson has never won at and will be using his fifth-place chassis from the June race. This same car is also the one that Johnson used to win the All-Star race at Charlotte in May.
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Johnson’s teammate, Kasey Kahne, had the second fastest lap (196.861) on the final of his 19 laps run. Kahne, who won at Michigan in 2006, was surprisingly the last of the Hendrick Motorsports drivers to finish in the top-15 during practice. Dale Earnhardt Jr, who ended a 144-race winless streak at Michigan in June, was 22nd fastest during the 90-minute session and Jeff Gordon was 18th.
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Mark Martin was one of the stars from the testing and practices held before June’s race and ended up third fastest (196.786) in Fridays session. Kevin Harvick was fourth fastest followed by Martin Truex Jr..
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Earnhardt ran the most laps of the session (22) followed by Tony Stewart (21). Both Stewart and Earnhardt are using the same cars from the first Michigan race.
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Johnson had the top average speed and no driver ran 10-consecutive laps or more. The average speeds will be of more use in determining who looks the best during Saturday’s final two practice session with all drivers running in race trim throughout..
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Qualifying is scheduled for Friday at 4:10 p.m. ET.
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