RacingNation.com
Home / NASCAR / Jimmie Johnson Tops Opening Brickyard 400 Practice

Jimmie Johnson Tops Opening Brickyard 400 Practice

Jimmie Johnson topped the field by nearly two miles and hour in opening practice for the 2016 Brickyard 400. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Jimmie Johnson topped the field by nearly two miles and hour in opening practice for the 2016 Brickyard 400. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Speedway, Ind. July 22—Jimmie Johnson topped Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for this weekend’s Crown Royal presents the Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at the Brickyard as strategies varied throughout the garage with teams working on both qualifying and race set-ups.

Johnson’s top speed of 184.185 mph was nearly two miles per hour faster than Denny Hamlin who posted the second best speed of 182.563 mph late in the session. Casey Mears turned some heads with the third fastest lap at 180.346 mph while Kevin Harvick and Ryan Newman rounded out the top five at 179.845 moh and 179.784 mph respectively.

Carl Edwards ran 30 laps in the session, far more than the others at the top of the charts, and had the sixth fastest speed at 179.741 mph, while Chase Elliott followed in seventh. Tony Stewart, making his final Brickyard 400 start in this his retirement season, posted the eighth fastest speed and Jeff Gordon, coming out of retirement to sub for Dale Earnhardt Jr, was ninth. Martin Truex Jr. was the tenth fastest in the session.

Defending Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch was 12th overall despite having a minor incident in the session. Busch spun off turn two while attempting to pass Patrick Carpentier on the inside entering the turn. Busch’s car spun to the infield but missed making significant contact with the inside tire barrier although his car did sustain some minimal damage due to the contact with Carpentier.

Share Button