No Surprise, Jimmie Johnson Fastest During First Dover Practice

Jimmie Johnson laid down the fastest lap during the first practice session for Sunday's Autism Speak 400 at Dover International Speedway. Johnson is a five-time Dover winner which includes winning both races last season, but hasn't won since Bristol in week which was his third win of the season.

It's been since the end of March that the Cup series has had three full practices leading into to a race due to rain and impound races. Saturday's two sessions will be very telling while the drivers run exclusively in race trim, in particular the final session, to narrowing the top candidates to win for Sunday's race. Most drivers didn't run that many laps Friday as they were preparing for qualifying.

Encouraging runs for some that need a good finish this week were Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, and Carl Edwards, all of whom brought their Bristol Chassis and finished within the top-6 there. Others who did well that weren't considered favorites were MartinTruex Jr, who won this race in 2007, Kasey Kahne, and Clint Bowyer.

We'll have a final practice write-up for Dover about three hours after Happy Hour ends and you can also listen live, or archived, to the same information broadcast on Prime Sports Network at 2 pm (PDT) Saturday.

Friday's Top 5 Fastest During Practice:
#48-Johnson 158.367
#33-Bowyer 158.075
#9-Kahne 157.860
#56-Truex Jr., 157.729
#18-Busch 157.370
slowest: #37-Conway 149.508 and #19-Sadler 152.659
incidents: #19-Sadler smacked the wall between turns 1-2 after cutting down a right front tire, flattening the right side. The team will bring out a backup car.

See Jayski.com practice page link for complete list of Speeds