Mark Martin, Paul Menard lead practice sessions at AAA 400 – NASCAR news
Paul Menard and Mark Martin set the pace in the practice sessions for the AAA 400 at the Dover International Speedway on Friday, September 30, 2011.
Paul Menard clocked in at 156.027 mph, the fastest time of the day. He was followed by Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards in 2nd and 3rd places
respectively. Jeff Gordon and Kyle Busch completed the top 5. Brad Keselowski raced in at 6th with Jimmie Johnson in 7th.
The second session saw teams drop off the pace as Mark Martin clocked in at 155.072 mph in the final practice session ahead of teammate Jeff Gordon, who ran at 154.017 mph.
Jeff Gordon was the only Chase driver in the top 10 in the final session.
David Stremme finished 4th in the second practice session with Juan Montoya continuing his impressive run from last week to finish 3rd. Paul Menard, who was fastest in the first practice session, finished 9th in the second.
The highest ranked chase driver after Jeff Gordon was Kyle Busch, who ran in at 11th. Jimmie Johnson was in at 12th and Kurt Busch was ranked 14th in the practice session. Carl Edwards finished 16th, Kevin
Harvick 18th and Matt Kenseth in 20th rounded of the top 20 Chase drivers.
Brad Keselowski raced in at 22nd with Denny Hamlin taking the 24th spot.
Three drivers were really off the pace. Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 19th in the first session and was back in 37th place in the second. Ryan Newman also finished 28th in the first
session and fell further behind in the second session in 39th.
Arguably, the shock of the practice was overall points leader Tony Stewart, who was well off the pace and followed up a 25th place finish in the first session with a 41st in the second.
All the Chase drivers will be looking to up the ante in Saturday’s qualifying and with track position being so essential at Dover, they will be looking to qualify as high as possible.
The qualifying for the AAA 400 will start Saturday at 1:30pm Eastern Time (ET) while the main race is scheduled to start at 2:00pm ET on Sunday.
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