Jimmie Johnson was fastest in Friday afternoon’s solo pre-qualifying practice session for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Surprised? We aren’t.
Johnson has won a track record five times at what he considers his home track, having grown up about 115 miles southwest of Fontana in El Cajon, a San Diego suburb.
Johnson led the way with a top speed of 188.664 mph. In fact, it was a Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut near the top of the speed charts, with teammates Jeff Gordon second-fastest (188.511) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fourth-fastest (187.740).
The other member of the HMS clan, Kasey Kahne, had struggles and was only 19th-fastest at 184.667 mph.
Rounding out the top 10 were third-fastest Clint Bowyer (187.774), Sprint Cup points leader Brad Keselowski fifth (187.003), sixth-ranked Kevin Harvick (186.645), seventh-fastest Matt Kenseth (186.446), eight-ranked Kurt Busch (185.926), Brian Vickers (185.744) was ninth-fastest and rounding things out was Tony Stewart (185.219).
Danica Patrick was 16th-fastest (184.919).
Sprint Cup rookie Parker Kligerman continued to struggle this season, managing to be only 40th-fastest (178.749).
But having the most trouble was Landon Cassill, who wrecked about midway through the session, coming out of turn 3 and slamming the turn 4 wall.
It was the second straight week that Cassill has wrecked his No. 40 Hillman Racing Chevrolet, having done so last Saturday at Bristol.
Both were hard wrecks, and it appears Cassill will have to go to a backup car for Sunday’s race, just like he had to do at Bristol.
“It’s tough on us as a team,” Cassill said. “That’s two weeks in a row we’ve wrecked a car in practice. Last week, the rear end housing broke and (today) something in the right front broke going into turn three.
“I saw something fly out of the cowl, a piece of metal the size of a socket, and we hit the wall. We’ve had a lot of highs and lows this first part of the season and we’re real fortunate to be in the position we’re in, but we’re having to earn it right now.”
Here’s how the field looked in the solo pre-qualifying practice:
1 Jimmie Johnson 188.664 mph
2 Jeff Gordon 188.511
3 Clint Bowyer 187.774
4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 187.740
5 Brad Keselowski 187.003
6 Kevin Harvick 186.645
7 Matt Kenseth 186.446
8 Kurt Busch 185.926
9 Brian Vickers 185.744
10 Tony Stewart 185.219
11 Denny Hamlin 185.214
12 Greg Biffle 185.142
13 Kyle Busch 185.066
14 Marcos Ambrose 185.047
15 Aric Almirola 185.009
16 Danica Patrick 184.919
17 Austin Dillon 184.838
18 Martin Truex Jr. 184.824
19 Kasey Kahne 184.667
20 Carl Edwards 184.644
21 Ryan Newman 184.544
22 Joey Logano 184.398
23 Kyle Larson 184.219
24 Jamie McMurray 184.200
25 Casey Mears 184.148
26 AJ Allmendinger 184.049
27 David Gilliland 183.468
28 Brian Scott 182.992
29 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 182.922
30 David Reutimann 182.811
31 Matt Crafton (for Paul Menard) 182.403
32 Michael Annett 182.260
33 Cole Whitt 181.703
34 Justin Allgaier 181.557
35 David Ragan 181.356
36 Alex Bowman 180.591
37 Ryan Truex 180.014
38 Travis Kvapil 179.574
39 Josh Wise 179.064
40 Parker Kligerman 178.749
41 Reed Sorenson 177.993
42 Joe Nemechek 177.607
43 Landon Cassill 177.550
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