Practice report
NASCAR Cup Fontana
Jimmie Johnson tops Friday's NASCAR Cup practice
Well, look who is back on top in a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session.
Jim Utter
Edited: Mar 15, 2019, 6:11 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson led the way in Friday’s practice session at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., the first time since last fall he’s topped the leaderboard in a Cup series practice.
The California native’s average lap speed of 179.386 mph came very early in the 50-minute session. Austin Dillon ended up second (179.350 mph) and thanks to a late-session drafting run, Chris Buescher was third (178.975 mph).
“We do have more room to run around here, more lanes and options from that standpoint with really long straightaways, so it could be a pretty exciting race that involves a lot of drafting,” Johnson said of this weekend’s race.
“I think the longer the straightaway the better this (aero) package will show and the more competitive racing it will put on. California should be a really good test for it.”
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Brad Keselowski, Chase Elliott, William Byron, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Larson.
Oddly enough, Keselowski was the only Ford driver to crack the Top 10.
Last year’s race winner, Martin Truex Jr., ended up 16th fastest.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 48 
Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 5 40.137 179.386 2 3 
Austin Dillon Chevrolet 7 40.145 0.008 0.008 179.350 3 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 7 40.229 0.092 0.084 178.975 4 18 
Kyle Busch Toyota 5 40.268 0.131 0.039 178.802 5 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 5 40.276 0.139 0.008 178.767 6 2 
Brad Keselowski Ford 6 40.359 0.222 0.083 178.399 7 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 5 40.361 0.224 0.002 178.390 8 24 
William Byron Chevrolet 5 40.425 0.288 0.064 178.108 9 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 5 40.445 0.308 0.020 178.020 10 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 5 40.521 0.384 0.076 177.686 11 10 Aric Almirola Ford 5 40.530 0.393 0.009 177.646 12 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 7 40.531 0.394 0.001 177.642 13 4 
Kevin Harvick Ford 5 40.540 0.403 0.009 177.602 14 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 5 40.548 0.411 0.008 177.567 15 38 David Ragan Ford 8 40.576 0.439 0.028 177.445 16 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 5 40.585 0.448 0.009 177.405 17 20 
Erik Jones Toyota 5 40.596 0.459 0.011 177.357 18 6 Ryan Newman Ford 7 40.599 0.462 0.003 177.344 19 21 Paul Menard Ford 5 40.644 0.507 0.045 177.148 20 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 4 40.649 0.512 0.005 177.126 21 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 5 40.667 0.530 0.018 177.048 22 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 5 40.669 0.532 0.002 177.039 23 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 5 40.713 0.576 0.044 176.848 24 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 6 40.813 0.676 0.100 176.414 25 22 Joey Logano Ford 8 40.821 0.684 0.008 176.380 26 34 Michael McDowell Ford 5 40.826 0.689 0.005 176.358 27 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 5 40.850 0.713 0.024 176.255 28 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 6 40.862 0.725 0.012 176.203 29 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 5 40.923 0.786 0.061 175.940 30 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 7 41.032 0.895 0.109 175.473 31 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 4 41.160 1.023 0.128 174.927 32 36 Matt Tifft Ford 5 41.508 1.371 0.348 173.461 33 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 1 41.619 1.482 0.111 172.998 34 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 5 42.444 2.307 0.825 169.635 35 77 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 7 42.767 2.630 0.323 168.354 36 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 3 43.053 2.916 0.286 167.236 37 66 Joey Gase Toyota 4 43.458 3.321 0.405 165.677 38 52 B.J. McLeod Ford 1 43.574 3.437 0.116 165.236
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Roundtable: The next test for NASCAR's new aero package
Next article Fontana offers Kyle Busch best chance at NASCAR win No. 200
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Pedro Acosta proposes new idea for monitoring tyre pressure in MotoGP
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 37 min
Pedro Acosta proposes new idea for monitoring tyre pressure in MotoGP
“Just a disaster” – How Isack Hadjar’s nightmare Singapore F1 weekend unfolded
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
“Just a disaster” – How Isack Hadjar’s nightmare Singapore F1 weekend unfolded
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
7 h
Tom Cruise interested in racing ARCA car, per NASCAR CEO Steve O'Donnell
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
10 h
Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe