NASCAR Cup

Johnson fastest at Chicagoland Happy Hour

JOLIET, Ill - Jimmie Johnson knocked out the fastest lap during final practice for the Winston Cup teams with a lap of 178.625 mph. Johnson, however, and Team Lowe's will have to start from the rear of the field on Sunday, after a practice morning ...

Published: Jul 14, 2003, 4:37 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

JOLIET, Ill - Jimmie Johnson knocked out the fastest lap during final practice for the Winston Cup teams with a lap of 178.625 mph. Johnson, however, and Team Lowe's will have to start from the rear of the field on Sunday, after a practice morning engine change. Johnson also encountered troubles on pit road during practice, making slight contact with the No. 10 Pontiac of Johnny Benson.

The No. 48 Chevy suffered slight left front damage to the Monte Carlo. The right rear of Benson's car also experienced injury on the right rear.

Johnson won his first Busch race at this track two years ago, and in his first Cup start here last year he finished fourth.

The Penske Dodge Intrepid of Ryan Newman was second fastest with a lap of 177.907 mph. Newman finished fifth at this event last year, in his first start.

Polesitter Tony Stewart posted the third fastest time at 177.602 mph. In two starts at the 1.5-mile oval Stewart has a third (2002) and 33rd (2001) place finishes.

Bill Elliott, who rolls off from the third spot Sunday, was fourth     .
fastest Elliott has two career top ten runs at Chicagoland             .

The No. 25 Chevy team of Joe Nemechek rounds out the top five quickest times at 177.369 mph. In two starts here, Nemechek has never finished better than 16th.

Happy hour was red-flagged for about fifteen minutes while track workers cleaned up from a wreck involving the No. 37 Chevy of Derrike Cope, who knocked hard into the turn three wall. He tore the right side and back end of the car completely off. He will have to haul out the back-up car, and start from the back of the pack.

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Testing continues at IMS

Next article Chicagoland: Dodge Saturday report

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”

GT World Challenge Europe Endurance

WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 4 h

Max Verstappen on GTWC Europe debut: “We’re here to win”

How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

5 h

How to watch NASCAR at Phoenix II: Weekend schedule, start time, entry list, TV

Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Phoenix II

5 h

Ryan Ellis signs multi-year NASCAR O'Reilly deal with Alpha Prime Racing

Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

11 h

Ayao Komatsu: Rafael Camara chosen for F1 2027 seat on speed, not Ferrari links

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