Jimmie Johnson Leads Opening Sprint Cup Practice at Pocono

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August 3, 2012

[media-credit id=62 align=”alignright” width=”320″][/media-credit]Following his dominating win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Jimmie Johnson is looking to continue the success to Pocono Raceway as he led the opening practice for the Sprint Cup Series.

Johnson would lap the tricky triangle with a lap of 51.638 seconds. The five-time Sprint Cup Champion is looking for his third win in the triangle after scoring two wins, nine top fives and 15 top 10s in 21 starts.

This year, statistically, has already proven to be better than last year as he has 10 top fives in 20 races, while only scoring 14 top fives last year in 36 races.

Kyle Busch was second in practice with a lap of 51.726 seconds, 0.088 seconds off of Johnson. Busch is looking for his first Pocono victory this weekend after scoring only four top fives and five top 10s in 15 starts.

Carl Edwards was third, followed by Roush-Fenway teammates Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle.

Kasey Kahne was sixth with Joey Logano seventh. If Logano is able to score the pole this weekend, it will mark his third pole in a row at the tricky triangle. Logano is also going for the Pocono sweep after winning the race at Pocono earlier this year.

Points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eighth, followed by Mark Martin and Casey Mears.

Paul Menard was forced to his back-up car after catching fire during practice. He timed in 28th.

PRACTICE SPEEDS

Pennsylvania 400 | Pocono Raceway

08/03/2012 | Race 21 of 36 | Practice 1

FIN	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND

1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	174.290	51.638	Leader
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	173.994	51.726	-0.088
3	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	173.967	51.734	-0.096
4	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Zest	173.950	51.739	-0.101
5	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	173.772	51.792	-0.154
6	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	173.755	51.797	-0.159
7	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	173.621	51.837	-0.199
8	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Diet Mountain Dew / AMP Energy / National Guard	173.615	51.839	-0.201
9	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	173.548	51.859	-0.221
10	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	173.444	51.890	-0.252
11	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	MDS Transport	173.214	51.959	-0.321
12	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	173.130	51.984	-0.346
13	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Automotive Lift Institute	172.994	52.025	-0.387
14	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	172.951	52.038	-0.400
15	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-hour Energy	172.934	52.043	-0.405
16	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Plinker Tactical	172.881	52.059	-0.421
17	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Haas Automation / Quicken Loans	172.874	52.061	-0.423
18	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	172.798	52.084	-0.446
19	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot “Back to School”	172.748	52.099	-0.461
20	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	172.612	52.140	-0.502
21	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	172.596	52.145	-0.507
22	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Allstate	172.510	52.171	-0.533
23	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	172.384	52.209	-0.571
24	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Enersys / Odyssey Battery	172.305	52.233	-0.595
25	38	David Gilliland	Ford	ModSpace	172.097	52.296	-0.658
26	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	171.910	52.353	-0.715
27	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	171.828	52.378	-0.740
28	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / Serta	171.828	52.378	-0.740
29	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	171.713	52.413	-0.775
30	30	David Stremme	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	171.703	52.416	-0.778
31	34	David Ragan	Ford	Taco Bell	171.533	52.468	-0.830
32	98	Mike Skinner	Ford	TRAQM.com	171.438	52.497	-0.859
33	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves	171.311	52.536	-0.898
34	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Scott Products	171.226	52.562	-0.924
35	191	Reed Sorenson	Ford	Plinker Tactical	171.116	52.596	-0.958
36	37	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Max Q Motorsports	170.976	52.639	-1.001
37	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	170.973	52.640	-1.002
38	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	170.882	52.668	-1.030
39	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	TMone.com	170.765	52.704	-1.066
40	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	170.432	52.807	-1.169
41	51	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction Services	169.965	52.952	-1.314
42	33	Stephen Leicht*	Chevrolet	Little Joes Autos.com	169.367	53.139	-1.501
43	36	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	@TMone / CRM Hiring Veterans	169.278	53.167	-1.529
44	32	John Wes Townley	Ford	Zaxby’s	–	–	–

* Denotes Rookie

Venturini Motorsports teammates Poole and Reed lead ARCA Practice at Pocono

By

SM Staff

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August 3, 2012

[media-credit name=”ARCARacing.com” align=”alignright” width=”345″][/media-credit]Following a mock qualifying run by each of the Venturini Motorsports teammates right at the end of the practice session at Pocono Raceway, Brennan Poole would lead practice with his teammate Ryan Reed second.

Poole posted the fastest lap at 52.494 seconds, beating Reed by 0.013 seconds.

Both drivers are looking for success this year in Venturini’s 30th year competiting in the ARCA Series. It marks the first full season for both drivers and they’ve been impressive as Poole has two wins, while Reed is looking for his first win to go with his four top fives.

Alex Bowman led most of the 80 minute practice and was in the garage making changes to run a mock qualifying run, however did not make it out on track before the end of the session. Bowman would finish the session third, less than 0.2 seconds behind Poole.

“We’ve got that different tapered spacer for the old-style motors and that’s definitely helping us out a bit,” Bowman says. “Everybody at Cunningham Motorsports prepared the same race car. We’re the same as we were, just different gears. (Crew chief) Paul Andrews is definitely doing a great job, we’ve got great Penske horsepower, and it’s cool to have St. Jude’s on board. I definitely feel like we’re the fastest car here.”

A.J. Henriksen was fourth and Frank Kimmel was fifth. It was Kimmel that took the checkered flag first in the last race for the ARCA Racing Series for his 75th ARCA win.

Chad Hackenbracht, Matt Lofton, Chris Buescher, Will Kimmel, and Grant Enfinger rounded out the top 10. Buescher currently leads Poole by 20 points in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards point standings. Both drivers are looking for their first championship.

Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will begin at 5:15 p.m. Live timing and scoring coverage from the session will be available on ARCARacing.com.

Practice Results

2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Event #14
Pocono Raceway, Long Pond Pennsylvania, 8-4-12
Pennsylvania ARCA 125

August 3, 2012 / 3:11 PM

POS	NO	DRIVER/HOMETOWN	TEAM & CAR	TIME	SPEED
1	25	Brennan Poole/The Woodlands TX	Cometic Gasket-Midas-Venturini Motorsports Toyota	52.494	171.448
2	15	Ryan Reed/Bakersfield CA	JDRF Ford	52.507	171.406
3	22	Alex Bowman/Tucson AZ	St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Dodge	52.675	170.859
4	55	AJ Henriksen/Elgin IL	Engineered Components Company Toyota	53.156	169.313
5	44	Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN	Ansell-Menards Toyota	53.242	169.039
6	58	Chad Hackenbracht/New Philadephia OH	CGH Motorsports Chevrolet	53.302	168.849
7	16	Matt Lofton/Roxboro NC	Strutmasters.com Chevrolet	53.557	168.045
8	17	Chris Buescher/Prosper TX	Reliance Tool-BeavEx Ford	53.705	167.582
9	68	Will Kimmel/Clarksville IN	Knuth Machine Tools Ford	54.104	166.346
10	09	Grant Enfinger/Fairhope AL	Casite-Roush Yates Performance Products Ford	54.168	166.150
11	95	Michael Leavine/Bullard TX	WRL General Contractors Ford	54.256	165.880
12	32	Matt Merrell/Portland TX	Toyota of Scranton-Red Line Oil Toyota	54.314	165.703
13	66	Nelson Canache/Caracas Venezuela	Venezuela Tourism Toyota	54.443	165.311
14	23	Spencer Gallagher/Las Vegas NV	Allegiant Air Chevrolet	54.950	163.785
15	61	Aleks Gregory/Baton Rouge LA	The Mosquito Patch Chevrolet	55.454	162.297
16	99	Brandon Davis/Huntington Beach CA	Roulo Brothers Racing Ford	55.529	162.077
17	02	Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL	Southwest Florida Cable Construction Ford	55.608	161.847
18	35	Tom Berte/New Berlin WI	CGS Premier Chevrolet	55.609	161.844
19	88	Buster Graham/Lafayette LA	Batter’s Dream-RoushYatesParts.com Ford	55.897	161.010
20	13	George Cushman/Waterville NY	Cushman Truck Repair Chevrolet	55.954	160.846
21	5	Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA	Lucas Oil Chevrolet	56.094	160.445
22	07	Brian Kaltreider/Reading PA	Independent Graphics-Lica Ford	56.510	159.264
23	3	Steve Fox/Hazleton PA	Universe Towing & Auto Body-The Southside Dodge	56.797	158.459
24	10	Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY	Milwaukee Crusher Company-Double H Ranch Chevy	57.202	157.337
25	04	Larry Barford Jr./Denton MD	First Mariner Bank-Trauma Doc Dodge	57.509	156.497
26	94	Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela	Corazon Venezulano-Cantv-Milka Way Toyota	57.948	155.312
27	40	Maryeve Dufault/Sorel Quebec	M5 Sports Entertainment Dodge	58.215	154.599
28	06	Tommy O’Leary/Cygnet OH	GreatRailing.com Ford	58.700	153.322
29	34	Darrell Basham/Henryville IN	Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet	59.319	151.722
30	43	Kyle Martel/Lebanon PA	The Breast Cancer Coalition Chevrolet	59.545	151.146
31	7	Brent Cross/Cortland NY	Bestdeck-Cummings Auto Machine Chevrolet	60.239	149.405
32	18	Rick Clifton/Circleville OH	C&B Farm Supply-Liberty Link Chevrolet	61.211	147.032
33	0	Don Thompson/Carlisle PA	JMPCO Ford	62.297	144.469
34	48	James Hylton/Inman SC	Radon.com Ford	63.225	142.349
35	69	Clair Zimmerman/Denver PA	Tilted Kilt Ford	67.558	133.219