After coming close to victory last year, Clint Bowyer would lead the final practice at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 19.518 seconds, 97.018 mph. Bowyer restarted last year’s spring race late in the third position, though spun out after going three-wide underneath Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson. Bowyer will start Sunday’s race in 15th position. He has two top fives and eight top 10s in 14 starts on the paperclip.
Pole sitter Jimmie Johnson was second in practice, 0.147 seconds off of Bowyer’s quick time. Johnson has won at Martinsville before – in total, seven times in 22 starts. Since finishing 35th in his first ever start at Martinsville, Johnson has finished no worse than 12th in the 21 starts that followed.
Carl Edwards was third in practice and has only five top 10s in 17 starts at Martinsville. He will start Sunday’s race from the ninth position.
Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton rounded out the top five.
Brad Keselowski was sixth, followed by Paul Menard, Brian Vickers, points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kevin Harvick.
Last year’s race winner Ryan Newman was 14th.
Mark Martin, who is filling in for Denny Hamlin, was 20th.
The Sprint Cup Series will take to the track for 500 laps tomorrow afternoon at 1pm EST.
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