CUP: Jeff Gordon, Johnson Keep Pressure On

Sprint Cup

CUP: Jeff Gordon, Johnson Keep Pressure On

Jeff Gordon has three victories this season...

Tom Jensen | Posted September 09, 2011 Richmond, VA

The Drive to End Hunger represents an unprecedented cause-based sponsorship model that put AARP on the hood of Jeff Gordon’s No. 24 Chevrolet for 22 races this year. (Photo: Getty Images)

Fresh of their 1-2 finish just three days ago at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson are keeping the heat on the competition.

Gordon and Johnson topped the speed charts at Richmond International Raceway Friday, where they led the first of two practice sessions for tomorrow night’s Wonderful Pistachios 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the 0.75-mile short track.

During the one hour, 50-minute practice, Gordon had a best lap of 126.292 miles per hour in the No. 24 Hendrick Chevrolet to Johnson’s 125.962 mph in the No. 48.

“I look at Richmond and think about how strong we were the last time we were here,” said Gordon. “I feel like our cars are better and our team is better. Certainly our confidence is higher. So I’m pretty excited about this weekend.”

“Looking forward to a good race,” said Johnson. “We ran terrible here in the spring; somehow got a good finish. We’re hoping to have another great finish but a much stronger effort from qualifying on through the race.”

Behind the Hendrick Chevys were Casey Mears, 125.927 mph in the No. 13 Germain Racing Toyota and Clint Bowyer who ran 125.921 mph in his No. 33 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

AJ Allmendinger completed the top five, followed by Carl Edwards, David Reutimann, Jeff Burton, Brad Keselowski and Mark Martin.

The final Happy Hour round of practice takes place today from 2:45-3:30 p.m. ET, with qualifying at 5:35 p.m.

Tomorrow night’s race is the 26th and final event in NASCAR’s regular season. There are 14 drivers still alive for the final three berths in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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