Johnson, Stewart shape up to be favorites at Brickyard

INDIANAPOLIS -- If you follow the prognosticators, Sunday's race may come down to a two-way battle between the California kid, Jimmie Johnson, and Indiana's favorite, Tony Stewart.

The speed chart from Saturday's final practice session in preparation for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard bolsters those predictions as both drivers were among the fastest on the track. Johnson led most of the session until Stewart-Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman turned a couple of fast laps near the end to top the list. Stewart then floated in and out of the 10th-quickest spot on the chart ahead of four-time winner Jeff Gordon.

Allstate 400

Happy Hour Speeds

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1	Ryan Newman	176.706
2	Denny Hamlin	176.678
3	Jimmie Johnson	176.571
4	Carl Edwards	176.312
5	Mark Martin	176.049
6	Brian Vickers	176.012
7	Joey Logano	175.871
8	Kyle Busch	175.829
9	Kasey Kahne	175.757
10	Greg Biffle	175.517

• Practice 3 Speeds

But it's Johnson and Stewart that have combined for the last four Brickyard victories, trading punches like two heavyweights going after the belt.

Starting with Stewart's win in 2005, he and Johnson have swapped Brickyard wins since then, ending with Johnson's in 2008. Johnson already has identified Stewart as his toughest competitor in Sunday's race.

"I know coming to this track that Tony always finds more -- and I know he's giving 100 percent at every track, but he just seems to step it up a notch here each time we come," Johnson said. "I know it's going to be a great battle and I assume there's going to be other cars in there as well. I think in between Jeff [Gordon] and Tony and their desire to win here, it's going to be tough for somebody to take one of those two down."

Johnson is a two-time winner, but still he's not known for his consistency at the famed 2.5-mile oval that is considered to be one of the most technically difficult on the circuit.

"For us it's either been in the fence or Victory Lane," Johnson said. "I've hit the wall here a few times pretty hard and I don't want to do that again. You know it took me a while to get the track. It took Chad [Knaus, cew chief] a while to understand the track. Then in 2006 it just made sense to us and we were fast since then. Hopefully I can apply those things to my driving techniques today. I've been going through my notes and hopefully all those reference points still work the same and the cars react the same and I can go out there and be competitive."

Stewart, who won both in 2005 and 2007 with Joe Gibbs Racing, said it could come down to a prize fight between he and Johnson.

"You never know," Stewart said. "I guess by stats, yes. But by all practicality, there is a bunch of guys that are able to be out there and run fast. It is hard to say, before we get on the race track, who is going to be good. The good thing is we had an extra week to get ready and the guys have had a break and they are fresh and ready to go. They know the importance of what it means to me and it means a lot to everybody. Everybody in this series has started to realize how important Indianapolis is."

Stewart ended Saturday's 90-minute practice session 11th-fastest at 175.435 mph.

Stewart-Haas teammate Newman ended on top at 176.706 mph. Denny Hamlin was second at 176.678 mph, followed by Jimmie Johnson (176.571), Carl Edwards (176.312) and Sunday's pole-sitter Mark Martin (176.049 mph).

As for the tires, which were a concern after last year's debacle, Goodyear and the drivers reported no issues despite the rain that fell early Saturday on the track.

"We've run it in all kinds of conditions. When we came back here in early June, it had rained considerably since the Indy 500. So we feel like we've run on a very green race track," said Greg Stucker, Goodyear's director of race tire sales. "And it really doesn't worry us at all. We think we're good for a gas-up right off the bat, no matter what the conditions are."