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Jeff Gordon also eclipsed Jarrett's mark, posting the second-fastest speed at 124.253 mph, with rookie Greg Biffle third at 124.033 mph. Kenseth and defending race winner Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.
Ryan Newman was only 30th fastest on the practice sheet, but he escaped injury in a crash that left him trapped inside his car.
 | VIDEO CLIPS |  | Jeff Gordon wins the Bud Pole in record time
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| |  | Newman walks away from a spectacular wreck in practice
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|  | Jarrett looks back on his Brickyard 400 pit road accident
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Newman wrecked in the right-hand Turn 8 and slammed the foam barrier off the race track. The No. 12 Dodge ended up on its driver side, leaving Newman trapped inside.
"Just got loose going into the carousel, had to correct and got it up into the stuff," Newman said. "Thankfully, this is one of the few places that's got soft walls."
Newman spent an extended period of time in the car before safety workers were able to prop it up enough to let Newman crawl out of the driver's-side window. Newman walked on his own to a nearby ambulance.
"It's pretty ridiculous," Newman said. "I sat there a good 40 seconds before anybody even came. And once they got there, they asked me if I had the power turned off. It's like, 'Hello, anybody home?' It's kind of ridiculous. I hope something gets done about it pretty soon."
As some of his Penske Racing crew worked to take the shocks off the wrecked car, crew chief Matt Borland directed others to prepare the backup car, Newman sped out of the garage to resume practice.
Newman won't have to go to the rear of the field despite using the backup car. Because the crash happened before qualifying, NASCAR considers the car Newman used in qualifying to be the primary car.
Later after practice resumed, Steve Park spun in the Inner Loop and got stuck in the grass, bringing the session to another stop. Park had only been the 45th-fastest out of 47 cars at Watkins Glen.
"I was making a taped-up, banzai run for qualifying," Park said. "This car's been real loose, and we were trying to get it settled down a little bit. I was making a banzai run and just got loose on the Inner Loop and got off the racetrack.
"I couldn't drive it around because the rocks got up in the carburetor linkage, and it jammed the throttle open. They had to push me in so the guys could blow all the rocks out."
Park's crew had to change the transmission in the car before the spin, so Park didn't get much time on the track.
"It's one of those things where you kind of lick your wounds and go get a good clean lap in qualifying," Park said. "We know we'll race good. You've got to turn your attitude around to one that's more positive: not think 'Why am I here today' to 'Looking forward to racing Sunday and racing for the win.'"
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