Martin leads final practice; Yeley has engine trouble

AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Though racing part time this season, Mark Martin continues to prove, no matter the length of his absence, he can show the younger ones how it's done.

The veteran driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet topped Friday's Sprint Cup final practice session (speeds) at Phoenix International Raceway.

Martin posted a quick 1-mile lap time of 27. 843 seconds at a top speed of 129.296 mph. In Thursday's opening practice, the driver was third-quickest with a lap time of 27.277 seconds at 131.979 mph. Martin will start fourth in Saturday night's Subway Fresh Fit 500.

Overall, the field was significantly quicker on Thursday. Two-time defending champion Jimmie Johnson remained second-quickest in both sessions Friday while his teammate Jeff Gordon moved up to eighth-quickest after struggling Thursday near the bottom of the speed chart.

Phoenix native J.J. Yeley will have a deep hole to dig out of when the green flag drops. The No. 96 Hall of Fame Racing Toyota engine faltered and the team toiled during the majority of the final practice session changing motors.

In light of the change and per NASCAR rules, Yeley will start in the back of the field despite his 22nd-place qualifying effort Thursday. Sitting 33rd in the point standings, Yeley needs to post a strong finish in Saturday night's event to keep him comfortably locked into races.

"It's not where we want to be obviously but we are looking for a strong run Saturday night to improve our position," Yeley said.

Of his faltered engine, Yeley said, "It's disappointing. Everyone at Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing engines works hard and provides us with great engines. We'll have to start from the back but it's a long race and we've got a lot of time to make up ground."

Dario Franchitti, sitting outside the top 35 in owner points, dodged a bullet Friday and posted his career-best qualifying effort of 21st (read more). However, the Chip Ganassi driver sat second to last on the speed chart in Friday's final practice session with a lap time of 28.634 seconds (125.541 mph) while teammate Reed Sorenson was 10th-fastest.

The No. 40's crew chief, Steven Lane, said it was nothing to panic about and explained that Franchitti was on sticker tires while everyone else was on scuffed tires and the team spent a majority of their practice time Friday in qualifying trim, whereas most of the drivers in the top 35 were in race setups.

Martin Truex Jr. was the other Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver behind Martin to post significant speeds in the final practice session with the third-best time. Greg Biffle and Casey Mears rounded out the remaining five-fastest cars in the session.