Johnson returns to form at Vegas with fast practice

LAS VEGAS -- Jimmie Johnson is back.

The three-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion, who suffered through what car owner Rick Hendrick called his team's worst race ever last year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, backed up his strong qualifying run by topping the speed charts in Saturday's final practice for the Shelby 427.

What a difference it was from last year for Johnson, whose team completely missed the setup on the 1.5-mile desert facility and finished a distant two laps down. The No. 48 team learned from that experience, bringing a new setup, and the results showed on the race track. Saturday, he looked more like the Johnson who won three in a row at Las Vegas between 2005-07.

"We are better here, especially compared to last year and how bad we were here," said Johnson, who posted a top speed of 182.587 mph. "This is a nice surprise."

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jeff Gordon, posted the second-fastest speed in final practice. Former Indianapolis 500 champion Sam Hornish Jr. was a surprising third, with Las Vegas native Kurt Busch fourth and former track winner Mark Martin fifth.

"I think that we were pretty good during the last session," Hornish said. "We started off way too tight and made some adjustments to loosen the car up a bit. We ran a lot of laps and I feel real comfortable with the track. The crew on the Mobil 1 Dodge was really busy [Saturday] and even busier [Friday] when I tore the car up a bit. I'm proud of the car they gave me and all the work they did to get us ready. I think that as a team we're getting better and better every week. I'm looking forward to [Sunday] and getting out there and racing."

Also in final practice:

• The Las Vegas struggles continued for Matt Kenseth, winner of the first two Sprint Cup races this year. Kenseth, who qualified 40th, was 20th in Happy Hour.

• Dale Earnhardt Jr. showed signs of snapping out of his early-season slump in Saturday's first practice, posting the fastest lap of the session. In final practice he slipped to 19th. After crashing in the Daytona 500 and suffering an engine failure last week at California, Earnhardt is a precarious 35th in points entering the Las Vegas race.

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"Two races, it is tough when you get in a hole like we are, ain't no doubt about it, man," Earnhardt said. "All you can do is go back to the race track and hope that something good happens. Hope that you can regain some ground. It is going to take a lot of races. You are going to have to string a lot of runs together to come out of the hole we are in, but we have done it before, and it is very frustrating.

"It is more common for us to start the season off like this, and it is very frustrating. We could have just as easily had two good runs. Either we beat ourselves or something bites us. Hopefully we'll be able to do just that, to turn it around and get some runs together in the next 10 weeks that will put us back up in the top 15, if not in the top 12. I know damn good and well where I am sittin' right now."

• Kyle Busch's engine failure is the only downer in what's shaping up as a strong homecoming weekend. Kurt's little brother was sixth-fastest in final practice, one day after winning the pole in qualifying. Of course, because of the engine change, he'll have to start at the back.

• Jamie McMurray may be sick -- he was headed back to the infield care center after Saturday's final practice to try and find something to relieve his chest congestion -- but his car looks great. McMurray posted the seventh-fastest speed in final practice, leading a Roush Fenway Racing contingent that also saw Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle crack the top 12.

It was a nice turnaround for McMurray, who was 20th in opening practice on Friday.

"I think [Friday] the baseline setup that we all started with was just way too tight," he said. "Typically, we unload so close that I think everyone was scared to divert from it too much. They thought maybe we could do it with small adjustments and we weren't able to do that, so they regrouped [Friday] night and unloaded [Saturday] and we were a lot closer in the first practice. By the second practice they made big improvements and it looks like all the Roush cars are pretty good now, but our car is really good."