Jimmie Johnson 's No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was garbage on his final run in the opening Sprint Cup Series practice of the weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Go ahead and ask him, he'll tell you.
"The car was half a second faster on scuffed tires than it was when we put the stickers on to go at the end and I couldn't even stay on the racing line," Johnson said Friday at the "Magic Mile," site of Sunday's New Hampshire 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). "So, something really weird went on."
The six-time series champion was 15th in the opening practice, his 132.135 mph well off the pace set by practice leader Martin Truex Jr. 's 133.562 mph.
Johnson then went out later in the afternoon and earned his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season and his first at Loudon -- in his 29th attempt.
Sure, you could point to the changes made by crew chief Chad Knaus (Johnson indicated it was mostly an issue with the set of tires he was using), but a grueling-yet-scenic bike ride he took with pal, fellow title contender and Joe Gibbs Racing driver Matt Kenseth in between practice and qualifying certainly didn't hurt.
"With experience, I try to just wash it away and start over. I hopped on my bike; Kenseth and I went for a 32-mile bike ride and just cleared our brains," Johnson said. "I came back, clean sheet of paper and tried to walk to the race car as if it was my first time in the car and didn't have any baggage that I carried with me.
"I think experience has helped me get to that spot. Younger years, I certainly worried about things and over sensitive and over thinking a lot of what goes on. I think experience helps in these situations. Fortunately, the car was so different that one run that something was just flat-out wrong. It wasn't even the race car that I drove 10 laps prior to. Something was off."
The bike ride worked oppositely for Kenseth, who placed 10th in practice but will line up mid-pack after qualifying 18th.
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