Johnson is primed to rock, roll tonight

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RICHMOND, Va. - Jimmie Johnson looks ready for NASCAR's playoffs.
In the last race before the Nextel Cup Series Chase for the Championship starts, Johnson posted a Chevy Rock & Roll 400 qualifying lap that blew away the field at Richmond International Raceway. His speed was 126.296 mph; No. 2 Jeff Gordon qualified at 125.342 mph.

"I figured out how to drive this track when we were here in the spring," said Johnson, who outran Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Busch to win here in the spring. Busch qualified third Friday, giving Hendrick the top three spots in the field.

Gordon said it was clear early that Johnson had done something special. He was only the second driver to make his run, and typically, speeds get better as darkness falls.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 21st - behind both drivers he still can knock out of the Chase. No. 11 Kurt Busch will start 14th, Kevin Harvick 13th.

"Everybody knows the deal," said Earnhardt, who never made a qualifying run in practice because his team had to change a spindle on his car.

"We'll just have to go run hard and leave it to chance and see what happens to the rest of them guys and watch it and not hit the wall and not blow motors. We just have to run hard and try to be in the top five."

BUSCH WIN FOR KYLE BUSCH: Kyle Busch led four times and for all but 25 laps, and he even made overtime look easy at the Emerson Radio 250 at Richmond International Raceway, earning his ninth career NASCAR Busch Series victory and second this season.

Busch, who also started first, never gave up the lead for more than 17 laps and grabbed it for good on the 160th circuit when Matt Kenseth spun to avoid an accident.

YATES TO RETIRE: Robert Yates will retire at the end of the season and hand control of his race team to his son. Doug Yates will own and operate Yates Racing beginning Dec. 1.

The team will use the car numbers and owner points from Robert Yates Racing and will field cars for David Gilliland and Travis Kvapil.

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