Johnson takes All-Star pole

Johnson and his pit crew combined their efforts to perform three laps and a four-tyre pitstop in 2:01.41, beating the previous benchmark set by his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr.

The reigning champion set the fastest first lap of the session, then had a good 14.1 second pitstop and off from the pits he was also the fastest of all the eighteen drivers completing runs.

"I think with track position as important as it's going to be in the race, to be where we are is a great situation," Johnson said. "We focused on it hard today and everybody did their jobs.

Kurt Busch was second fastest, followed by Matt Kenseth whose team performed the quickest four-tyre stop in 13.7 seconds. Earnhardt Jr dropped down to fourth place by the end of the session while Mark Martin was fifth, losing a likely pole with a sideways moment exiting the pits.

Many teams hit trouble during their runs. The pit troubles that have hampered Carl Edwards's season continued to be a headache for him after he had set the fastest overall time. He was later penalised for three loose lug nuts while his Roush Fenway team-mate Greg Biffle had a similar problem.

"It's frustrating, but that's kind of how our season has been," Edwards said. "We've just had little bitty things that keep us from reaching our potential and now is a better time than any to work them out."

Denny Hamlin faced transmission problems at the end of his run and Tony Stewart left his box prematurely after changing only two tyres and had to reverse back into it to get the left-hand side tyres changed.

Qualifying for the Sprint Showdown race, which will give the top-two finishers an entry into the All-Star race, was cancelled due to rain. Penske's David Stremme will start from pole in the 40-lap event on Saturday evening with the order determined by the draw that had set the qualifying order.

Kirk Shelmerdine got the first turn to qualify in the draw but he won't start from pole after being forced to make adjustments to his car following a practice incident caused by a cut tyre, which sent him against the wall.

Carl Long had the second turn and would have inherited pole for the Showdown but he too had to break the impound on his car to replace the engine. Both drivers will start from the back of the field.

All-Star race starting order:

Pos  Driver             Car        Speed    Time      Gap
 1.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet  44.475   2:01.416
 2.  Kurt Busch         Dodge      44.195   2:02.187  + 0.771
 3.  Matt Kenseth       Ford       43.836   2:03.185  + 1.769
 4.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  43.807   2:03.269  + 1.853
 5.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet  43.673   2:03.645  + 2.229
 6.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet  43.429   2:04.341  + 2.925
 7.  Bobby Labonte      Ford       43.424   2:04.356  + 2.940
 8.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge      43.330   2:04.626  + 3.210
 9.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  43.290   2:04.741  + 3.325
10.  Brad Keselowski    Chevrolet  43.204   2:04.987  + 3.571
11.  Greg Biffle        Ford       42.682   2:06.517  + 5.101
12.  Ryan Newman        Chevrolet  42.681   2:06.519  + 5.103
13.  Kyle Busch         Toyota     42.602   2:06.756  + 5.340
14.  Carl Edwards       Ford       39.473   2:16.802  +15.386
15.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet  39.191   2:17.788  +16.372
16.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  37.565   2:23.752  +22.336
17.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  37.144   2:25.379  +23.963
18.  Denny Hamlin       Toyota       -          -        -

Showdown starting order:

Pos  Driver             Car
 1.  David Stremme      Dodge
 2.  Dave Blaney        Toyota
 3.  Scott Riggs        Toyota
 4.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet
 5.  David Ragan        Ford
 6.  Sam Hornish Jr     Dodge
 7.  Max Papis          Toyota
 8.  A.J. Allmendinger  Dodge
 9.  Juan Montoya       Chevrolet
10.  Mike Wallace       Chevrolet
11.  David Reutimann    Toyota
12.  Marcos Ambrose     Toyota
13.  Dexter Bean        Dodge
14.  Bill Elliott       Ford
15.  Derrike Cope       Dodge
16.  Norm Benning       Chevrolet
17.  Joey Logano        Toyota
18.  Scott Speed        Toyota
19.  Joe Nemechek       Toyota
20.  David Gilliland    Chevrolet
21.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet
22.  Paul Menard        Ford
23.  Mike Garvey        Dodge
24.  Todd Bodine        Toyota
25.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge
26.  Michael Waltrip    Toyota
27.  David Starr        Dodge
28.  Jamie McMurray     Ford
29.  Brian Vickers      Toyota
30.  Robby Gordon       Toyota
31.  J.J. Yeley         Toyota
32.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge
33.  Tony Raines        Chevrolet
34.  Kirk Shelmerdine   Toyota
35.  Carl Long          Dodge