Road course specialist Ron Fellows gave a clear signal of his intents this weekend as he set the fastest Nextel Cup practice time in Saturday's opening session but by the end of the day a familiar name was atop the timing sheet.
Defending Watkins Glen winner Tony Stewart set fastest time in final Happy Hour practice, pushing an inspired Fellows back to third behind a resurgent Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Earlier in the day Fellows, who will start Sunday's AMD at the Glen from 18th position in the #32 PPI Motorsports Chevrolet, had paced the 43-strong starting field in morning practice, leading Bud Pole winner Kurt Busch and Roush teammates Greg Biffle and Jamie McMurray with Stewart only fifth.
But in the afternoon the story was different as the driver of the #20 Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet outpaced the rest of the field in full race trim. Earnhardt Jr popped up out of virtually nowhere with one of his most accomplished road course laps in recent years with Fellows and Belgian Marc Goossens completing a strange looking top four.
Of the other road course aces, Boris Said and Robby Gordon both showed well with Said sixth and seventh in the two sessions and Gordon seventh and eleventh.
