Hendrick Motorsports swept the top three positions in Saturday morning's chilly Sprint Cup practice session at the Martinsville as the most dominant team at the track over the last decade showed that their winless start to the 2008 season was a mere blip on the radar.
Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson led Dale Earnhardt Jr and Coors Pole Award winner Jeff Gordon with a best time of 19.870-seconds (95.299mph) ahead of Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at the flat, half-mile oval.
Roush-Fenway Racing's Jamie McMurray broke the Hendrick monopoly with fourth fastest time followed by the continually impressive Aric Almirola, Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Juan Montoya and Reed Sorenson, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and David Ragan.
Denny Hamlin, who led Friday's opening practice session and qualified alongisde Gordon on the front row of the 43-car starting grid, was 13th fastest in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Oval racing rookies Patrick Carpentier and Dario Franchitti, who both survived Friday's qualifying gauntlet, were 20th and 37th fastest respectively while Cup Series debutant Michael McDowell was 42nd but still just four tenths of a second slower than session leader Johnson.
![Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. [Pic Credit image.net]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/416205.jpg)
