Kyle Busch fastest in Saturday's first Cup practice
Kyle Busch, whose most recent Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway came in 2011, was fastest in Saturday’s practice session.
Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota
Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
It was touch-and-go with the approaching rain, but Cup were able to complete the entire 55-minute first practice with Busch posting the fastest average single lap speed (128.865 mph).
Rookie Erik Jones spent much of the session atop the leaderboard and ended up with the second-fastest speed (128.649 mph). Denny Hamlin was third-fastest, Kevin Harvick fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fifth.
Rounding out the top-10: Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney and Matt Kenseth.
There were two incidents on the track during the practice session.
About 20 minutes into the session, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun and hit the wall, suffering damage to the right-rear quarter-panel area of his No. 17 Ford.
After evaluating his car in the garage, his Roush Fenway Racing team firstdecided to pull out his backup car. However, when it appeared weather would prevent them from getting the car on the track in the second practice, the team elected to repair the damage.
With nine minutes left in the session, Kyle Larson – who will start Sunday’s race from the pole after qualifying was rained out Friday – spun while attempting to work in the top groove of the track.
Larson appeared to make only slight contact with the wall with the right-rear of his No. 42 Chevrolet and his Chip Ganassi Racing team will repair the damage.
He ended up with the 17th-fastest speed in the practice session.
Jones had the fastest average lap speed of those who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (127.128 mph). He was followed by Kahne, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 46 | 14.890 | 128.865 | ||
2 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 65 | 14.915 | 0.025 | 0.025 | 128.649 |
3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 76 | 14.970 | 0.080 | 0.055 | 128.176 |
4 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 65 | 14.980 | 0.090 | 0.010 | 128.091 |
5 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 65 | 14.990 | 0.100 | 0.010 | 128.005 |
6 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 85 | 15.004 | 0.114 | 0.014 | 127.886 |
7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 32 | 15.011 | 0.121 | 0.007 | 127.826 |
8 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 28 | 15.012 | 0.122 | 0.001 | 127.818 |
9 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 55 | 15.028 | 0.138 | 0.016 | 127.682 |
10 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 41 | 15.033 | 0.143 | 0.005 | 127.639 |
CLICK HERE for complete practice results
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments