Practice report
NASCAR Cup Kentucky
McMurray tops first NASCAR Cup practice at Kentucky
Jamie McMurray showed a little muscle during first practice at Kentucky Speedway on Friday.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Jul 7, 2017, 4:35 PM
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The driver of the No. 1 Ganassi Racing posted the fastest single-lap speed of 186.760mph after the first hour of the session.
“We have had really fast cars at all of the mile-and-a-half tracks this year, so hopefully Kentucky Speedway will be no exception,” McMurray said. “I think this race came down to a fuel mileage race last year so it will be interesting to see how that turns out with the stages this year.
“We participated in a Goodyear test there a few weeks ago and I felt like we had a really good test. We will have a new right-side tire for this weekend, so I’m looking forward to having a solid weekend .”
Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, Chase Elliott and Erik Jones rounded out the top 10 speeds. Elliott’s 66 laps were the most completed during practice.
Early in the session, Blaney topped the leader board with a lap of 185.427mph after a four-lap run. Multiple Kentucky Speedway race winner Kyle Busch was second (184.275mph) followed by Kevin Harvick (184.011mph), Kurt Busch, Elliott, Denny Hamlin, Truex Jr., Chris Buescher, Bowyer and Bubba Wallace.
Thirty cars had completed laps in the first 10 minutes. Austin Dillon jumped up to ninth 15 minutes in with a lap of 183.038mph following a nine lap run. He was bumped to 10th after the Furniture Row cars of Truex and Erik Jones moved up to first and fifth, respectively on the leader board.
Blaney returned to the top in his second four-lap run just before the 20-minute mark. Truex moved to second with Kyle Busch, Harvick, Jamie McMurray, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Larson, Jones and Elliott rounding out the top 10.
Thirty minutes into the session, Truex vaulted back to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 186.445mph. Over the next 15 minutes, 37 drivers had posted times. Truex held the top spot with Blaney, Kyle Busch, Stenhouse, Larson, Jones, Daniel Suarez, Hamlin, McMurray and Harvick completing the top 10 speeds.
One hour into first practice, McMurray emerged with the top speed — 186.780mph.
“I’m having trouble getting turned in the entry of the (right) corner,” McMurray said.
Truex was bumped to second followed by Blaney, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Larson, Elliott, Jones, Stenhouse and Johnson.Larson bounced to fourth 10 minutes later after completing his 26th lap.
With 30 minutes remaining in the 115-minute session, McMurray held top spot followed by Truex, Blaney, Larson, Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Bowyer, Elliott, Jones and Stenhouse.
Despite Bowyer riding seventh, he wasn’t happy with the handling after 36 laps.
“We have a lot of work to do somehow,” Bowyer said. “That’s no good.”
Kyle Busch’s 57 laps completed was the most with 15 minutes remaining in the session. Five minutes later, Bubba Wallace, Matt Kenseth and others were practicing pit road speed.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 1 
Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 47 28.911 186.780 2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 44 28.963 0.052 0.052 186.445 3 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 51 29.017 0.106 0.054 186.098 4 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 38 29.023 0.112 0.006 186.059 5 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 65 29.042 0.131 0.019 185.938 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 58 29.066 0.155 0.024 185.784 7 10 Danica Patrick Ford 33 29.080 0.169 0.014 185.695 8 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 42 29.084 0.173 0.004 185.669 9 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 66 29.096 0.185 0.012 185.593 10 77 Erik Jones Toyota 53 29.121 0.210 0.025 185.433 11 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 46 29.127 0.216 0.006 185.395 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 44 29.147 0.236 0.020 185.268 13 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 37 29.205 0.294 0.058 184.900 14 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 47 29.230 0.319 0.025 184.742 15 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 42 29.239 0.328 0.009 184.685 16 22 Joey Logano Ford 40 29.273 0.362 0.034 184.470 17 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 56 29.275 0.364 0.002 184.458 18 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 36 29.326 0.415 0.051 184.137 19 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 52 29.355 0.444 0.029 183.955 20 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 41 29.388 0.477 0.033 183.748 21 41 Kurt Busch Ford 49 29.397 0.486 0.009 183.692 22 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 30 29.401 0.490 0.004 183.667 23 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Ford 44 29.422 0.511 0.021 183.536 24 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 50 29.456 0.545 0.034 183.324 25 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 29 29.492 0.581 0.036 183.101 26 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 33 29.518 0.607 0.026 182.939 27 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 14 29.620 0.709 0.102 182.309 28 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 21 29.686 0.775 0.066 181.904 29 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 25 29.772 0.861 0.086 181.378 30 38 David Ragan Ford 38 29.876 0.965 0.104 180.747 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 32 30.073 1.162 0.197 179.563 32 34 Landon Cassill Ford 29 30.161 1.250 0.088 179.039 33 83 Ryan Sieg Toyota 15 30.466 1.555 0.305 177.247 34 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 19 30.737 1.826 0.271 175.684 35 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 20 30.751 1.840 0.014 175.604 36 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 43 30.911 2.000 0.160 174.695 37 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 16 30.976 2.065 0.065 174.329 38 55 Gray Gaulding Toyota 17 30.994 2.083 0.018 174.227 39 23 Joey Gase Toyota 24 31.022 2.111 0.028 174.070 40 66 Timmy Hill Chevrolet 17 31.059 2.148 0.037 173.863
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