Practice report
NASCAR Cup Atlanta
Stenhouse tops first Atlanta Cup practice over Larson and Wallace
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. stopped the Bow-Tie Brigade at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Feb 23, 2018, 6:26 PM
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With less than 10 minutes remaining in first practice for the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500, Stenhouse Jr. jumped to the top of the leader board with a speed of 186.384mph (29.745-sec).
Kyle Larson was second followed by Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., Ty Dillon, Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, William Byron, Joey Logano and Martin Truex Jr.
Wallace set the quick pace early after a two-lap run. He posted a fast lap of 185.834mph which held after the first 15 minutes. During a drive with team owner Richard Petty at a local Coca-Cola appearance, Wallace asked the King what his expectations were for the year.
“I wanted to see what his take was and he says looking back on last year, they knew where they stood, 15th to 20th more so on the back side of that,” Wallace said. “And he wants to improve to a top 8 to a top 12 team. And I’m like, okay, that’s right in the ballpark I was saying. I was saying top 10 to top 15, so he says yes there are going to be days where we are better than that, and there’s going to be days when we’re worse than that. But, we all have to keep in once piece and bring it home and let us work on it and not get behind.”
Ty Dillon was second-quick (185.648mph) in that first run followed by Bowman, Byron, Bowyer, Newman, Almirola, Menard, Allmendinger and Johnson.
After the first 30 minutes, Brad Keselowski and Harvick 17 laps—the most during the session. Only 30 drivers had posted laps.
Thirty-five minutes into the session, Larson topped Wallace’s speed with a lap of 185.915mph. Ty Dillon fell to third followed by Bowman, Byron, Bowyer, Newman, Almirola, Menard and Allmendinger.
Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick’s 19 laps each were the most completed at the 45-minute mark. The top 10 speeds remained the same followed by Johnson, Chris Buescher, Erik Jones, Kasey Kahne, Ryan Blaney, Jamie McMurray, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Denny Hamlin.
Thirty-five cars posted times after the first hour. Chevrolet drivers held the top-five speeds. Bowyer in a Ford ran sixth while Jones’ lap of 182.850mph was P15— the best lap for a Toyota. Johnson’s 20 circuits were the first completed in practice.
Stenhouse vaulted over Larson with a lap of 186.384mph at the one hour, 12-minute mark. Wallace dropped to third followed by Ty Dillon, Bowman, Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, Logano and Martin Truex Jr.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 17 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 19 29.745 186.384 2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 5 29.820 0.075 0.075 185.915 3 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 16 29.833 0.088 0.013 185.834 4 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 19 29.863 0.118 0.030 185.648 5 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 14 29.920 0.175 0.057 185.294 6 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 18 29.935 0.190 0.015 185.201 7 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 21 29.971 0.226 0.036 184.979 8 24 William Byron Chevrolet 18 30.022 0.277 0.051 184.665 9 22 Joey Logano Ford 20 30.028 0.283 0.006 184.628 10 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 7 30.037 0.292 0.009 184.572 11 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 21 30.054 0.309 0.017 184.468 12 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 14 30.060 0.315 0.006 184.431 13 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 7 30.130 0.385 0.070 184.003 14 10 Aric Almirola Ford 11 30.136 0.391 0.006 183.966 15 21 Paul Menard Ford 13 30.169 0.424 0.033 183.765 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 23 30.175 0.430 0.006 183.728 17 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 17 30.178 0.433 0.003 183.710 18 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 14 30.199 0.454 0.021 183.582 19 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 17 30.240 0.495 0.041 183.333 20 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 5 30.258 0.513 0.018 183.224 21 41 Kurt Busch Ford 19 30.300 0.555 0.042 182.970 22 20 Erik Jones Toyota 11 30.320 0.575 0.020 182.850 23 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 16 30.322 0.577 0.002 182.838 24 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 21 30.346 0.601 0.024 182.693 25 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 15 30.373 0.628 0.027 182.531 26 34 Michael McDowell Ford 5 30.416 0.671 0.043 182.272 27 38 David Ragan Ford 12 30.449 0.704 0.033 182.075 28 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 9 30.503 0.758 0.054 181.753 29 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 13 30.533 0.788 0.030 181.574 30 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 14 30.725 0.980 0.192 180.439 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 10 30.750 1.005 0.025 180.293 32 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 10 31.145 1.400 0.395 178.006 33 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 7 31.966 2.221 0.821 173.434 34 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 6 32.028 2.283 0.062 173.099 35 00 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 12 32.762 3.017 0.734 169.220
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