Practice report
NASCAR Cup Indianapolis
Busch and Carpentier collide in practice, Johnson quickest
Jimmie Johnson led the way in Friday’s first Sprint Cup Series practice session while last year’s Brickyard 400 winner, Kyle Busch, got into an accident with Patrick Carpentier.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jul 22, 2016, 9:38 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Johnson went out early in the session mocked up for a qualifying run and posted an average lap speed of 184.185 mph which easily stood up as the top speed for the rest of session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Johnson is a four-time winner of the Brickyard 400 but has finished 14th and 15th the last two seasons.
Casey Mears was third-fastest, Kevin Harvick fourth and Ryan Newman the fifth-fastest speed. The rest of the Top 10: Carl Edwards (whose 30 laps of practice was the most of any driver), Chase Elliott, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Martin Truex Jr.
CLICK HERE for complete practice results
Busch and Carpenter get together
Just over an hour into the practice session, Kyle Busch spun out in Turn 2 while attempting to pass to the inside of Patrick Carpentier, who is driving the No. 32 Chevrolet this weekend for GoFAS Racing.
The spin brought the session to a brief halt as Busch’s No. 18 Toyota received some right-side damage in the incident.
“I was up to his (expletive) door and I’m in the (expletive) grass spinning out,” Busch said over his team radio after the incident.
Carpentier took full blame for the accident and immediately walked over to the No. 18 garage to apologize to Kyle.
"He was not very talkative, but that’s to be expected. I guess that’s racing, but it’s just sad that it happened in practice. I wish I would have let him by, but I just wanted to get some laps and some runs. A couple of laps before I let Ryan Newman by in between one and two, and that went pretty well, and I should have done that with Kyle. Like I told him, ‘The next time, I’ll do it.’”
Gordon inside the top ten
The practice session was the first time Gordon, a five-time winner of the Brickyard 400, has been on the track this season. He is substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for at least the next two races.
Gordon ended fulltime competition in the Cup series last season and spent the first half of this season as a Fox Sports NASCAR TV analyst.
During practice, Gordon said his biggest issues with his car were in Turn 1. “Can’t carry much speed in there. It’s real tight in the center,” he said over his team radio.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Jeff Gordon "overwhelmed with everything that's happened"
Next article Kyle Busch leads final practice at Indianapolis
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
More from
Jimmie Johnson
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Jimmie Johnson on the NASCAR business world: "It's a war"
Jimmie Johnson explains why the time was right for Legacy to add a third car full time
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Jimmie Johnson explains why the time was right for Legacy to add a third car full time
Why the 2027 Daytona 500 is the end of a road for Jimmie Johnson
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Daytona 500
Why the 2027 Daytona 500 is the end of a road for Jimmie Johnson
More from
Hendrick Motorsports
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
14 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Winners and losers from a different NASCAR Cup finale at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
15 h
Winners and losers from a different NASCAR Cup finale at Homestead
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
17 h
Shane van Gisbergen gets new crew chief for 2027 NASCAR Cup season
Latest news
Laurent Mekies: Liam Lawson’s fate has nothing to do with me
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
24 min
Laurent Mekies: Liam Lawson’s fate has nothing to do with me
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 5 h
Joe Gibbs Racing moves to resolve one portion of Spire countersuit
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
14 h
Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Homestead-Miami
15 h
Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss
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.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe