Practice report
NASCAR Cup Michigan II
Denny Hamlin tops Michigan Cup practice at over 202 mph
Denny Hamlin, still looking for his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, was fastest in Friday’s practice session.
Jim Utter
Edited: Sep 6, 2018, 8:57 AM
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With virtually all teams running in qualifying set-up, Hamlin set the fastest average lap speed (202.230 mph) late in the 50-minute session at Michigan International Speedway.
Hamlin has two series wins at Michigan, but his most recent came in the 2011 season. He was 12th in this season’s first event at the 2-mile oval.
Kurt Busch ended up second (201.901 mph) and Daniel Suarez was third (201.850 mph). Ryan Blaney was third and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, Alex Bowman and Paul Menard.
All of the top 15 drivers averaged at least 200 mph.
Chase Elliott, who earned his first series victory last weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, ended up 14th-fastest.
“This place is wild – it’s crazy fast,” said Martin Truex Jr., who ended up 11th-fastest and finished 18th in the June race. “I feel good about our car, though. We struggled here last time and came back with new ideas and the car is driving really good.”
Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 7 35.603 202.230 2 41 
Kurt Busch Ford 5 35.661 0.058 0.058 201.901 3 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 7 35.670 0.067 0.009 201.850 4 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 5 35.680 0.077 0.010 201.794 5 18 
Kyle Busch Toyota 6 35.682 0.079 0.002 201.782 6 22 
Joey Logano Ford 5 35.715 0.112 0.033 201.596 7 14 
Clint Bowyer Ford 5 35.715 0.112 0.000 201.596 8 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 5 35.740 0.137 0.025 201.455 9 88 
Alex Bowman Chevrolet 9 35.752 0.149 0.012 201.387 10 21 
Paul Menard Ford 5 35.761 0.158 0.009 201.337 11 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 5 35.786 0.183 0.025 201.196 12 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 5 35.790 0.187 0.004 201.174 13 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 7 35.844 0.241 0.054 200.870 14 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 5 35.892 0.289 0.048 200.602 15 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 5 35.905 0.302 0.013 200.529 16 20 
Erik Jones Toyota 5 36.009 0.406 0.104 199.950 17 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 5 36.019 0.416 0.010 199.895 18 10 Aric Almirola Ford 5 36.028 0.425 0.009 199.845 19 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 7 36.058 0.455 0.030 199.678 20 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 7 36.130 0.527 0.072 199.280 21 1 
Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 5 36.164 0.561 0.034 199.093 22 24 William Byron Chevrolet 11 36.170 0.567 0.006 199.060 23 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 9 36.365 0.762 0.195 197.993 24 38 David Ragan Ford 6 36.542 0.939 0.177 197.034 25 34 Michael McDowell Ford 7 36.587 0.984 0.045 196.791 26 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 5 36.741 1.138 0.154 195.966 27 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 9 36.814 1.211 0.073 195.578 28 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 15 36.820 1.217 0.006 195.546 29 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 7 36.873 1.270 0.053 195.265 30 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 9 36.908 1.305 0.035 195.080 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 3 36.990 1.387 0.082 194.647 32 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 10 37.034 1.431 0.044 194.416 33 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 10 37.892 2.289 0.858 190.014 34 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 4 38.092 2.489 0.200 189.016 35 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 2 38.206 2.603 0.114 188.452 36 99 Gray Gaulding Chevrolet 3 38.317 2.714 0.111 187.906 37 7 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 8 38.370 2.767 0.053 187.647 38 96 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 9 38.507 2.904 0.137 186.979 39 23 Jones Blake Toyota 5 39.424 3.821 0.917 182.630 40 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 3 39.524 3.921 0.100 182.168
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