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Practice report

Erik Jones tops second Cup practice; Byron and Larson wreck

Erik Jones led the way in Saturday’s first NASCAR Cup practice which saw another two drivers wreck and head to backup cars.

 Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry STANLEY

Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry STANLEY

Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images

Late in the session, Jones posted his session-best average lap speed of 133.427 mph, topping the pole-winner for Sunday’s Foxwoods Casino 301, Brad Keselowski (133.394 mph). 

Jones, who will start fourth Sunday, has made three starts at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, with a best finish of sixth in 2017.

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Aric Almirola ended up third (133.366 mph), Kyle Busch was fourth and Ryan Blaney completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 were Joey Logano, Daniel Hemric, Chase Elliott, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin.

Jones also had the fastest average lap speed among all drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (132.854 mph). Blaney and Kyle Busch were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Within the first 10 minutes of practice, William Byron slammed into the Turn 1 wall, doing extensive damage to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

 

Byron’s team immediately began working on his backup car, which means he will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field. He had qualified 22nd on Friday.

“We have just been really loose and I tried to drive through it and see if it would come to me better and it didn't. It was even looser yet, and that was kind of the story, just got loose," Byron said. "Hopefully tomorrow we can have a good, solid day and go from there.”

Shortly after practice restarted, Kyle Larson tagged the wall in Turns 1 and 2 and he, too, will move to a backup car. Larson will become the fifth driver that will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

“As soon as I touched the brakes, it got loose,” Larson said over his team radio.

Also starting from the back will be Hamlin, Ryan Newman and Alex Bowman (all for backup cars).

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 40 28.546     133.427
2 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 37 28.553 0.007 0.007 133.394
3 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 38 28.559 0.013 0.006 133.366
4 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 37 28.586 0.040 0.027 133.240
5 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 54 28.608 0.062 0.022 133.138
6 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 37 28.624 0.078 0.016 133.063
7 8 United States Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 39 28.628 0.082 0.004 133.045
8 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 40 28.636 0.090 0.008 133.007
9 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 44 28.641 0.095 0.005 132.984
10 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 39 28.657 0.111 0.016 132.910
11 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 40 28.663 0.117 0.006 132.882
12 19 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 31 28.671 0.125 0.008 132.845
13 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 35 28.679 0.133 0.008 132.808
14 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 25 28.682 0.136 0.003 132.794
15 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 38 28.692 0.146 0.010 132.748
16 95 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Toyota 50 28.719 0.173 0.027 132.623
17 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 39 28.737 0.191 0.018 132.540
18 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 37 28.784 0.238 0.047 132.324
19 6 United States Ryan Newman  Ford 33 28.787 0.241 0.003 132.310
20 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Ford 45 28.828 0.282 0.041 132.122
21 1 United States Kurt Busch  Chevrolet 34 28.836 0.290 0.008 132.085
22 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 33 28.903 0.357 0.067 131.779
23 32 United States Corey Lajoie  Ford 20 28.909 0.363 0.006 131.751
24 47 United States Ryan Preece  Chevrolet 49 28.912 0.366 0.003 131.738
25 36 United States Matt Tifft  Ford 33 28.976 0.430 0.064 131.447
26 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 48 28.985 0.439 0.009 131.406
27 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 31 29.003 0.457 0.018 131.324
28 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 25 29.042 0.496 0.039 131.148
29 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 7 29.073 0.527 0.031 131.008
30 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 32 29.251 0.705 0.178 130.211
31 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 23 29.317 0.771 0.066 129.918
32 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 30 29.350 0.804 0.033 129.772
33 27 United States Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 16 29.648 1.102 0.298 128.467
34 77 United States Quin Houff  Chevrolet 23 29.754 1.208 0.106 128.010
35 52 United States Austin Theriault  Chevrolet 26 30.088 1.542 0.334 126.589
36 51 United States Andy Seuss  Ford 38 30.129 1.583 0.041 126.416
37 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 4 55.260 26.714 25.131 68.925

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