Kurt Busch tops first Cup practice at Talladega at over 202 mph
Kurt Busch made it clear there was plenty of speed in the new aero package during Friday’s first NASCAR Cup practice at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Photo by: Logan Whitton / NKP / Motorsport Images
Within the first 10 minutes of the 50-minute session, Busch went to the top of the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 202.671 mph – a mark would not be eclipsed.
David Ragan ended up second (202.654 mph) and Erik Jones third (202.654 mph). Michael McDowell was fourth and Chase Elliott completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top 10 were William Byron, Ryan Newman, Kyle Busch, Ty Dillon and Jimmie Johnson.
In all, the top eight drivers posted average lap speeds over 202 mph and 21 of the 37 drivers posted an average lap speed of more than 200 mph.
This weekend is the debut of NASCAR’s new aero package at superspeedways, which includes the replacement of a restrictor-plate with a tapered spacer.
There were no incidents in the session although several drivers appeared to get loose when another car attempted to run behind them while trying to bump draft.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 30 | 47.249 | 202.671 | |||
2 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 23 | 47.253 | 0.004 | 0.004 | 202.654 | |
3 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 18 | 47.253 | 0.004 | 0.000 | 202.654 | |
4 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 31 | 47.256 | 0.007 | 0.003 | 202.641 | |
5 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 37 | 47.260 | 0.011 | 0.004 | 202.624 | |
6 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 30 | 47.262 | 0.013 | 0.002 | 202.615 | |
7 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 24 | 47.290 | 0.041 | 0.028 | 202.495 | |
8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 12 | 47.390 | 0.141 | 0.100 | 202.068 | |
9 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 23 | 47.528 | 0.279 | 0.138 | 201.481 | |
10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 23 | 47.590 | 0.341 | 0.062 | 201.219 | |
11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 40 | 47.606 | 0.357 | 0.016 | 201.151 | |
12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 20 | 47.719 | 0.470 | 0.113 | 200.675 | |
13 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 18 | 47.730 | 0.481 | 0.011 | 200.629 | |
14 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 27 | 47.767 | 0.518 | 0.037 | 200.473 | |
15 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 23 | 47.769 | 0.520 | 0.002 | 200.465 | |
16 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 23 | 47.794 | 0.545 | 0.025 | 200.360 | |
17 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 24 | 47.797 | 0.548 | 0.003 | 200.347 | |
18 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 35 | 47.799 | 0.550 | 0.002 | 200.339 | |
19 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 25 | 47.818 | 0.569 | 0.019 | 200.259 | |
20 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 28 | 47.823 | 0.574 | 0.005 | 200.238 | |
21 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 28 | 47.823 | 0.574 | 0.000 | 200.238 | |
22 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 29 | 47.900 | 0.651 | 0.077 | 199.916 | |
23 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 14 | 48.100 | 0.851 | 0.200 | 199.085 | |
24 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 13 | 48.112 | 0.863 | 0.012 | 199.036 | |
25 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 28 | 48.195 | 0.946 | 0.083 | 198.693 | |
26 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 18 | 48.524 | 1.275 | 0.329 | 197.346 | |
27 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 16 | 48.552 | 1.303 | 0.028 | 197.232 | |
28 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 10 | 48.891 | 1.642 | 0.339 | 195.864 | |
29 | 77 | Justin Haley | Chevrolet | 6 | 49.379 | 2.130 | 0.488 | 193.929 | |
30 | 52 | Stanton Barrett | Chevrolet | 6 | 49.745 | 2.496 | 0.366 | 192.502 | |
31 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 17 | 50.196 | 2.947 | 0.451 | 190.772 | |
32 | 81 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Toyota | 3 | 50.595 | 3.346 | 0.399 | 189.268 | |
33 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 5 | 50.985 | 3.736 | 0.390 | 187.820 | |
34 | 62 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | 5 | 51.053 | 3.804 | 0.068 | 187.570 | |
35 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 5 | 51.129 | 3.880 | 0.076 | 187.291 | |
36 | 96 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | 7 | 51.471 | 4.222 | 0.342 | 186.047 | |
37 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 7 | 52.055 | 4.806 | 0.584 | 183.959 |
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