Spring winner Kyle Busch fastest in final Cup practice at Bristol
Kyle Busch waited to the end of Friday’s second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session to show his speed.
Photo by: Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
As the clock ticked down on the one-hour, 10-minute session, Busch went on a mock qualifying run and posted an average lap speed of 126.729 mph.
“Obviously, we’re kind of on a hot streak with Bristol. We love going there,” Busch said. “We’ll see what we can do, hopefully having a fast race car and doing what we normally do there, just try to stay out of trouble.
“It’s a tough place to stay out of trouble (and) hoping we can win three Cup races in a row for the first time there.”
In addition to his seven career Bristol wins, which is tops among active drivers, Busch has 10 top-five and 15 top-10s in 26 career starts.
Martin Truex Jr., who completed his mock run just before the flags waved to end the session, ended up second (126.312 mph). Aric Almirola was third (126.287 mph), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fourth and Kevin Harvick completed the top-five.
“I thought our car was really good. To get a win here would be really cool,” Almirola said. “We have a lot of work to do but so far we’re off to a good start.”
About 30 minutes into the session, Darrell Wallace Jr. scrubbed the outside wall with his No. 43 Chevrolet. He continued on and no caution was displayed for the incident. He ended up 12th.
With a little over 15 minutes in the session, Kyle Larson scraped the wall, doing some damage to the right side of his No. 42 Chevrolet. He ended up 16th-fastest.
Larson did finish the session with the fastest average lap speed of those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Jones and Stenhouse were second and third, respectively, in that category.
Cla | # | Driver | 4506 | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 47 | 15.141 | 126.729 | ||
2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 54 | 15.191 | 0.050 | 0.050 | 126.312 |
3 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 65 | 15.194 | 0.053 | 0.003 | 126.287 |
4 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 57 | 15.210 | 0.069 | 0.016 | 126.154 |
5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 46 | 15.239 | 0.098 | 0.029 | 125.914 |
6 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 42 | 15.256 | 0.115 | 0.017 | 125.773 |
7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 61 | 15.294 | 0.153 | 0.038 | 125.461 |
8 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 61 | 15.306 | 0.165 | 0.012 | 125.363 |
9 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 44 | 15.343 | 0.202 | 0.037 | 125.060 |
10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 38 | 15.348 | 0.207 | 0.005 | 125.020 |
11 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 53 | 15.352 | 0.211 | 0.004 | 124.987 |
12 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 57 | 15.376 | 0.235 | 0.024 | 124.792 |
13 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 63 | 15.378 | 0.237 | 0.002 | 124.776 |
14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 64 | 15.379 | 0.238 | 0.001 | 124.768 |
15 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 47 | 15.400 | 0.259 | 0.021 | 124.597 |
16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 92 | 15.426 | 0.285 | 0.026 | 124.387 |
17 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 97 | 15.433 | 0.292 | 0.007 | 124.331 |
18 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 49 | 15.438 | 0.297 | 0.005 | 124.291 |
19 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 50 | 15.439 | 0.298 | 0.001 | 124.283 |
20 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 88 | 15.449 | 0.308 | 0.010 | 124.202 |
21 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 38 | 15.464 | 0.323 | 0.015 | 124.082 |
22 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 95 | 15.475 | 0.334 | 0.011 | 123.994 |
23 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 62 | 15.483 | 0.342 | 0.008 | 123.929 |
24 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 93 | 15.485 | 0.344 | 0.002 | 123.913 |
25 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 63 | 15.501 | 0.360 | 0.016 | 123.786 |
26 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 79 | 15.510 | 0.369 | 0.009 | 123.714 |
27 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 65 | 15.519 | 0.378 | 0.009 | 123.642 |
28 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 82 | 15.549 | 0.408 | 0.030 | 123.403 |
29 | 96 | Jesse Little | Toyota | 16 | 15.597 | 0.456 | 0.048 | 123.024 |
30 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 29 | 15.598 | 0.457 | 0.001 | 123.016 |
31 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 91 | 15.610 | 0.469 | 0.012 | 122.921 |
32 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 43 | 15.624 | 0.483 | 0.014 | 122.811 |
33 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 65 | 15.683 | 0.542 | 0.059 | 122.349 |
34 | 72 | Corey Lajoie | Chevrolet | 40 | 15.752 | 0.611 | 0.069 | 121.813 |
35 | 7 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 17 | 15.761 | 0.620 | 0.009 | 121.744 |
36 | 23 | Jones Blake | Toyota | 26 | 15.829 | 0.688 | 0.068 | 121.221 |
37 | 52 | B.J. McLeod | Chevrolet | 8 | 15.843 | 0.702 | 0.014 | 121.113 |
38 | 66 | Timmy Hill | Toyota | 25 | 15.898 | 0.757 | 0.055 | 120.694 |
39 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 59 | 15.932 | 0.791 | 0.034 | 120.437 |
40 | 51 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 9 | 15.954 | 0.813 | 0.022 | 120.271 |
41 | 99 | Gray Gaulding | Chevrolet | 22 | 15.964 | 0.823 | 0.010 | 120.195 |
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