Practice report

NASCAR Cup Pocono II

Kyle Busch tops final Cup practice at Pocono

Kyle Busch waited to the final minutes of Happy Hour before posting the fastest-single lap run amongst 38 Monster Energy Cup Series competitors at Pocono Raceway on Saturday.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Jul 29, 2017, 8:13 PM

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Kyle Busch, Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota

Busch posted a speed of 176.824mph (50.898-seconds) making a qualifying run as the final practice session closed out.

Kyle Larson was second quick followed by Jamie McMurray, Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Kevin Harvick.

Busch is still searching for his first win of 2017 — and his first win at Pocono Raceway, one of two tracks on the Cup tour where he has yet to pick up a points win.

Jamie McMurray (173.447mph) led the 55-minute session in the opening stages before Hamlin (175.415mph) topped the No. 1 Chevy after his first lap — eight minutes in. Busch moved up to second with a lap of 175.370mph.

After the first 10 minutes, Hamlin remained fastest followed by Busch, McMurray, Blaney and Johnson.

Chase Elliott climbed up to third after six laps before the 15-minute mark. McMurray dropped to fourth with Blaney, Johnson, Kenseth, Bowyer, Jones and Kahne rounding out the top 10. Kevin Harvick posted the 11th-fastest single lap speed with Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. completing the top 15.

Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones, who received 15-minute practice holds for their teams failing pre-race inspection twice at Indy, were released for practice.

Kyle Busch Busch closed in on Hamlin with a lap of 175.370mph for second on the speed chart over the next five minutes. Elliott (173.705mph) held onto third followed by McMurray and Blaney.

Just past halfway, McMurray bumped Hamlin with a lap of 175.558mph in qualifying trim.

“It feels like there’s no wedge in the car,” Hamlin told his crew. “No stability. I’m loose everywhere and it’s getting tighter and tighter and tighter out of Turn 3.”

Martin Truex Jr. served his 30-minute practice hold for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing failing pre-race inspection three times at the Brickyard.

Kyle Busch remained second followed by Truex, Elliott, Johnson, Blaney, Larson, Kenseth and Bowyer.

With 10 minutes to go in Happy Hour, McMurray held on to the top spot. Six minutes later, his Ganassi Racing teammate Larson knocked him off with a lap of 175.908mph. Hamlin held on to third. In the final moment, Kyle Busch vaulted to the top of the chart.

“I think we have an okay car in qualifying," Larson said. "Race trim, I think we are off quite a bit, especially on lap time. Then the overall feel of the car is not very good either. I’m fighting pretty much everything out there throughout the lap. Just really hard to drive, really inconsistent. It’s really easy to make a mistake. Not a lot of fun to drive, but hopefully, we can get it better and get some more grip in our car. Just kind of off all day, of the last couple of weeks. So, if we can just keep fighting hard and find that balance we need we should be fast.”

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 18 united_states Kyle Busch Toyota 20 50.898 176.824 2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 19 51.163 0.265 0.265 175.908 3 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 15 51.239 0.341 0.076 175.647 4 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 18 51.307 0.409 0.068 175.415 5 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 19 51.352 0.454 0.045 175.261 6 21 united_states Ryan Blaney Ford 15 51.405 0.507 0.053 175.080 7 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 9 51.422 0.524 0.017 175.022 8 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 23 51.576 0.678 0.154 174.500 9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 20 51.586 0.688 0.010 174.466 10 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 20 51.622 0.724 0.036 174.344 11 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 14 51.725 0.827 0.103 173.997 12 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 23 51.735 0.837 0.010 173.963 13 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 17 51.744 0.846 0.009 173.933 14 41 Kurt Busch Ford 17 51.863 0.965 0.119 173.534 15 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 12 51.914 1.016 0.051 173.364 16 20 united_states Matt Kenseth Toyota 15 51.915 1.017 0.001 173.360 17 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 19 51.919 1.021 0.004 173.347 18 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 22 51.924 1.026 0.005 173.330 19 77 Erik Jones Toyota 10 51.929 1.031 0.005 173.314 20 22 Joey Logano Ford 21 51.930 1.032 0.001 173.310 21 3 united_states Austin Dillon Chevrolet 15 52.017 1.119 0.087 173.020 22 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 11 52.020 1.122 0.003 173.010 23 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 14 52.098 1.200 0.078 172.751 24 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 20 52.103 1.205 0.005 172.735 25 10 Danica Patrick Ford 14 52.166 1.268 0.063 172.526 26 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 10 52.287 1.389 0.121 172.127 27 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 16 52.469 1.571 0.182 171.530 28 43 Aric Almirola Ford 15 52.528 1.630 0.059 171.337 29 38 David Ragan Ford 15 52.579 1.681 0.051 171.171 30 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 11 52.701 1.803 0.122 170.775 31 34 united_states Landon Cassill Ford 15 52.969 2.071 0.268 169.911 32 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 23 52.974 2.076 0.005 169.895 33 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 15 53.060 2.162 0.086 169.619 34 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 10 53.590 2.692 0.530 167.942 35 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 16 53.732 2.834 0.142 167.498 36 15 united_states Gray Gaulding Chevrolet 6 54.026 3.128 0.294 166.586 37 55 Derrike Cope Toyota 4 55.033 4.135 1.007 163.538 38 83 Stephen Leicht Toyota 10 55.201 4.303 0.168 163.041

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