Martin Truex Jr. fastest in eventful Cup practice at Sonoma
Former Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway winner Martin Truex Jr. led the way in the first Cup Series practice session on Friday.
It was the first time Cup drivers got to tackle “The Carousel,” which has been added back to the course as part of the track’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Truex’s average lap at 95.326 mph topped Ryan Blaney (95.195 mph) and Chris Buescher (95.041 mph). Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-five.
The Carousel plunges from Turn 4 down through Turns 5 and 6 before dropping onto the raceway’s longest straightaway into the Turn 7 hairpin. It adds about a half-mile to the course’s length.
Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez and David Ragan.
It was an eventful one hour, 20-minute session for several drivers.
Bubba Wallace got off course in the opening minutes of the session.
About 30 mins into the session, Denny Hamlin got off course in T4 but was able to continue on with incident.
Kyle Larson spun off course near Turn 7 about 47 minutes into session.
Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet required repairs after he made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 11 during the session. He received some damage to the right-side of his car.
Kyle Weatherman practiced Ross Chastain’s No. 15 Chevrolet as Chastain is at Gateway for the Gander Outdoors NASCAR Truck Series race.
Truex had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the session after his No. 19 Toyota twice failed pre-qualifying inspection at Michigan two weeks ago.
| Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 |  Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 20 | 1'35.168 | 95.326 | |||
| 2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 21 | 1'35.299 | 0.131 | 0.131 | 95.195 | |
| 3 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 21 | 1'35.454 | 0.286 | 0.155 | 95.041 | |
| 4 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 21 | 1'35.460 | 0.292 | 0.006 | 95.035 | |
| 5 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 20 | 1'35.723 | 0.555 | 0.263 | 94.773 | |
| 6 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 25 | 1'35.736 | 0.568 | 0.013 | 94.761 | |
| 7 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 22 | 1'35.879 | 0.711 | 0.143 | 94.619 | |
| 8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 18 | 1'36.170 | 1.002 | 0.291 | 94.333 | |
| 9 | 41 |  Daniel Suarez | Ford | 19 | 1'36.403 | 1.235 | 0.233 | 94.105 | |
| 10 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 21 | 1'36.585 | 1.417 | 0.182 | 93.928 | |
| 11 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 16 | 1'37.053 | 1.885 | 0.468 | 93.475 | |
| 12 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 17 | 1'37.166 | 1.998 | 0.113 | 93.366 | |
| 13 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 19 | 1'37.380 | 2.212 | 0.214 | 93.161 | |
| 14 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 27 | 1'37.685 | 2.517 | 0.305 | 92.870 | |
| 15 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 20 | 1'37.924 | 2.756 | 0.239 | 92.643 | |
| 16 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 22 | 1'38.166 | 2.998 | 0.242 | 92.415 | |
| 17 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 22 | 1'38.189 | 3.021 | 0.023 | 92.393 | |
| 18 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 22 | 1'38.311 | 3.143 | 0.122 | 92.279 | |
| 19 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 24 | 1'38.466 | 3.298 | 0.155 | 92.133 | |
| 20 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 25 | 1'38.472 | 3.304 | 0.006 | 92.128 | |
| 21 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 20 | 1'38.489 | 3.321 | 0.017 | 92.112 | |
| 22 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 18 | 1'38.747 | 3.579 | 0.258 | 91.871 | |
| 23 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 15 | 1'38.826 | 3.658 | 0.079 | 91.798 | |
| 24 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 19 | 1'38.879 | 3.711 | 0.053 | 91.749 | |
| 25 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 21 | 1'38.957 | 3.789 | 0.078 | 91.676 | |
| 26 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 19 | 1'38.967 | 3.799 | 0.010 | 91.667 | |
| 27 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 19 | 1'38.975 | 3.807 | 0.008 | 91.660 | |
| 28 | 96 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | 21 | 1'39.033 | 3.865 | 0.058 | 91.606 | |
| 29 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 21 | 1'39.155 | 3.987 | 0.122 | 91.493 | |
| 30 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 23 | 1'39.565 | 4.397 | 0.410 | 91.116 | |
| 31 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 23 | 1'39.988 | 4.820 | 0.423 | 90.731 | |
| 32 | 77 | Justin Haley | Chevrolet | 14 | 1'40.066 | 4.898 | 0.078 | 90.660 | |
| 33 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 22 | 1'40.139 | 4.971 | 0.073 | 90.594 | |
| 34 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 19 | 1'40.546 | 5.378 | 0.407 | 90.227 | |
| 35 | 51 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | 9 | 1'41.019 | 5.851 | 0.473 | 89.805 | |
| 36 | 27 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 6 | 1'41.763 | 6.595 | 0.744 | 89.148 | |
| 37 | 52 | Cody Ware | Ford | 4 | 1'42.036 | 6.868 | 0.273 | 88.910 | |
| 38 | 15 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 4 | 1'43.699 | 8.531 | 1.663 | 87.484 |
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About this article
| Series | NASCAR Cup |
| Event | Sonoma |
| Drivers | Martin Truex Jr. |
| Teams | Joe Gibbs Racing |
| Author | Jim Utter |
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