Practice report
NASCAR Cup Michigan II
Ryan Blaney leads opening Michigan Cup practice at 203.591mph
Ryan Blaney posted the fastest single-lap speed in opening practice for the Pure Michigan 400 on Friday.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Aug 12, 2017, 12:17 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Blaney completed 14 laps with a top speed of 203.591mph. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Larson, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10 laps.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., who is still searching for his first win of 2017, completed the most laps — 27. He has two wins at Michigan — most recently in 2012.
“It’s been a struggle, but we have faced worse seasons,” Earnhardt said. “We can’t wait to be back to work at Michigan. It’s typically a really good track for us.”
Blaney set the quick pace in the first five minute of first practice with a lap of 196.469mph after four laps. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was second (195.101mph) following an eight-lap run. Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Chase Elliott, AJ Allmendinger, Paul Menard, Ryan Newman, Landon Cassill and Aric Almirola rounded out the top 10.
Two-time Michigan winner Kyle Larson vaulted to second after his first run but was bumped to fourth after Denny Hamlin shot to the top of the chart with a lap of 198.243mph in his first lap and Joey Logano posted the third fastest lap (195.647mph). Larson came back just before the 10-minute mark with a lap of 196.910mph to move to second-quick.
Brad Keselowski’s first lap of 197.737mph was the second-best lap after 10 minutes in the 85-minute session followed by Larson, Blaney, Logano, Harvick, Martin Truex Jr., Dale Earnhardt Jr.
After 15 minutes in practice, Blaney shot back up to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 198.697mph. Moments later, Kyle Busch completed his first lap of 198.703mph to take the top spot.
Keselowski was the first driver to break the 200-mile-per-hour mark in Q-trim with a lap of 201.387mph approaching the 30-minute mark. Five minutes later, Kyle Busch climbed up to P1 with a lap of 202.327mph in his third lap. Erik Jones was third followed by Truex, Blaney, Larson, Hamlin, Elliott, Bowyer and Logano.
Matt Kenseth’s first run in qualifying trim was 200.222mph — third on the board. His Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Daniel Suarez ran eighth after eight laps. Forty-three minutes in, Hamlin bounced up to second (201.523mph) followed by Keselowski, Truex, Kenseth, Jones, Blaney, Larson, Suarez and Elliott.
With 35-minutes remaining in first practice, Blaney regained P1 with a lap of 202.452mph. After the first hour, Blaney’s lap held on with Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Keselowski, Truex, Larson, Bowyer, Kenseth, Jones and Jimmie Johnson rounding out the top 10.
Harvick jumped up to seventh with 15 minutes to go. McMurray, Logano and Jones rounded out the top 10. Truex improved to third (201.856mph).
At the 75-minute mark, Kyle Busch bounced off the wall coming off of Turn 2 and damaged the right side of the No. 18 Toyota. He was second on the speed chart. Hamlin was third with Truex and Keselowski rounding out the top-five.
Click on image to watch Busch make contact with the wall in practice:
Camping World Truck Series points leader Christopher Bell is standing by for Hamlin, who remains on baby watch. His long-time girlfriend Jordan Fish is expecting their second child this week.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 21 
Ryan Blaney Ford 14 35.365 203.591 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 6 35.586 0.221 0.221 202.327 3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 7 35.655 0.290 0.069 201.935 4 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 11 35.669 0.304 0.014 201.856 5 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 9 35.678 0.313 0.009 201.805 6 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 17 35.719 0.354 0.041 201.573 7 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 17 35.732 0.367 0.013 201.500 8 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 14 35.733 0.368 0.001 201.494 9 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 22 35.736 0.371 0.003 201.478 10 22 Joey Logano Ford 20 35.764 0.399 0.028 201.320 11 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 15 35.795 0.430 0.031 201.145 12 77 Erik Jones Toyota 9 35.873 0.508 0.078 200.708 13 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 7 35.960 0.595 0.087 200.222 14 41 Kurt Busch Ford 17 35.989 0.624 0.029 200.061 15 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 8 36.046 0.681 0.057 199.745 16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 21 36.064 0.699 0.018 199.645 17 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 27 36.101 0.736 0.037 199.440 18 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 16 36.109 0.744 0.008 199.396 19 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 18 36.115 0.750 0.006 199.363 20 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 12 36.170 0.805 0.055 199.060 21 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 9 36.222 0.857 0.052 198.774 22 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 15 36.389 1.024 0.167 197.862 23 43 Aric Almirola Ford 20 36.456 1.091 0.067 197.498 24 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 16 36.603 1.238 0.147 196.705 25 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 7 36.657 1.292 0.054 196.415 26 38 David Ragan Ford 16 36.713 1.348 0.056 196.116 27 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 13 36.720 1.355 0.007 196.078 28 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 16 36.763 1.398 0.043 195.849 29 10 Danica Patrick Ford 14 36.782 1.417 0.019 195.748 30 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 21 36.811 1.446 0.029 195.594 31 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 18 36.980 1.615 0.169 194.700 32 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 15 37.100 1.735 0.120 194.070 33 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 15 37.235 1.870 0.135 193.366 34 83 Brett Moffitt Toyota 14 37.458 2.093 0.223 192.215 35 34 Landon Cassill Ford 18 37.487 2.122 0.029 192.067 36 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 10 37.792 2.427 0.305 190.517 37 55 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 3 38.356 2.991 0.564 187.715 38 15 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 10 38.493 3.128 0.137 187.047 39 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 6 39.127 3.762 0.634 184.016
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Daniel Suarez ready to celebrate first NASCAR Cup win soon
Next article Chip Ganassi to allow Larson to run Knoxville Nationals main event
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Lee Spencer
Harvick reflects on career after Atlanta win, honors Dale Earnhardt
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Harvick reflects on career after Atlanta win, honors Dale Earnhardt
Chase Elliott: "We have a lot of work to do" after Atlanta showing
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Chase Elliott: "We have a lot of work to do" after Atlanta showing
Harvick leads veteran charge at Atlanta Motor Speedway
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Atlanta
Harvick leads veteran charge at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Latest news
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 2 min
Bourdais, Moss headline second batch of Sebring's 75 all-time greatest drivers
IndyCar driver and Fox Sports reporter Jack Harvey announces cancer diagnosis
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 10 min
IndyCar driver and Fox Sports reporter Jack Harvey announces cancer diagnosis
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
1 h
Cadillac’s F1 brakes are still a problem: ‘I had to lift and coast on lap two’
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
1 h
Why Jorge Martín was not penalised for jump start in Indonesia
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe