Practice report

NASCAR Cup Texas II

Denny Hamlin tops final Cup practice at Texas

Missing half of Happy Hour didn’t hamper Denny Hamlin's progress at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Nov 4, 2017, 11:41 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Denny Hamlin, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

After Hamlin was released from time out, he posted a fast lap of 191.469mph.

“I hadn't been really that encouraged going into this week about this racetrack,” said Hamlin, who starts second on Sunday. “We had tons of struggles here in the spring. Our whole organization did, us especially. But we have turned the corner so much since then. It seems like five years ago when we ran here last.

“Obviously the speeds are dramatically faster than what we were here in the spring, and it just ‑‑ it's encouraging that we were able to have a car that was very comfortable right off the get‑go, and I mean, that's half the battle at these types of racetracks is getting yourself comfortable in a car that's able to race. Now, we haven't been around anyone yet, so that's the only thing you worry about is what's it going to do in traffic, because obviously at these speeds, aero will be everything."

Kurt Busch continued his speedy ways with a lap of 190.375mph after the first eight minutes of the session, but Kyle Larson matched his lap just before the 10-minute mark. Jimmie Johnson ran third (189.733mph) followed by Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (188.983mph), Austin Dillon (188.897mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (188.824mph), Clint Bowyer (188.791mph), Jamie McMurray (188.420mph) and Michael McDowell (188.190mph).

Truex made his first run in final practice and jumped up to third (190.007mph). Ryan Blaney (189.520mph) was next to break into the top-five single lap speeds with 27 cars making runs.

NASCAR began releasing the drivers with 15-minute practice holds including Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Trevor Bayne, Reed Sorenson, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie, Chase Elliott and Gray Gaulding.

Harvick vaulted to third in his first run with a lap of 190.349mph. Elliott was ninth-quick (188.884mph), Bayne 13th (188.739mph) and Logano 15th (188.219mph).

Twenty minutes into the 50-minute session, Keselowski moved up to seventh (189.407mph). Paul Menard returned to the track after a short maternity leave following the birth of his second child on Wednesday. Menard was 25th-quick following three runs (186.130mph).

Halfway through practice, Daniel Suarez jumped up to P1 with a lap of 190.685mph, but Blaney passed him with his run of 190.691mph. Larson dropped to third on the speed chart followed by Busch, Harvick, Truex, Johnson, Keselowski, Logano, Stenhouse, Dillon, Elliot, Earnhardt, Bowyer and Bayne.

NASCAR released Erik Jones, Matt Kenseth and Hamlin just before the 30-minute mark. Jones jumped to P1 (190.860mph), but Hamlin topped him (191.469mph) moments later. Busch was the 39th and final driver to make a lap. Both he and Hamlin lost 30 minute in both second and final practices. He was released 32-minutes in and posted a speed of 190.134mph (ninth) after his first run.

With 15 minutes remaining, Hamlin led the way followed by Jones, Blaney, Suarez, Truex, Larson, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Kahne, Keselowski, Logano, Bowyer, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Elliott, Earnhardt, Bayne and Kenseth.

After completing her 37th lap, Danica Patrick told her crew, “We’re good. I felt we slowed down a little early, but we’re alright.”

Landon Cassill’s 40 laps were the most completed in final practice. He was 26th-quick with a lap of 188.107mph.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 11 united_states Denny Hamlin Toyota 28 28.203 191.469 2 77 Erik Jones Toyota 23 28.293 0.090 0.090 190.860 3 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 29 28.318 0.115 0.025 190.691 4 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 39 28.319 0.116 0.001 190.685 5 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 35 28.329 0.126 0.010 190.617 6 42 united_states Kyle Larson Chevrolet 34 28.365 0.162 0.036 190.375 7 41 Kurt Busch Ford 30 28.365 0.162 0.000 190.375 8 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 31 28.369 0.166 0.004 190.349 9 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 18 28.401 0.198 0.032 190.134 10 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 15 28.405 0.202 0.004 190.107 11 88 united_states Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 31 28.406 0.203 0.001 190.101 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 38 28.452 0.249 0.046 189.793 13 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 29 28.481 0.278 0.029 189.600 14 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 29 28.491 0.288 0.010 189.534 15 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 34 28.494 0.291 0.003 189.514 16 2 united_states Brad Keselowski Ford 51 28.510 0.307 0.016 189.407 17 22 Joey Logano Ford 34 28.531 0.328 0.021 189.268 18 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 27 28.555 0.352 0.024 189.109 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 34 28.574 0.371 0.019 188.983 20 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 28 28.576 0.373 0.002 188.970 21 3 united_states Austin Dillon Chevrolet 28 28.587 0.384 0.011 188.897 22 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 16 28.611 0.408 0.024 188.739 23 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 32 28.687 0.484 0.076 188.239 24 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 30 28.696 0.493 0.009 188.180 25 43 Aric Almirola Ford 24 28.707 0.504 0.011 188.107 26 34 united_states Landon Cassill Ford 40 28.728 0.525 0.021 187.970 27 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 32 28.741 0.538 0.013 187.885 28 10 Danica Patrick Ford 37 28.786 0.583 0.045 187.591 29 38 David Ragan Ford 27 28.789 0.586 0.003 187.572 30 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 34 28.789 0.586 0.000 187.572 31 13 united_states Ty Dillon Chevrolet 34 29.012 0.809 0.223 186.130 32 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 18 29.075 0.872 0.063 185.727 33 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 38 29.229 1.026 0.154 184.748 34 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 19 29.570 1.367 0.341 182.618 35 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 8 29.638 1.435 0.068 182.199 36 7 united_states Joey Gase Chevrolet 12 29.645 1.442 0.007 182.156 37 83 Gray Gaulding Toyota 25 29.654 1.451 0.009 182.100 38 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 19 29.966 1.763 0.312 180.204 39 66 David Starr Chevrolet 12 29.967 1.764 0.001 180.198

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

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Dale Earnhardt Jr. inducted into Texas Motorsports Hall of Fame

Next article Matt Kenseth plans to step away from NASCAR in 2018

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

52 min

Gibbs, Spire and Gabehart argue over contempt and injunction

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

William Byron to run Jeff Gordon throwback Axalta scheme at Phoenix

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

Alexander Rossi takes over IR-28 testing as IndyCar pushes new chassis to the limit at Sebring

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Charlotte II

1 h

Daniel Suarez will return to Spire Motorsports for 2027 NASCAR Cup season

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