Practice report

NASCAR Cup Darlington

Kyle Busch spins, goes quickest in final practice at Darlington

Kyle Busch spun — but still won Happy Hour at Darlington Raceway on Friday.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Sep 2, 2017, 1:32 PM

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Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Busch’s single-lap speed of 173.320mph led the 85-minute session but it wasn’t drama-free for the former winner at the Track Too Tough to Tame.

Just before the 30-minute mark, Busch lost control of the No. 18 M&Ms Toyota on a qualifying run. But Busch recovered nicely.

Kevin Harvick was second followed by Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kasey Kahne and Daniel Suarez.

Joey Logano’s 59-laps run were the most of the session.

Keselowski topped the speed chart in the first 15 minutes with a speed of 172.614mph after one lap. Daniel Suarez was second (172.215mph) followed by Hamlin (171.584mph), Kurt Busch (171.530mph), Blaney (171.518mph), Bowyer (171.029mph), Truex (170.916mph), Earnhardt (170.456mph), Elliott (170.365mph) and McMurray (170.285mph).

NASCAR released Erik Jones, who had a 15-minute practice hold for failing pre-race inspection twice. Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch also escaped timeout. Both cars failed pre-qualifying inspection at Bristol.

Moments later, Danica Patrick jumped up to ninth with a lap of 170.407mph after three laps.

At the 29-minute mark, Kyle Busch spun off of Turn 4 working his fourth lap. He kept the car off the wall. He was 20th on the speed chart with a quick-lap of 168.955mph.

Practice resumed with 31 minutes expired in the final practice session. Keselowski held onto the top spot after the first 30 minutes. McMurray dropped to 11th followed by Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne and Trevor Bayne.

David Ragan was released from his 30-minute practice hold. The No. 38 car failed pre-race inspection three times. Larson also joined practice after the No. 42 team failed pre-qualifying inspection three times at Bristol.

Hamlin bumped Keselowski with a lap of 172.632mph on his third lap. McMurray also moved up the chart to third with a lap of 172.594mph.

Kahne vaulted up to fourth on a qualifying run 50 minutes in. Larson slapped the wall and received damage to his right rear quarter-panel.

Kyle Busch held the top speed (173.320mph) at the one-hour mark followed Harvick, McMurray, Hamlin, Keselowski, Blaney, Austin Dillon, Kahne, Suarez and Matt Kenseth.

Ten minutes later, Bayne slapped the wall coming off of Turn 4 on his 15th lap. He was 21st on the speed chart. Truex jumped up to fourth-quick with a lap of 172.729mph.

Here's video of Busch making contact with the wall:

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Kyle Larson leads opening Southern 500 practice at Darlington

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 18 united_states Kyle Busch Toyota 21 28.373 173.320 2 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 26 28.414 0.041 0.041 173.070 3 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 28 28.427 0.054 0.013 172.990 4 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 24 28.470 0.097 0.043 172.729 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 35 28.486 0.113 0.016 172.632 6 2 united_states Brad Keselowski Ford 34 28.489 0.116 0.003 172.614 7 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 21 28.520 0.147 0.031 172.426 8 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 18 28.545 0.172 0.025 172.275 9 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 25 28.546 0.173 0.001 172.269 10 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 34 28.555 0.182 0.009 172.215 11 20 united_states Matt Kenseth Toyota 39 28.609 0.236 0.054 171.890 12 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 31 28.631 0.258 0.022 171.758 13 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 27 28.651 0.278 0.020 171.638 14 41 Kurt Busch Ford 37 28.669 0.296 0.018 171.530 15 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 23 28.706 0.333 0.037 171.309 16 42 united_states Kyle Larson Chevrolet 34 28.717 0.344 0.011 171.244 17 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 41 28.753 0.380 0.036 171.029 18 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 20 28.755 0.382 0.002 171.017 19 43 Aric Almirola Ford 41 28.784 0.411 0.029 170.845 20 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 54 28.846 0.473 0.062 170.478 21 37 united_states Chris Buescher Chevrolet 21 28.852 0.479 0.006 170.442 22 10 Danica Patrick Ford 32 28.858 0.485 0.006 170.407 23 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 49 28.881 0.508 0.023 170.271 24 22 Joey Logano Ford 59 28.907 0.534 0.026 170.118 25 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 15 28.933 0.560 0.026 169.965 26 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 39 28.936 0.563 0.003 169.947 27 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 33 28.940 0.567 0.004 169.924 28 77 Erik Jones Toyota 43 29.021 0.648 0.081 169.450 29 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 40 29.074 0.701 0.053 169.141 30 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 20 29.090 0.717 0.016 169.048 31 38 united_states David Ragan Ford 36 29.236 0.863 0.146 168.204 32 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 21 29.309 0.936 0.073 167.785 33 34 Landon Cassill Ford 45 29.551 1.178 0.242 166.411 34 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 39 29.588 1.215 0.037 166.203 35 83 Gray Gaulding Toyota 22 29.631 1.258 0.043 165.961 36 33 united_states Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 27 29.958 1.585 0.327 164.150 37 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 18 30.050 1.677 0.092 163.647 38 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 11 30.618 2.245 0.568 160.611 39 55 Derrike Cope Toyota 9 30.704 2.331 0.086 160.162 40 66 Carl Long Chevrolet 6 30.835 2.462 0.131 159.481

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