Practice report
NASCAR Cup Michigan
Larson tops opening Michigan Cup practice with 200mph lap
First practice ended up being the Kyle and Kyle show — again.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Jun 16, 2017, 4:55 PM
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Initially, the Monster Energy Cup Series was chasing Martin Truex Jr. at Michigan International Speedway in first practice on Friday — but Kyle Larson was able to top the No. 78 car with less than 10 minutes left in the session.
Larson’s lap of 200.798mph was the first to join Truex in exceeding the 200-mile-per-hour mark. With five minutes to go, Kyle Busch joined the 200-plus club with a lap of 200.619mph for second quick in single-lap speeds.
With two minutes to go in the session, Landon Cassill wadded up the No. 34 Ford as he backed into the Turn 2 wall. Cassill was then evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center at MIS.
Joey Logano (200.479mph) was third followed by Truex, Johnson, McMurray, Elliott, Bowyer, Blaney and Harvick. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace’s 28 laps were the most completed during his second weekend in the Cup series.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. set the early pace with a lap of 197.325mph. At the 15-minute mark, Truex Jr. jumped to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 197.639mph. Five minutes later, Ryan Blaney’s lap of 197.395mph moved him up to second.
Kyle Busch was the next driver to top the chart after running 198.374mph 20 minutes into the session followed by Truex, Blaney, Earnhardt and Jamie McMurray (197.055mph). Clint Bowyer (196.996mph), Joey Logano (196.963mph), Kyle Larson (196.861mph), Kevin Harvick (196.623mph) and Jimmie Johnson (196.469mph) rounded out the top 10 single-lap speeds.
With an hour remaining in first practice, Wallace’s 15 laps were the most completed on the two-mile track. His top lap was 192.457mph.
Thirty minutes in, Harvick leapfrogged up to third-quick with a lap of 198.189mph. As teams switched over to race trim, Jimmie Johnson took the top spot (199.983mph). With 35 minutes to go,Truex topped the 200 mile-per-hour mark with a speed of 200.094mph in his fifth lap. Johnson held onto second followed by McMurray (199.463mph), Chase Elliott (199.291mph) and Kasey Kahne (198.906mph).
One hour into the 85-minute session, Truex’s lap held up for first followed by Johnson, Blaney (199.545mph) McMurray, Elliott, Earnhardt, Kahne, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski (109.385mph) and Harvick.
With 20-minutes to go, Larson moved up to ninth with a lap of 196.681mph.
“I can’t tell if the change hurt me in (turns) one and two or if I over-committed,” says Keselowski, who remained 10th on the speed chart.
Bowyer’s Q-run elevated him to third quick with a lap of 199.606mph with 15 minutes to go. Elliott jumped up to fourth (199.772mph) on his flyer run.
“I thought that was slightly better,” Elliott said.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin were the only two drivers to qualify for 10 Consecutive Lap Averages. Busch’s 196.591mph run led the category. Hamlin’s speed was 194.626mph.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 42 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 15 35.857 200.798 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 20 35.889 0.032 0.032 200.619 3 22 Joey Logano Ford 23 35.914 0.057 0.025 200.479 4 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 9 35.983 0.126 0.069 200.094 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 13 36.003 0.146 0.020 199.983 6 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 14 36.005 0.148 0.002 199.972 7 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 21 36.041 0.184 0.036 199.772 8 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 13 36.071 0.214 0.030 199.606 9 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 16 36.082 0.225 0.011 199.545 10 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 16 36.083 0.226 0.001 199.540 11 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 20 36.124 0.267 0.041 199.313 12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 22 36.143 0.286 0.019 199.209 13 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 17 36.153 0.296 0.010 199.154 14 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 20 36.198 0.341 0.045 198.906 15 77 Erik Jones Toyota 13 36.322 0.465 0.124 198.227 16 41 Kurt Busch Ford 15 36.340 0.483 0.018 198.129 17 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 17 36.409 0.552 0.069 197.753 18 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 13 36.589 0.732 0.180 196.780 19 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 17 36.682 0.825 0.093 196.282 20 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 19 36.698 0.841 0.016 196.196 21 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 15 36.781 0.924 0.083 195.753 22 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 15 36.783 0.926 0.002 195.743 23 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 16 36.794 0.937 0.011 195.684 24 10 Danica Patrick Ford 16 36.842 0.985 0.048 195.429 25 38 David Ragan Ford 15 36.862 1.005 0.020 195.323 26 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 19 36.903 1.046 0.041 195.106 27 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 19 36.963 1.106 0.060 194.789 28 23 Ryan Sieg Toyota 8 36.966 1.109 0.003 194.774 29 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 18 37.054 1.197 0.088 194.311 30 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 20 37.088 1.231 0.034 194.133 31 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Ford 28 37.132 1.275 0.044 193.903 32 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 16 37.156 1.299 0.024 193.778 33 34 Landon Cassill Ford 21 37.159 1.302 0.003 193.762 34 83 Corey Lajoie Toyota 8 37.325 1.468 0.166 192.900 35 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 12 37.915 2.058 0.590 189.898 36 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 13 38.075 2.218 0.160 189.100 37 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 11 38.179 2.322 0.104 188.585
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