Practice report

NASCAR Cup Kansas II

Ryan Blaney tops final practice at Kansas

Ryan Blaney led final practice with a lap of 182.057mph at Kansas Speedway on Saturday.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Oct 21, 2017, 8:42 PM

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Ryan Blaney, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Hopefully, the speed will serve him well on Sunday. Blaney's qualifying time was disallowed after NASCAR officials discovered the package tray on the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford was bowed during inspection. He will start at the rear of the field for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400.

Blaney, who originally qualified third, said track position would be huge for the race. His consolation prize rediscovering that speed in Happy Hour.

Kyle Busch was second-quick followed by Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski and Jamie McMurray.

Keselowski was the first driver on the track followed by Martin Truex Jr., and Blaney, who shot to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 182.057mph. Kyle Busch quickly moved up to second-quick (181.843mph) followed by Suarez (181.665mph), Kenseth (181.543mph), Bowyer (181.452mph), Jones (181.421mph), Keselowski (181.202mph), Chris Buescher (181.172mph), Truex (181.074mph) and Joey Logano (180.929mph).

After the first five minutes, the top 10 remained the same, while Jimmie Johnson ran 11th (180.892mph), followed by Austin Dillon, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Kasey Kahne.

Kyle Larson, who led the first two sessions, was 13th-quick on his first lap then bounced up to seventh (181.232mph). He was bumped to eighth by Kevin Harvick, who vaulted to third on his first run with a fast-single lap speed of 181.720mph.

Before the 15-minute practice holds were released by NASCAR, Blaney continued to hold the top single-lap speed after 12 laps followed by Kyle Busch, Harvick, Suarez, Kenseth, Bowyer, Jones, Larson, Keselowski and Buescher.

Derrike Cope, Jamie McMurray, Trevor Bayne, Chase Elliott, Paul Menard and Aric Almirola were released from the penalty box. McMurray moved up to P15 on his first run (180.693mph). Elliott was initially 25th (179.063mph) followed by Bayne (27th), Menard (28th) and Cope was 30th.

As teams concentrated on long runs, Suarez 35 circuits were the most posted after 30-minutes in the session. McMurray ran 11th followed by Truex, Logano, Johnson, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Newman, Hamlin, Earnhardt and Stenhouse, who brushed the wall on his penultimate run.

McMurray climbed up to 10th with a quick single-lap speed with 10 minutes remaining. With less than five minutes into the session, Daniel Hemric climbed into the No. 27 Chevy to get a feel for the car in case he has to fill in for Menard, who is on baby watch.

“Yeah, obviously first off that is a cool situation for Paul and his wife waiting on the birth of their second child," Hemric said. "So, that has got to be exciting. I’m just lucky to have the call to hopefully get in when the time comes and if it comes during the race weekend. So, just trying to take all the precautions possible to be ready if that time does happen here this weekend or whatever weekend it is moving forward. Just excited to be part of it.”

Read Also:

Blaney fails post-qualifying inspection, loses starting position

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 21 united_states Ryan Blaney Ford 44 29.661 182.057 2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 40 29.696 0.035 0.035 181.843 3 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 38 29.716 0.055 0.020 181.720 4 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 44 29.725 0.064 0.009 181.665 5 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 51 29.745 0.084 0.020 181.543 6 14 united_states Clint Bowyer Ford 33 29.760 0.099 0.015 181.452 7 77 Erik Jones Toyota 38 29.765 0.104 0.005 181.421 8 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 51 29.796 0.135 0.031 181.232 9 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 51 29.801 0.140 0.005 181.202 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 37 29.804 0.143 0.003 181.184 11 37 united_states Chris Buescher Chevrolet 32 29.806 0.145 0.002 181.172 12 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 38 29.822 0.161 0.016 181.074 13 22 Joey Logano Ford 47 29.846 0.185 0.024 180.929 14 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 53 29.852 0.191 0.006 180.892 15 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 46 29.864 0.203 0.012 180.820 16 41 united_states Kurt Busch Ford 42 29.896 0.235 0.032 180.626 17 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 21 29.901 0.240 0.005 180.596 18 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 27 29.925 0.264 0.024 180.451 19 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 47 29.944 0.283 0.019 180.337 20 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 38 29.954 0.293 0.010 180.276 21 88 united_states Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 43 29.961 0.300 0.007 180.234 22 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 34 29.979 0.318 0.018 180.126 23 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 46 29.998 0.337 0.019 180.012 24 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 37 30.059 0.398 0.061 179.647 25 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 33 30.124 0.463 0.065 179.259 26 6 united_states Trevor Bayne Ford 25 30.144 0.483 0.020 179.140 27 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 27 30.173 0.512 0.029 178.968 28 10 Danica Patrick Ford 38 30.229 0.568 0.056 178.636 29 38 David Ragan Ford 39 30.279 0.618 0.050 178.341 30 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 25 30.399 0.738 0.120 177.637 31 43 united_states Aric Almirola Ford 24 30.439 0.778 0.040 177.404 32 34 Landon Cassill Ford 35 30.537 0.876 0.098 176.835 33 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 19 30.579 0.918 0.042 176.592 34 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 23 30.771 1.110 0.192 175.490 35 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 18 30.870 1.209 0.099 174.927 36 33 united_states Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 21 31.047 1.386 0.177 173.930 37 83 Brett Moffitt Toyota 32 31.048 1.387 0.001 173.924 38 00 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 18 32.531 2.870 1.483 165.996

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