Practice report

NASCAR Cup Loudon II

Truex leads final practice at Loudon, Logano forced to sit out session

Martin Truex Jr. topped final practice at New Hampshire with a lap of 131.647mph.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Sep 23, 2017, 7:18 PM

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Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Ford

Ryan Blaney, Wood Brothers Racing Ford

Truex completed 27 laps despite an abbreviated session for the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team which served a 30-minute penalty due to failing inspection prior to Saturday.

Kevin Harvick posted the second-fastest single-lap speed followed by Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson, Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson (in a back up car), Dale Earnhardt Jr., Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer.

Kyle Busch set the early pace in Happy Hour with a lap of 131.451mph in the first two minutes. Larson, who finished second here in July after starting from the rear of the field, ran second (131.447mph) followed by Blaney (131.302mph), Clint Bowyer (131.008mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (130.878mph).

“We’ve got decent speed,” Blaney said. “I thought our speed on the short run was pretty good and we ran not a ton of laps in a row, but I thought our long-run speed was OK. It’s just a matter of preparing for the race track changing.”

Four minutes in, Denny Hamlin bumped Earnhardt out of the top five with a lap of 130.396mph. Kenseth (130.869mph) ran seventh followed by Kurt Busch (130.864mph), Keselowski (130.864mph) and Trevor Bayne (130.389mph).

Twenty-four drivers completed laps in final practice in the first 10-minutes. Larson topped the board with a lap of 131.497mph followed by Kyle Busch, Blaney, Earnhardt, Bowyer, Hamlin, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Keselowski, Kahne, Austin Dillon, Bayne, AJ Allmendinger, Chris Buescher and Paul Menard.

NASCAR released the 15-minute practice holds: Kevin Harvick, Danica Patrick, Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie, Chase Elliott, Ryan Newman, Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan and Jimmie Johnson for failing pre-race inspection at New Hampshire.

Larson held the top spot once the cars were released. Harvick was the only driver to crack the top-five with a speed of 131.488mph on his fourth lap, which was good enough for second. Harvick bumped Larson on his sixth lap with a speed of 131.633mph. Three minutes after being released, Johnson jumped up to fifth (131.121mph) after six laps.

Following the first 20-minutes, Harvick was leading the sessions followed by Larson, Kyle Busch, Blaney, Johnson, Earnhardt, Bowyer, Hamlin, Keselowski and Kenseth. Kurt Busch, Kahne, Austin Dillon, Bayne, Menard, Patrick, Ty Dillon, Newman, Allmendinger and Buescher rounded out the top 20.

Harvick led the top-five speeds at the 25-minute mark followed by Kyle Busch, Larson, Blaney, Johnson, Earnhardt, Bowyer, Hamlin, Kahne and Keselowski. Elliott, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Bayne completed the top-15 single-lap speeds.

Ty Dillon hit the wall and the team was forced to pull out the back-up No. 13 Chevy. He was evaluated and released from the infield care center.

Thirty minutes in, the Kyle’s had both completed a session-high 35 laps.

Jamie McMurray and Martin Truex Jr., were released from their 30-minute holds for failing pre-race inspection three times at Chicagoland. Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones joined the session after their timeout was lifted. Both the Nos. 19 and 77 Toyotas were busted twice at Chicagoland for failing pre-race inspection and twice at New Hampshire for failing pre-qualifying inspection.

In four laps, Truex vaulted to P3 with a lap of 131.501mph. Suarez raced up to third in the first five minutes. He bumped Truex for third with a lap of 131.506mph after five of six laps.

Truex posted the fastest speed 45-minutes into the session after 16 laps (131.647mph). Harvick was second followed by Kyle Busch, Suarez and Larson, who had completed a session-high 69 laps. Blaney, Johnson, Earnhardt, Hamlin and Bowyer rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano, who served a 50-minute penalty on pit road in 76-degree weather, rode around the Magic Mile as NASCAR waved the red flag signaling the end of practice.

Logano’s team failed pre-qualifying inspection four times on Friday. He never made a lap in time trials and will start from the rear for Sunday’s ISM Connect 300.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27 28.932 131.647 2 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 40 28.935 0.003 0.003 131.633 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 51 28.961 0.029 0.026 131.515 4 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 33 28.963 0.031 0.002 131.506 5 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 70 28.965 0.033 0.002 131.497 6 21 united_states Ryan Blaney Ford 53 29.008 0.076 0.043 131.302 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 33 29.048 0.116 0.040 131.121 8 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 48 29.050 0.118 0.002 131.112 9 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 57 29.069 0.137 0.019 131.026 10 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 44 29.073 0.141 0.004 131.008 11 5 united_states Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 56 29.097 0.165 0.024 130.900 12 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 53 29.099 0.167 0.002 130.891 13 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 30 29.099 0.167 0.000 130.891 14 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 48 29.104 0.172 0.005 130.869 15 41 Kurt Busch Ford 48 29.105 0.173 0.001 130.864 16 1 united_states Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 21 29.119 0.187 0.014 130.801 17 77 Erik Jones Toyota 26 29.162 0.230 0.043 130.608 18 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 49 29.196 0.264 0.034 130.456 19 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 27 29.211 0.279 0.015 130.389 20 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 36 29.222 0.290 0.011 130.340 21 10 united_states Danica Patrick Ford 42 29.252 0.320 0.030 130.206 22 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 59 29.313 0.381 0.061 129.936 23 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 42 29.324 0.392 0.011 129.887 24 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 17 29.337 0.405 0.013 129.829 25 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 39 29.341 0.409 0.004 129.812 26 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 35 29.396 0.464 0.055 129.569 27 34 Landon Cassill Ford 41 29.467 0.535 0.071 129.256 28 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 27 29.484 0.552 0.017 129.182 29 43 Aric Almirola Ford 26 29.485 0.553 0.001 129.178 30 38 David Ragan Ford 30 29.582 0.650 0.097 128.754 31 95 united_states Michael McDowell Chevrolet 31 29.584 0.652 0.002 128.745 32 15 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 34 29.590 0.658 0.006 128.719 33 83 Brett Moffitt Toyota 24 29.641 0.709 0.051 128.498 34 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 22 29.712 0.780 0.071 128.191 35 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 26 29.858 0.926 0.146 127.564 36 55 united_states Gray Gaulding Toyota 24 30.159 1.227 0.301 126.291 37 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 25 30.172 1.240 0.013 126.236

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