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Blaney leads opening Kansas practice, Larson wrecks

Ryan Blaney led Friday's NASCAR Cup practice from Kansas Speedway for Team Penske.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Menards/Wrangler Riggs Workwear

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Menards/Wrangler Riggs Workwear

Barry Cantrell / NKP / Motorsport Images

Blaney, who is fighting to escape elimination from the 2018 playoffs, led the way with a 192.130mph lap. Kyle Busch trailed him by just 0.053 seconds with another title contender in Kevin Harvick third, just 0.001 seconds slower than Busch.

All three seemed to focus on qualifying runs with Blaney and Busch running just five laps and Harvick running three. A.J. Allmendinger and Darrell Wallace Jr. ran the most laps at 13 each.

During the session, Jimmie Johnson had a bit of a moment that sent him up the hill in Turns 1 and 2, but he got away with it. Later on, Kyle Larson wasn't so lucky. With 15 minutes to go, he started to lose the car while running the bottom line and slid up the track, slamming the wall and forcing the No. 42 team to a back-up car. 

"Just mad at myself ... made a mistake, got loose. I cracked it (the throttle), but its like the second the time I cracked it, I don't know if I got on the splitter or what but then it didn't turn and went straight," he told NBCSN.

"Hate it that I wrecked the primary car there. I'm sure our backup car will be fine ... we're always pretty good here at Kansas. Just dig deep and work hard and see what we can do on Sunday."

Larson's team was docked ten championship points earlier this week and finds themselves in a must-win situation entering Kansas.

Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 5 28.106     192.130
2 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 5 28.159 0.053 0.053 191.768
3 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 3 28.160 0.054 0.001 191.761
4 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 5 28.179 0.073 0.019 191.632
5 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 5 28.210 0.104 0.031 191.421
6 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 5 28.227 0.121 0.017 191.306
7 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 5 28.253 0.147 0.026 191.130
8 41 United States Kurt Busch  Ford 5 28.279 0.173 0.026 190.954
9 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 4 28.299 0.193 0.020 190.819
10 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 5 28.304 0.198 0.005 190.786
11 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 5 28.322 0.216 0.018 190.665
12 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 7 28.327 0.221 0.005 190.631
13 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 7 28.338 0.232 0.011 190.557
14 31 United States Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 7 28.405 0.299 0.067 190.107
15 78 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 3 28.408 0.302 0.003 190.087
16 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 5 28.438 0.332 0.030 189.887
17 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 7 28.452 0.346 0.014 189.793
18 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 4 28.456 0.350 0.004 189.767
19 1 United States Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 5 28.469 0.363 0.013 189.680
20 6 United States Trevor Bayne  Ford 5 28.481 0.375 0.012 189.600
21 47 United States A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 13 28.495 0.389 0.014 189.507
22 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 2 28.528 0.422 0.033 189.288
23 19 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 4 28.554 0.448 0.026 189.115
24 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 7 28.640 0.534 0.086 188.547
25 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 6 28.670 0.564 0.030 188.350
26 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 5 28.730 0.624 0.060 187.957
27 95 United States Regan Smith  Chevrolet 12 28.772 0.666 0.042 187.682
28 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 6 28.798 0.692 0.026 187.513
29 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 13 28.831 0.725 0.033 187.298
30 32 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 7 28.951 0.845 0.120 186.522
31 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 11 28.956 0.850 0.005 186.490
32 96 United States Jeffrey Earnhardt  Toyota 7 29.816 1.710 0.860 181.111
33 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 3 29.827 1.721 0.011 181.044
34 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 5 29.879 1.773 0.052 180.729
35 99 United States Kyle Weatherman  Chevrolet 2 29.928 1.822 0.049 180.433
36 23 United States J.J. Yeley  Toyota 6 30.006 1.900 0.078 179.964
37 72 United States Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 12 30.200 2.094 0.194 178.808
38 51 United States B.J. McLeod  Chevrolet 2 30.532 2.426 0.332 176.864
39 66 United States Timmy Hill  Toyota 4 30.649 2.543 0.117 176.188
40 7 United States Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 4 30.908 2.802 0.259 174.712

 


Take a virtual lap around Kansas Speedway, courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3:

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