Ryan Blaney tops first Michigan Cup practice at 202.617mph

Blaney was one of nine cars to post average lap speeds of over 200 mph in the abbreviated session. Just minutes before its conclusion, Blaney rocketed to the top of the speed chart with a lap at 202.617 mph.

Michigan has been a difficult track for Blaney, with only one finish better than 15th in six series starts.

Kyle Busch was second (201.935 mph) and Blaney’s Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski, was third (201.867 mph). Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kurt Busch, Clint Bowyer, Paul Menard, Aric Almirola and Joey Logano.

The start of the session was delayed by five minutes due to fuel spilled on the backstretch, apparently from one of the jet dryers that was working the track following the conclusion of ARCA practice.

About six minutes after the session began, the practice was put under caution again as there were more complaints about fluid on the backstretch.

Once the area was cleaned again, Hamlin was first car back on the track but after running through the area he declared it was “no good.”

NASCAR ended up extending the session an extra 10 minutes after several teams complained about the lack of track time do to no fault of their own.

Three drivers were forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of Friday’s practice – Garrett Smithley (late to inspection last weekend) and Elliott and Logano (both failed inspection twice last weekend).

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	5	35.535			202.617
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	5	35.655	0.120	0.120	201.935
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	35.667	0.132	0.012	201.867
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	5	35.736	0.201	0.069	201.478
5	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	5	35.797	0.262	0.061	201.134
6	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	9	35.887	0.352	0.090	200.630
7	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	14	35.898	0.363	0.011	200.568
8	21	Paul Menard	Ford	5	35.944	0.409	0.046	200.312
9	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	8	35.977	0.442	0.033	200.128
10	22	Joey Logano	Ford	5	36.004	0.469	0.027	199.978
11	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	5	36.025	0.490	0.021	199.861
12	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	13	36.046	0.511	0.021	199.745
13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	10	36.079	0.544	0.033	199.562
14	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	7	36.098	0.563	0.019	199.457
15	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	10	36.109	0.574	0.011	199.396
16	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	5	36.137	0.602	0.028	199.242
17	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	7	36.162	0.627	0.025	199.104
18	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	4	36.175	0.640	0.013	199.032
19	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	14	36.182	0.647	0.007	198.994
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	8	36.195	0.660	0.013	198.923
21	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	9	36.206	0.671	0.011	198.862
22	38	David Ragan	Ford	9	36.236	0.701	0.030	198.697
23	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	14	36.239	0.704	0.003	198.681
24	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	9	36.240	0.705	0.001	198.675
25	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	10	36.264	0.729	0.024	198.544
26	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	6	36.279	0.744	0.015	198.462
27	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	6	36.285	0.750	0.006	198.429
28	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	8	36.385	0.850	0.100	197.884
29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	6	36.408	0.873	0.023	197.759
30	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	8	36.488	0.953	0.080	197.325
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	5	36.642	1.107	0.154	196.496
32	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	14	37.530	1.995	0.888	191.847
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	14	37.961	2.426	0.431	189.668
34	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	13	38.116	2.581	0.155	188.897
35	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	10	38.236	2.701	0.120	188.304
36	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	8	38.410	2.875	0.174	187.451
37	7	D.J. Kennington	Chevrolet	14	38.630	3.095	0.220	186.384
38	99	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	9	39.176	3.641	0.546	183.786
39	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	3	39.180	3.645	0.004	183.767