Hamlin bounces back from damage, tops Happy Hour
It’s been all Toyota, all the time at Bristol Motor Speedway — and happy hour was no different.
Photo by: Action Sports Photography
Denny Hamlin, who sustained right front damage after an incident with Danica Patrick earlier in the day, set the pace for single lap runs with a time of 15.213-seconds (126.129 mph).
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“It’s not bad, really no negatives there,” said Hamlin, who was still looking for the car to turn better with less than 15 minutes remaining in final practice.
Hamlin also led first practice and was fourth quick in Best Consecutive 10 Lap Averages with a speed of 124.045 mph.
Rookie Chase Elliott, who completed the most laps (97) during the 55-minute session, jumped to second quick (125.823 mph) in the closing minutes of Happy Hour followed by Joe Gibbs Racing-powered Toyotas of Martin Truex Jr. (125.749 mph), polesitter Carl Edwards (125.691 mph) and Kyle Busch (125.395 mph), who led second practice.
The Chevys of Jimmie Johnson (125.313 mph), Kevin Harvick (125.199 mph), Kyle Larson (125.126 mph) and Kasey Kahne (125.109 mph) rounded out the top nine. JGR’s Matt Kenseth was 10th fast (124.735 mph) to place all four of the Gibbs cars into the top 10 on speed.
Larson, who spent the session rim-riding dangerously close to the wall, led the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average runs with a speed of 124.657 mph, followed by Kyle Busch (124.561 mph), Edwards (124.083 mph), Hamlin, Johnson (124.036 mph), Keselowski (123.804 mph), Kahne (123.788 mph), Elliott (123.756 mph), Truex (123.637 mph) and Kenseth (123.515 mph).
There were a couple of anxious moments throughout practice as drivers moved up the race track, searching for the fastest line around the 0.533-mile oval including two-time Bristol victor Keselowski, who barely missed the wall with four minutes remaining in the final session.
“Higher than most right there, higher than most,” spotter Joey Meier told Keselowski. “Just for your information, you had just about a car length there before you hit the wall.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr. struggled early on but was able to dial the car in through the session to post the 11th fastest single lap run (124.630 mph).
"That's good, that helped the roll in the center quite a bit," Earnhardt said. “Good change...still lacking a little lateral in throttle."
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