Kurt Busch fastest in Saturday's first Cup practice at Texas
Kurt Busch, who set the Texas Motor Speedway qualifying record on Friday, followed that up with the fastest average lap speed in Saturday’s first practice session.
Photo by: Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
Busch’s average lap speed at 191.768 mph led the way over a pair of Toyotas – Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones – who have dominated much of the competition this season on 1.5-mile speedways.
Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott – who missed qualifying because his No. 24 Chevrolet failed to clear pre-qualifying inspection Friday – completed the top-five. Elliott ran the most laps (43) during the 55-minute session.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Daniel Suarez and Kasey Kahne.
Daniel Hemric continue to fill in Richard Childress Racing’s No. 27 Chevrolet for Paul Menard, who remained back in North Carolina after his wife gave birth to the couple’s second child on Wednesday.
Menard was expected in Texas for Saturday’s final practice and Sunday’s AAA 500. Hemric ended up posting the 29th-fastest speed.
Both Kyle Busch and Hamlin were forced to sit out the first 30 minutes of this practice session due to inspection violations. Both drivers also will miss the first 30 minutes of Saturday’s final practice session at Texas.
During the race, NASCAR released Cup team’s race sets of tires so they could put a “heat cycle” on them, or scuff them before Sunday’s race.
Larson posted the fastest average lap speed (189.152 mph) of the 12 drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps in the practice session. He was followed by Jones, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Matt Kenseth.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 29 | 28.159 | 191.768 | ||
2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 20 | 28.256 | 0.097 | 0.097 | 191.110 |
3 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 29 | 28.262 | 0.103 | 0.006 | 191.069 |
4 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 37 | 28.290 | 0.131 | 0.028 | 190.880 |
5 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 43 | 28.294 | 0.135 | 0.004 | 190.853 |
6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 24 | 28.313 | 0.154 | 0.019 | 190.725 |
7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 21 | 28.354 | 0.195 | 0.041 | 190.449 |
8 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 20 | 28.358 | 0.199 | 0.004 | 190.422 |
9 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 29 | 28.365 | 0.206 | 0.007 | 190.375 |
10 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 41 | 28.416 | 0.257 | 0.051 | 190.034 |
11 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 41 | 28.417 | 0.258 | 0.001 | 190.027 |
12 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 31 | 28.423 | 0.264 | 0.006 | 189.987 |
13 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 23 | 28.436 | 0.277 | 0.013 | 189.900 |
14 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 27 | 28.442 | 0.283 | 0.006 | 189.860 |
15 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 36 | 28.494 | 0.335 | 0.052 | 189.514 |
16 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 25 | 28.532 | 0.373 | 0.038 | 189.261 |
17 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 30 | 28.536 | 0.377 | 0.004 | 189.235 |
18 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 23 | 28.592 | 0.433 | 0.056 | 188.864 |
19 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 19 | 28.608 | 0.449 | 0.016 | 188.758 |
20 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 26 | 28.641 | 0.482 | 0.033 | 188.541 |
21 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 17 | 28.665 | 0.506 | 0.024 | 188.383 |
22 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 31 | 28.698 | 0.539 | 0.033 | 188.166 |
23 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 27 | 28.701 | 0.542 | 0.003 | 188.147 |
24 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 16 | 28.704 | 0.545 | 0.003 | 188.127 |
25 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 29 | 28.752 | 0.593 | 0.048 | 187.813 |
26 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 32 | 28.801 | 0.642 | 0.049 | 187.493 |
27 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 25 | 28.824 | 0.665 | 0.023 | 187.344 |
28 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 21 | 28.837 | 0.678 | 0.013 | 187.259 |
29 | 27 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 23 | 28.901 | 0.742 | 0.064 | 186.845 |
30 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 30 | 28.939 | 0.780 | 0.038 | 186.599 |
31 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 22 | 29.066 | 0.907 | 0.127 | 185.784 |
32 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 22 | 29.114 | 0.955 | 0.048 | 185.478 |
33 | 23 | Corey Lajoie | Toyota | 16 | 29.302 | 1.143 | 0.188 | 184.288 |
34 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 20 | 29.379 | 1.220 | 0.077 | 183.805 |
35 | 83 | Gray Gaulding | Toyota | 22 | 29.551 | 1.392 | 0.172 | 182.735 |
36 | 15 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 15 | 29.553 | 1.394 | 0.002 | 182.723 |
37 | 7 | Joey Gase | Chevrolet | 22 | 29.837 | 1.678 | 0.284 | 180.983 |
38 | 51 | Ray Black Jr. | Chevrolet | 19 | 30.027 | 1.868 | 0.190 | 179.838 |
39 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 13 | 30.044 | 1.885 | 0.017 | 179.736 |
40 | 66 | David Starr | Chevrolet | 14 | 30.114 | 1.955 | 0.070 | 179.319 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments