Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA
Practice report

Kurt Busch tops Friday's first Cup practice at Kentucky

Kurt Busch rocketed to the top of the speed chart in the final minutes to top Friday’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice.

Kurt Busch, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Global Poker

Kurt Busch, Chip Ganassi Racing, Chevrolet Camaro Global Poker

Rusty Jarrett / NKP / Motorsport Images

In the final three minutes of the 50-minute session, Busch posted an average lap speed of 183.742 mph as several teams elected to make mock qualifying runs.

Aric Almirola ended up second (183.542 mph) and his Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Daniel Suarez was third (183.101 mph). Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch – who has won races in four different series at the track – completed the top-five.

In eight career Cup starts at Kentucky, Kurt Busch’s best finish was fourth in 2016. In his most recent outing last year, he ended up sixth after leading the second-most laps (45) in the race. 

Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer.

All four SHR cars ended up in the top-10 as well as both Chip Ganassi Racing teams.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 1 United States Kurt Busch  Chevrolet 29 29.389     183.742
2 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 26 29.421 0.032 0.032 183.542
3 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Ford 27 29.492 0.103 0.071 183.101
4 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 27 29.553 0.164 0.061 182.723
5 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 33 29.581 0.192 0.028 182.550
6 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 41 29.646 0.257 0.065 182.149
7 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 41 29.657 0.268 0.011 182.082
8 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 40 29.671 0.282 0.014 181.996
9 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 27 29.681 0.292 0.010 181.935
10 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 40 29.703 0.314 0.022 181.800
11 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 25 29.718 0.329 0.015 181.708
12 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 34 29.728 0.339 0.010 181.647
13 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 39 29.738 0.349 0.010 181.586
14 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 51 29.807 0.418 0.069 181.165
15 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 30 29.860 0.471 0.053 180.844
16 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 34 29.861 0.472 0.001 180.838
17 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 38 29.864 0.475 0.003 180.820
18 19 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 25 29.867 0.478 0.003 180.802
19 8 United States Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 32 29.884 0.495 0.017 180.699
20 95 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Toyota 30 29.909 0.520 0.025 180.548
21 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 25 29.946 0.557 0.037 180.325
22 36 United States Matt Tifft  Ford 19 29.975 0.586 0.029 180.150
23 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 26 29.989 0.600 0.014 180.066
24 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 31 30.006 0.617 0.017 179.964
25 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 35 30.112 0.723 0.106 179.330
26 6 United States Ryan Newman  Ford 21 30.116 0.727 0.004 179.307
27 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 33 30.167 0.778 0.051 179.004
28 32 United States Corey Lajoie  Ford 21 30.194 0.805 0.027 178.843
29 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 30 30.243 0.854 0.049 178.554
30 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 26 30.303 0.914 0.060 178.200
31 47 United States Ryan Preece  Chevrolet 31 30.322 0.933 0.019 178.089
32 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 31 30.475 1.086 0.153 177.194
33 51 United States Bayley Currey  Ford 18 30.773 1.384 0.298 175.479
34 52 United States B.J. McLeod  Chevrolet 9 30.898 1.509 0.125 174.769
35 77 United States Quin Houff  Chevrolet 21 31.035 1.646 0.137 173.997
36 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 32 31.143 1.754 0.108 173.394

 

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Harbin and Brooks earn eNASCAR Heat Pro League wins in Chicago
Next article Brad Keselowski leads final practice at Kentucky

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA