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Practice report

Martin Truex Jr. fastest in eventful Cup practice at Sonoma

Former Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway winner Martin Truex Jr. led the way in the first Cup Series practice session on Friday.

Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Bass Pro Shops

Martin Truex Jr., Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Bass Pro Shops

Logan Whitton / NKP / Motorsport Images

It was the first time Cup drivers got to tackle “The Carousel,” which has been added back to the course as part of the track’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Truex’s average lap at 95.326 mph topped Ryan Blaney (95.195 mph) and Chris Buescher (95.041 mph). Jimmie Johnson was fourth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top-five.

The Carousel plunges from Turn 4 down through Turns 5 and 6 before dropping onto the raceway’s longest straightaway into the Turn 7 hairpin. It adds about a half-mile to the course’s length.

 

Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez and David Ragan.

It was an eventful one hour, 20-minute session for several drivers.

Bubba Wallace got off course in the opening minutes of the session.

About 30 mins into the session, Denny Hamlin got off course in T4 but was able to continue on with incident.

Kyle Larson spun off course near Turn 7 about 47 minutes into session.

Austin Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet required repairs after he made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 11 during the session. He received some damage to the right-side of his car.

Kyle Weatherman practiced Ross Chastain’s No. 15 Chevrolet as Chastain is at Gateway for the Gander Outdoors NASCAR Truck Series race.

Truex had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the session after his No. 19 Toyota twice failed pre-qualifying inspection at Michigan two weeks ago.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 19 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 20 1'35.168     95.326
2 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 21 1'35.299 0.131 0.131 95.195
3 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 21 1'35.454 0.286 0.155 95.041
4 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 21 1'35.460 0.292 0.006 95.035
5 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 20 1'35.723 0.555 0.263 94.773
6 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 25 1'35.736 0.568 0.013 94.761
7 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 22 1'35.879 0.711 0.143 94.619
8 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 18 1'36.170 1.002 0.291 94.333
9 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Ford 19 1'36.403 1.235 0.233 94.105
10 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 21 1'36.585 1.417 0.182 93.928
11 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 16 1'37.053 1.885 0.468 93.475
12 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 17 1'37.166 1.998 0.113 93.366
13 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 19 1'37.380 2.212 0.214 93.161
14 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 27 1'37.685 2.517 0.305 92.870
15 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 20 1'37.924 2.756 0.239 92.643
16 32 United States Corey Lajoie  Ford 22 1'38.166 2.998 0.242 92.415
17 1 United States Kurt Busch  Chevrolet 22 1'38.189 3.021 0.023 92.393
18 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 22 1'38.311 3.143 0.122 92.279
19 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 24 1'38.466 3.298 0.155 92.133
20 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 25 1'38.472 3.304 0.006 92.128
21 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 20 1'38.489 3.321 0.017 92.112
22 95 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Toyota 18 1'38.747 3.579 0.258 91.871
23 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 15 1'38.826 3.658 0.079 91.798
24 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 19 1'38.879 3.711 0.053 91.749
25 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 21 1'38.957 3.789 0.078 91.676
26 47 United States Ryan Preece  Chevrolet 19 1'38.967 3.799 0.010 91.667
27 6 United States Ryan Newman  Ford 19 1'38.975 3.807 0.008 91.660
28 96 United States Parker Kligerman  Toyota 21 1'39.033 3.865 0.058 91.606
29 36 United States Matt Tifft  Ford 21 1'39.155 3.987 0.122 91.493
30 8 United States Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 23 1'39.565 4.397 0.410 91.116
31 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 23 1'39.988 4.820 0.423 90.731
32 77 United States Justin Haley  Chevrolet 14 1'40.066 4.898 0.078 90.660
33 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 22 1'40.139 4.971 0.073 90.594
34 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 19 1'40.546 5.378 0.407 90.227
35 51 United States J.J. Yeley  Ford 9 1'41.019 5.851 0.473 89.805
36 27 United States Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 6 1'41.763 6.595 0.744 89.148
37 52 United States Cody Ware  Ford 4 1'42.036 6.868 0.273 88.910
38 15 United States Kyle Weatherman  Chevrolet 4 1'43.699 8.531 1.663 87.484

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