DFS NASCAR: Pennzoil 400 Practice Notes

Pennzoil 400 Final Practice

Saturday March 3 2:30 p.m. ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

The weather in the final practice was a bit warmer than it will be for the race and the wind was much stiffer than it will be for the race. 20-25 mph for practice and 9 mph at race time.

Penalized Drivers

• Kyle Busch 15-minute for two failed prequalifying tech inspections
• Aric Almirola 15-minute for two failed prequalifying tech inspections
• Chris Buescher 15-minute for two failed prequalifying tech inspections

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best 10-lap Average

Items of Note:

• Early on the JGR Toyotas were running much faster than at the morning practice.
• Alex Bowman said early on he can’t turn in and then the back of the car slides out and the car gets out of the track with 38 minutes left in happy hour session.
• Martin Truex Jr. says they are just fine tuning the car and they are pretty happy with the car after the adjustments made on Friday.
• Joey Logano made a left rear spring change before their run in the final practice as they look for a bit more balance in the car but they still have the speed, running P9 with 30 minutes to go in final practice.
• Darrell Waltrip said Jimmie Johnson’s car looks like it’s handling oddly after mid-way through the first practice. It’s also the first time in his career he’s finished outside the top-20 in the first two races.
• Ryan Blaney said he is just a bit tight going over the bumps in the corners after his first 10 laps. His car is fast though, sitting atop the speed charts with 29 minutes left in the session. They are telling him to be patient with it and see if the comfort level changes.
• This graphic shows the most recent 17-lap runs for Kyle Larson and Kevin Harvick and the difference in lap times over the course of that span.

• A lot of drivers are having issues with the wind on the track and Brad Keselowski said he feels drunk on the track. A lot of drivers can’t tell if it’s an issue with balance in the car their having or if it’s the effect of the wind.
• Forecast conditions for Sunday’s race will be cool but not nearly as windy as it has been on Friday or Saturday.
• With 16 minutes left in practice, Daniel Suarez is making a change to his shocks with changing the spacers in the left rear shock.
• Chase Elliott has made a spring change every time he’s come in the garage to try and get the handling down but overall they are happy with the speed in the car as he’s running P4 with 15 minutes left in practice.
• There is starting to be falloff during the runs in the final practice. Larson has lost 1.5 seconds from first lap to last during his 41-lap run.
• Aric Almirola says he’s been super loose this whole weekend but for this last practice they made wholesale changes and it felt much more comfortable but it still needs a bit of work.
• William Byron says his car is still not driving through the corner the way he wants but overall the speed is there for the 24-car and they will make a couple more minor changes.
• Kevin Harvick led the best 15-lap and 20-lap averages in final practice and was second in the best 10-lap average

Pennzoil 400 Second Practice

Saturday, March 3 12:00 p.m. ET

55 minutes in length

Weather

The weather at the second practice were closer to race conditions than the second practice will be, however it will be sunnier tomorrow than it is on Saturday. Wind is still an issue today with it blowing between 20-25 mph.

Penalized Drivers

Austin Dillon 15-minutes

Kyle Larson 15-minutes

Joey Gase 15-minutes

Top-20 Speed (Single lap)

Best 10-Lap Averages

Items of Note:

• Talk of early practice was about tire pressure and that they were low in the cool temps
• Martin Truex Jr. had a tire issue with a tire equalizing but they qualified fourth. It took eight inner liners and two wheels to get the tire to stop equalizing (one section leaking into the other). There are five other tires in the pit area that are doing the same thing.
• A lot of drivers are making mock pit runs early in practice to make sure their speeds are dialed-in
• Denny Hamlin said the car was driving well in qualifying but they had no speed. Denny feels like his is very free starting off the morning session and he felt like he was crashing into turn 1. He is in the garage getting the car worked on with 45 minutes to go in practice. Hamlin said over the radio that the car can’t go from high corner entry to a lower line in the middle of the corner.
• With 41 minutes left, Erik Jones has run the most laps of anyone in the session with 20 already run on the track.
• Denny Hamlin had something blow out the back of the car with 39 minutes to go after getting back on the track. He said on the radio that he heard something pop and then it started driving funny. Update – He had a right front tire go down but they don’t know why. It caused a caution in practice.
• Joey Logano nearly ran into Joey Gase on the backstretch with 40 minutes left in practice because Gase was going 15-20 mph slower than Logano. No damage to either car.
• Darrell Wallace Jr. is a bit too loose in the early going of practice and they knew from the January test that qualifying wasn’t going to be their strong suit. He’s seventh-fastest with 30 minutes to go in practice. –Update- He is happy with the new found speed and the balance is decent but will need to be dialed in in the final practice. They also had to replace a radiator in the car after they found a hairline leak in it.
• Michael McDowell has been having a great weekend to this point qualifying P15 and running P9 with 27 minutes left in practice.
• David Ragan’s car had the back end swing around on him coming out of Turn 4 and he’s running in the mid-20s to this point.
• Joe Gibbs Racing is having issues this weekend. Only had one car in the top-12 at qualifying and with 22 minutes left they are running between P18-P32 this session and none have made long runs aside from Erik Jones.
• Martin Truex Jr. is a bit tired Saturday morning since he just isn’t a morning person and isn’t a fan of the 9 am PT practice times.
• Pit road is a tough entry because the entry is curved but flat and so entering off the banking is very tough to get the speed under control. The first timing section is just 89 feet long and the last one is 57 feet long.
• Austin Dillon is trying a whole new running package and it didn’t work but he isn’t concerned because of the temperatures at the practice. He is also serving a 15-minute penalty.
• Alex Bowman said his car is tight off the corner but it has more chatter than previously because the tires aren’t gripping as well as yesterday.
• Kyle Larson says his car feels very good but it gets tight a little bit sooner than he expected but overall his car feels very fast and comfortable.
• Goodyear says the tire will lay rubber on this track and the grip level will change faster than drivers are expecting for both better and worse.
• The corners have a lot of rubber on them mid-track to the wall but the front and back stretches have far less rubber on them.
• Three cars ran sub-29 second laps in this session.
• Kyle Larson won practice once again, and has won every practice session for both MENCS and Xfinity this weekend.

Pennzoil 400 Opening Practice

Friday, March 2 2:00 p.m. ET

55 minutes in length

Weather

Air Temp – 65 degrees

Track Temp – 85 degrees

Wind – 27mph SW

Top-20 Speeds (Single Lap)

Best 10-Lap Averages

No one ran 10-consecutive laps during the first practice

Penalized Drivers

Serving 15-minute penalties

            Jeffrey Earnhardt

            Chase Elliott

            Denny Hamlin

            Kyle Busch

            Alex Bowman

Items of Note:

• Kyle Larson was one of the drivers that tested on the track in the offseason and he was the best car on the track in those sessions. He ran five mock qualifying runs in the first practice.
• Early in practice (45 minutes left) 18 of the top-20 speeds were done on mock qualifying runs.
• Vegas’ surface is a pretty bumpy surface in the corners but overall the surface is very smooth.
• Many engineers have to decide whether the car will take the bumps and reduce down force or if the down force will be greater and be stiffer over the bumps
• With 35 minutes left in practice Alex Bowman got very loose in the corner of 3&4 but saved it.
• Martin Truex Jr. has a higher rear ride height than Kyle Larson when shown driving in the same part of the track.
• There was quite a bit of headwind ( 30+ mph) down the front stretch during practice but the cars were helped by a tailwind in the backstretch
• Daniel Suarez’s car was bouncing around quite a bit on the track when viewed in the visor cam but he is holding a steady line around the track and ran ninth-quickest with 30 minutes left in practice.
• Kurt Busch said his car felt like it was up and out of the track after just a one-lap run early in practice. With 28 minutes left in practice he is in the garage getting the car adjusted.
• William Byron’s backend got loose coming out of turn 2 with 25 minutes to go in practice and he described it over the radio as being free in the corner coming off the bumps.
• Jimmie Johnson has one top-five finish in the last 25 overall races dating back to mid-2017
• Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson were the two drivers running the two highest line around the track and both were 1-2 on the speed chart with 12 minutes left in practice.
• AJ Allmendinger was push loose coming to turn 1 in a mock qualifying run with 10 minutes left.
• Kyle Busch is running a triple-header in Vegas this weekend. He is running trucks, Xfinity, and MENCS. Says the wind hasn’t been an issue for his cup car even with the reduced downforce in those cars. He wants a tick more speed for qualifying however.
• The wind is a real issue down the backstretch as it gets on to the side of the car and tries to keep it from turning into turn 3.
• Martin Truex Jr. made a few different runs and felt that they got better each run but started too far off for where they wanted to get to in this session.