Final Practice for Overton’s 400
Chicagoland Speedway
2:00 PM ET Saturday June 30th
50 minutes in length
Weather
Conditions were very similar to the first practice on Saturday
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized in this session
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | LAPS | LAST LAP | BEST TIME | BEST SPEED | BEST LAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 30 | 166.754 | 29.863 | 180.826 | 1 |
| 2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 25 | 168.587 | 29.891 | 180.656 | 1 |
| 3 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 37 | 167.234 | 29.952 | 180.288 | 1 |
| 4 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 29 | 165.168 | 30.055 | 179.671 | 1 |
| 5 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 32 | 167.697 | 30.196 | 178.832 | 1 |
| 6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 28 | 170.342 | 30.374 | 177.784 | 1 |
| 7 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 47 | 165.996 | 30.469 | 177.229 | 1 |
| 8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 33 | 167.359 | 30.478 | 177.177 | 1 |
| 9 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 31 | 167.712 | 30.608 | 176.424 | 1 |
| 10 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 26 | 169.507 | 30.626 | 176.321 | 24 |
| 11 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 33 | 166.831 | 30.83 | 175.154 | 1 |
| 12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 46 | 166.001 | 30.848 | 175.052 | 1 |
| 13 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 31 | 171.488 | 30.884 | 174.848 | 1 |
| 14 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 29 | 165.553 | 30.893 | 174.797 | 1 |
| 15 | 43 | Bubba Wallace # | Chevy | 46 | 167.146 | 30.895 | 174.786 | 1 |
| 16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 42 | 165.401 | 30.987 | 174.267 | 1 |
| 17 | 24 | William Byron # | Chevy | 38 | 165.868 | 31.025 | 174.053 | 1 |
| 18 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 34 | 167.374 | 31.03 | 174.025 | 2 |
| 19 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 20 | 170.519 | 31.057 | 173.874 | 1 |
| 20 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 30 | 173.055 | 31.077 | 173.762 | 1 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- There was additional rubber on the track for this session following Xfinity Series qualifying
- Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski are some of the drivers starting with a qualifying run instead of a race run.
- Martin Truex Jr. and Cole Pearn are focusing on feel in the car for this practice rather than the overall speed of the car because Truex is so comfortable here, the speed in practice doesn’t matter much to them
- Kevin Harvick started in a race trim car rather than a qualifying trim.
- Daniel Suarez is continuing to try and improve but feels that he is still lacking the speed of the other JGR cars have but is confident still as he stated Saturday morning that he will make the playoff even though he is 74 points below the cut line right now.
- Brad Keselowski ran a mock qualifying run to start practice and with 37 minutes left in the session he is on top of the speed chart but is now switching to race trim to figure out more balance in the car.
- Kyle Busch ran a mock qualifying run to start the practice and were so off with the setup that they only ran one run in that before switching to race trim.
- The surface of the track is 18 years old (hasn’t been repaved since it opened) and thus it is similar to the surface of Atlanta Motor Speedway and Auto Club (the reason they are in the similar tracks section in the track breakdown)
- With 30 minutes left in practice there are a lot of cars still going through inspection. Paul Menard and Jimmie Johnson haven’t made it through yet with 27 minutes left. Ryan Newman just got his car back from inspection.
- Denny Hamlin says he has a spring stiffness issue with the brake pedal and it is making it hard to control the speed down pit road.
- Bubba Wallace has been working the bottom for most of practice in order to figure out how to make the car better despite knowing that the top groove is the fastest. He is faster this practice than the first one.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. seems to have middling speed this weekend through the two practices and was practicing his pit road speed with 13 minutes left in the final session.
- Kyle Larson is having some brake pedal issues in this session where the pedal goes closer and closer to the floor each time he presses it and he’s sitting just 16th in the fastest lap rankings this session. They have taken some tape off the front of the car to get more air to the brakes to try and help the issue.
- With five minutes left in practice Kyle Larson brushed the outside wall with the right rear of the car but aside from a dent in the quarter panel there isn’t any other damage.
- At the end of practice Joey Logano is one of the best five-lap average cars and is faster than his teammate Brad Keselowski until the 15-lap average comes into play.
- Three Stewart-Haas cars finished 4-6 in the single lap speeds in the final practice.
Opening Practice
Chicagoland Speedway
11:30 AM ET Saturday June 30th
50 minutes in length
Weather
Feels like 100 for the air temp I 136 inside the car I 112 track temp
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized for this practice session
Top-20 Speed (one lap)
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | LAPS | LAST LAP | BEST TIME | BEST SPEED | BEST LAP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 14 | 178.992 | 30.169 | 178.992 | 14 |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 31 | 167.556 | 30.191 | 178.861 | 1 |
| 3 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 29 | 177.719 | 30.21 | 178.749 | 1 |
| 4 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 26 | 178.749 | 30.21 | 178.749 | 26 |
| 5 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 20 | 177.725 | 30.384 | 177.725 | 20 |
| 6 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 24 | 160.062 | 30.432 | 177.445 | 1 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 20 | 169.051 | 30.447 | 177.357 | 1 |
| 8 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 20 | 177.299 | 30.457 | 177.299 | 20 |
| 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 22 | 169.619 | 30.499 | 177.055 | 2 |
| 10 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 28 | 165.924 | 30.499 | 177.055 | 1 |
| 11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 20 | 172.073 | 30.554 | 176.736 | 1 |
| 12 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 20 | 170.031 | 30.578 | 176.598 | 2 |
| 13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 22 | 170.913 | 30.627 | 176.315 | 6 |
| 14 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 23 | 168.666 | 30.664 | 176.102 | 1 |
| 15 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 17 | 175.154 | 30.664 | 176.102 | 1 |
| 16 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 28 | 167.947 | 30.709 | 175.844 | 1 |
| 17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 12 | 173.745 | 30.748 | 175.621 | 1 |
| 18 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 9 | 170.81 | 30.754 | 175.587 | 2 |
| 19 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 20 | 170.449 | 30.783 | 175.421 | 3 |
| 20 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 19 | 169.507 | 30.84 | 175.097 | 1 |
Best 10-lap Averages
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Best Average Speed During Practice
Items of Note:
- The hot weather this weekend will reduce the already low grip level and make it slicker to hold a line.
- Denny Hamlin went out early in practice and ran a few laps but his car was way too tight and he went back to the garage for adjustments.
- Kevin Harvick spent the entire Xfinity series practice on Friday running around the white line at the bottom of the track and he has started out running low in the corners and high in the straightaways.
- Jimmie Johnson ran a four-lap run early in practice and went to the top of the chart and then headed to the garage for adjustments.
- There is a mixed bag in terms of cars using race trim and those using qualifying early in this session. This weekend’s schedule is a compact one with two practices and qualifying on Saturday.
- Kyle Larson took 13 minutes to get on track after getting it back from inspection. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Martin Truex Jr. are some of the cars who have yet to run a lap after just getting their cars back.
- Ryan Blaney is running a second run with 35 minutes left in practice and he put up his fastest lap in that second run, he’s so far the only driver to be able to do that meaning the fall off with the tires is quick here, especially when it’s hot.
- Brad Keselowski has top-10 finishes at 5 of the last 7 1.5-mile tracks and has a win here in 2014.
- Martin Truex Jr. doesn’t like that he’s missed 20 minutes of the first practice but he feels comfortable with his history here and the game plan they have for this weekend’s schedule.
- Jamie McMurray is working the top groove in Turns 1&2 and the lower groove in Turns 3&4 but then missed pit road on his practice run for pit road speed.
- Austin Dillon is 21st halfway through practice and is experimenting with different lines around the track and with 23 minutes left he is running the low line at one end and the high line at the other.
- Jimmie Johnson hasn’t won at Chicagoland Speedway (one of three he hasn’t won at) but he has unloaded well to start this weekend and Hendrick Motorsports has three cars in the top-14 including Johnson and Alex Bowman top-2.
- Hendrick Motorsports has finished top-three or better in eight of the last 10 races here.
- Clint Bowyer has struggled at 1.5 mile tracks with a 12th or worse finish in 3 of the last 4 races at that distance this year and 13th or worse in four straight races at Chicago overall.
- Ryan Blaney got loose coming off of Turn 4 in the upper groove as he went across the seams in the track with five minutes left in practice. He made a mock qualifying run with 1:30 left on the clock.
- At the end of practice, Chase Elliott made a mock qualifying run and sits fourth, directly behind Jimmie Johnson, and Alex Bowman.
- Bubba Wallace spent the practice trying to get down the arcing in the corners and said he is too tight and it's hurting his rotation in the corner but overall put up solid speeds even with the issues.
- Ryan Newman said he likes the bottom line better as the top takes too much countersteering to make it around and he's too loose in Turn 2.
- Denny Hamlin felt at the end of practice that he was all over the place on exit and he didn't quite have his entry with him to feel comfortable in the turns.
- Ty Dillon said his car was too tight early in the runs and so they made adjustments to free it up and it worked on the backend but the front end is still too stiff on exit and hurting his drive off the corners.