Final Practice for Quaker State 400

Kentucky Speedway

Friday, July 13th 2:00 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

Started at 90 degrees and stayed there but that's warmer than race conditions

Penalized Drivers

No penalized drivers in this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
120Erik JonesToyota5186.8928.762187.7481
212Ryan BlaneyFord24187.31128.829187.31124
318Kyle BuschToyota22186.50328.954186.50322
417Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Ford11185.98229.035185.98211
53Austin DillonChevy14185.41429.077185.71412
643Bubba Wallace #Chevy88.99629.133185.3575
714Clint BowyerFord25185.27429.14185.31223
819Daniel SuarezToyota21185.0229.161185.17919
910Aric AlmirolaFord17185.17929.161185.17917
109Chase ElliottChevy25185.0929.175185.0925
112Brad KeselowskiFord29177.74929.198184.9441
124Kevin HarvickFord24184.89429.206184.89424
1341Kurt BuschFord19183.21929.242184.66617
1478Martin Truex Jr.Toyota21184.52129.265184.52121
1531Ryan NewmanChevy20183.99929.348183.99920
166Matt KensethFord17183.21929.473183.21917
1737Chris BuescherChevy22183.04529.501183.04522
1847AJ AllmendingerChevy22182.91429.522182.91422
1934Michael McDowellFord11182.84629.533182.84611
2011Denny HamlinToyota40177.71329.555182.7119

 

Best 10-lap Averages

 

Items of Note:

  • Ryan Blaney is sitting third on the speed charts with 45 minutes left in the Happy Hour session but the two cars in front of him (Erik Jones, Brad Keselowski) have made qualifying runs. He will stay in race trim nearly the whole practice this session.
  • Kyle Busch doesn’t like the grip of his car after the first run of Happy Hour and says the front of the car feels different than the back of the car and he couldn’t get it down to the yellow line without the tires feeling squishy and needing a lot of steering wheel movement to get the car to turn the way he wants in order to get into the center of the turn.
  • Matt Kenseth has been showing middling speed so far through a practice and a third but is making longish runs to try and workout exactly what the car needs for the race.
  • Erik Jones made a qualifying run with 35 minutes left in practice, they will make a few more mock Q runs before running back in race trim to make some more adjustments they know they have to make based on first practice
  • As a fun kind of note, Erik Jones mentioned that he will have to cut his mullet coming up because of some pictures he has to take. I know it’s not related to actual racing but still interesting.
  • Kevin Harvick among several other drivers are now switching to qualifying trim with 25 minutes left in happy hour. Most people are waiting because shortly after this practice the cars have to go to pre-qualifying inspection.
  • Alex Bowman will be in his 100th start this weekend and has been on a run of three-straight top-10s this season and seven top-10s in the last 13 races overall.
  • Brad Keselowski treated last week as a must-win race because of how good they run at plate races.
  • Austin Dillon made a mock qualifying lap and that put him third on the speed charts with 13 minutes left in the session.
  • Denny Hamlin’s mock Q run put him 8th with 12 minutes to go in happy hour
  • Paul Menard has been using marks in the infield for where to lift in the turns versus using a mark on the outer wall since he can’t focus on the wall while he’s racing.
  • Kevin Harvick is finally getting on to track in Q trim with five minutes left in the session as is Kyle Busch.
  • There was a big backup on pit road of cars waiting for clean lap space to make mock qualifying runs with 1:30 left in the session and not all of them got a lap in or clean air which affected their time for the lap.
  • Alex Bowman wasn’t able to make a Q run so he’s unsure of where they’ll qualify because they didn’t feel comfortable in race trim to make the switch.

Opening Practice for Quaker State 400

Kentucky Speedway

Friday, July 13th 12:00 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

80 degrees at the start of practice and 85 at the end of the session

Penalized Drivers

No drivers were penalized in this first session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
142Kyle LarsonChevy10185.86729.053185.86710
212Ryan BlaneyFord19181.82429.244184.65311
322Joey LoganoFord18184.329.3184.318
418Kyle BuschToyota30177.89529.355183.95513
578Martin Truex Jr.Toyota15181.31129.365183.8923
62Brad KeselowskiFord19179.22329.383183.7810
71Jamie McMurrayChevy25175.15429.422183.5367
820Erik JonesToyota36179.22329.435183.45518
921Paul MenardFord18178.24729.444183.39911
1019Daniel SuarezToyota30177.32229.45183.36217
114Kevin HarvickFord25178.87929.461183.2938
1241Kurt BuschFord28177.70829.476183.27
1310Aric AlmirolaFord24177.35729.496183.0768
1431Ryan NewmanChevy19178.55429.523182.9088
1514Clint BowyerFord26178.09429.578182.56816
1611Denny HamlinToyota25178.84329.613182.35215
179Chase ElliottChevy20176.96229.633182.2297
1843Bubba Wallace #Chevy21178.64829.649182.1316
1917Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Ford14180.28229.681181.9357
206Matt KensethFord18178.30629.701181.81212

 

Best 10-lap Averages

Items of Note:

  • Nearly everyone was on the track to start the practice because of the abbreviated schedule this weekend
  • The entry of Turn 3 is widely regarded as the toughest turn in all of NASCAR and Dale Jr. thinks the banking at 14 degrees isn’t the same from the entry to the center of the turn aka the entrance is very flat compared to the center of it.
  • Jimmie Johnson is in the midst of a career-long winless streak of 41 races and he’s never won at Kentucky, nor has a Chevy in general.
  • Early in the session three of the top four cars are SHR cars with Clint Bowyer first and Kurt Busch second and Kevin Harvick fourth.
  • Ryan Newman reported a broken alternator after running two laps but the team isn’t convinced its the alternator. They are putting in a spare battery in the garage and will deal with the problem in between practices.
  • Kyle Larson got loose in Turn 2 and in the entrance of Turn 3 during a ride along with 27 minutes left.
  • With 27 minutes left in practice Ryan Blaney had the fastest lap on the board
  • Kentucky is a single-groove track most of the time with exact marks to hit for the turns which makes it tough to pass on at times.
  • A lot of cars are trying to widen the groove in Turn 3 during this session by laying down rubber further into the entrance before arcing for the corner.
  • Alex Bowman was getting tips of what his teammates were doing in terms of grooves around the track.
  • Denny Hamlin has been taking a bit of a higher line around the track than most others making their way around.
  • Teams are only given four sets of tires this week for practice and qualifying instead of all of their tires like year’s past which means they won’t be able to scuff them before the race happens on Saturday which could change how teams take tires during the race.
  • Ryan Blaney is switching from race trim to qualifying trim with 10 minutes left in practice but he has the best single lap and average lap speed this session.
  • William Byron is having trouble with the shifter in getting it to fourth gear without thinking about it or going into neutral first so he’s heading to the garage to make some adjustments.
  • Kyle Larson ran the first mock qualifying lap but only beat Ryan Blaney by .2 seconds with him in race trim.
  • With a few minutes left in practice Ryan Blaney made a few more race trim laps after changing a few things up, but the new package was not to his liking after just two laps and getting loose in Turns 3 & 4.
  • The track will change a lot during the race and already changed a lot during the first practice.