Final Practice for Foxwoods 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Saturday, July 21 12:35 pm ET
55 minutes in length
Weather
76 degrees I Overcast skies I Light winds
Penalized Drivers
Denny Hamlin (15 minutes at the end of practice)
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| Pos | Car | Drivers | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 37 | 128.606 | 28.937 | 131.624 | 25 |
| 2 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 42 | 128.472 | 28.952 | 131.556 | 28 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 50 | 127.769 | 28.967 | 131.488 | 34 |
| 4 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 39 | 127.079 | 28.974 | 131.456 | 6 |
| 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 37 | 128.294 | 28.978 | 131.438 | 31 |
| 6 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 32 | 122.143 | 29.014 | 131.275 | 23 |
| 7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 44 | 128.333 | 29.036 | 131.175 | 29 |
| 8 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 38 | 128.277 | 29.051 | 131.107 | 33 |
| 9 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 32 | 129.318 | 29.052 | 131.103 | 3 |
| 10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 33 | 129.423 | 29.06 | 131.067 | 5 |
| 11 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 43 | 127.834 | 29.062 | 131.058 | 22 |
| 12 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 45 | 127.636 | 29.066 | 131.04 | 23 |
| 13 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 39 | 129.125 | 29.091 | 130.927 | 30 |
| 14 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 26 | 128.307 | 29.116 | 130.815 | 13 |
| 15 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 42 | 128.087 | 29.133 | 130.738 | 23 |
| 16 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 48 | 127.816 | 29.153 | 130.649 | 5 |
| 17 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 30 | 129.56 | 29.175 | 130.55 | 23 |
| 18 | 24 | William Byron # | Chevy | 35 | 127.778 | 29.178 | 130.537 | 5 |
| 19 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 36 | 128.859 | 29.2 | 130.438 | 23 |
| 20 | 6 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 23 | 129.134 | 29.214 | 130.376 | 17 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Average from final practice
Averages from second practice
Items of Note:
- Martin Truex Jr. is trying to get a bit better into Turn 3 where there are bumps in the middle of the braking zone can cause you to lose the nose of the car.
- In the last race here in September, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. led all but one lap of the 300 laps.
- Joey Logano is purposefully following the 78-car around the track to see how he compares to who he believes to be the best car on the track. Early on in the session he is atop the speed charts.
- Denny Hamlin is the only driver under 29-seconds for a lap with 42 minutes left in the session. However he has wheel hop and is free off exit.
- Kurt Busch has won three times here and pulled off a surprising pole this weekend and currently is 8th fastest in practice with 41 minutes left.
- Paul Menard is 9th fastest in practice with 40 minutes left and has the second best average lap speed so far in this session.
- Kyle Larson has yet to finish a lap with 40 minutes left in practice because he brushed the wall in Turn 2 and brought it straight to the garage to buff out the damage.
- Aric Almirola will have some new pit crew members this week, like everyone at SHR, after pit issues at Kentucky cost him some spots late in the race.
- Clint Bowyer doesn’t like the stability in the corner, he is free getting out of the turns and so they are trying to find more grip without killing the speed they have in the car.
- Michael McDowell hit very hard into the wall in Turn 3. He came into the corner going backwards and says something broke in the back of the car and he couldn’t control the car. He was able to walkaway from the car, but a backup will be needed and he will start at the back of the field.
- A 10-minute Red Flag resulted from the McDowell crash and reduced practice time to just 27 minutes left.
- Martin Truex Jr. was battling Denny Hamlin in Turn 4 with 27 minutes left in the session and Hamlin got loose and had to allow Truex to drive past him on the bottom.
- With 22 minutes left in the session, the 42-car of Larson is finally back on the track after having to fix the right rear damage from touching the wall early in practice. He’s only run eight laps while everyone else has run 25-30.
- Kevin Harvick turned in the fastest lap of practice with 20 minutes left in Happy Hour but Martin Truex Jr., Joey Logano, and Brad Keselowski are the top-three in average lap speed across all laps run in practice.
- Stewart-Haas Racing made pit changes this week mainly because the average 4-tire yellow pit stop was nearly a half a second behind JGR pit stops of the same type.
- Kevin Harvick is happy with his car, it’s a bit tight, but other than that he’s the top of the charts on single lap, five-lap, and 10-lap speeds while running 42 laps this practice.
- William Byron got very loose in Turn 2 with 13 minutes left in practice and actually had to turn the wheel to the right to keep it from coming around on him.
- With nine minutes left Landon Cassill hit the wall after he said he tried to put some front brake in it but it appeared to be something else that caused it. The Red Flag has come out once more and he will start in the back of the pack in a backup car.
Opening Practice Foxwoods 301
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Friday, July 20th 12:00 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
82 degrees and light breeze at the track for the practice
Penalized Drivers
AJ Allmendinger (15 minutes at the end of practice)
Jimmie Johnson (15 minutes at the end of practice)
Daniel Suarez (15 minutes at the end of practice)
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 6 | 134.292 | 28.362 | 134.292 | 6 |
| 2 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 6 | 133.788 | 28.469 | 133.788 | 6 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 8 | 133.459 | 28.475 | 133.759 | 7 |
| 4 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 8 | 133.544 | 28.503 | 133.628 | 7 |
| 5 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 7 | 133.193 | 28.537 | 133.469 | 6 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 5 | 133.352 | 28.562 | 133.352 | 5 |
| 7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 7 | 132.577 | 28.567 | 133.329 | 6 |
| 8 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 15 | 133.296 | 28.574 | 133.296 | 15 |
| 9 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 7 | 133.189 | 28.597 | 133.189 | 6 |
| 10 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 8 | 132.186 | 28.616 | 133.1 | 4 |
| 11 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 6 | 133.035 | 28.63 | 133.035 | 6 |
| 12 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 7 | 132.558 | 28.635 | 133.012 | 6 |
| 13 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 8 | 131.669 | 28.671 | 132.845 | 7 |
| 14 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 4 | 132.711 | 28.7 | 132.711 | 4 |
| 15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 20 | 132.186 | 28.72 | 132.618 | 19 |
| 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 7 | 131.615 | 28.77 | 132.388 | 2 |
| 17 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 8 | 132.108 | 28.771 | 132.383 | 5 |
| 18 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 7 | 131.715 | 28.782 | 132.333 | 4 |
| 19 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 10 | 132.25 | 28.8 | 132.25 | 10 |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron # | Chevy | 11 | 132.167 | 28.818 | 132.167 | 11 |
Best 10-lap Averages
No driver drove 10 consecutive laps in this session
Items of Note:
- The track has put PJ1 on the bottom and third grooves of the track in order to increase traction and drivability
- Chris Buescher is the only car on the track to start the session, with three minutes already gone, and he’s made a several lap run.
- The modified series was on the track before this session and so a lot of cars are waiting for the modified’s tire rubber to get cleaned off the track to put down more Cup series tire rubber.
- Several of the top teams are strictly focusing on Q-trim this practice because of the different schedule this weekend than the last time they came here.
- Joey Logano got his first win in the Cup series at this track in 2009 at just over 19 years old. With 43 minutes left in the session, Logano was running different lines trying to see how the PJ1 was effecting things by driving the third groove in the corners and driving down to the bottom groove coming out of the corners.
- There are large seams in the corners in between grooves and the seams can really affect the handling and speed of the car being just inside and outside of the PJ1.
- Martin Truex Jr. hasn’t won at Loudon in the Cup series yet but does have wins across a few series at the track including K&N East and Xfinity.
- With 35 minutes left in practice, Kyle Busch is atop the speed chart at more than 1.5 mph faster than Denny Hamlin who is second on the list.
- Chase Elliott says his brakes are spongy and has brought the car back to the garage
- Alex Bowman says he doesn’t have enough front grip in the car and when using the track bar, his car stays snappy loose and so adjustments will be made in the car.
- Austin Dillon is having his brakes bled in the garage with 26 minutes left in practice because he didn’t feel comfortable with the braking system.
- Joe Gibbs Racing has won 5-of-the-last-6 races at NHMS, had a pole sitter in 5-of-the-last-8 races at NHMS, and led 46% of laps run in the last six races.
- By manufacturer, Toyota has led 97.2% of the laps in the last four races run here with Chevy leading 2.6%, and Ford leading .2%
- Crew Chiefs like to setup the cars as if this is a short track race and not a 1-mile track.
- AJ Allmendinger says he tried to run a lap completely in the PJ1 but just about crashed the car when the compound disappears on exit of Turn 2.
- Jimmie Johnson will serve a penalty but laid down the second fastest lap on the board with 20 minutes left in the session and has an average finish of 10.5 in 31 races at the track overall with three total wins, the first coming 15 years ago.
- David Ragan touched the wall in Turn 3 and Turn 4 after running into some fluid on the track. Bubba Wallace also went high on the track in the same corners but didn’t hit the wall.
- Kyle Larson has made a few qualifying trim runs in this session and his spotter helped him to find where all of the fastest cars are running their laps in terms of grooves and where the tires are in the grooves.
- This is the home track of Corey LaJoie as he’s from Concord New Hampshire.