Through Qualifying
A note of caution with Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, and Christopher Bell: They are dropping to the rear on the pace laps but being scored from their original starting spots. That means that Hamlin has to make it back to P3 before he gets positive PD, Busch has to win to not cost you PD, and Bell is the most playable of the three as he just has to make it back to P22 to get out of negative points.
Final Practice for Pennzoil 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Friday, February 21 7:30 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
69 degrees with 5 mph wind and 12% humidity
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized in this session
Top-20 Speeds (single-lap speeds)
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
Kurt Busch says his car feels the best it’s felt at this track including last year when he finished fifth.
The temps in this practice are similar to what it’ll be for the race on Sunday.
The trick for this race is to have a car that will handle the sun going down during the second half of the race. The cars that are good early may not be good late in the race.
The early part of this session had a very racy feel to it with cars nose to tail and going two-wide for multiple laps at a time.
Sunday’s race is an impound race meaning that after qualifying there won’t be any working on the cars and a failed tech inspection Sunday disallows the qualifying spot.
The Chevy drivers are intentionally trying to run in dirty air to found out how their new bodies and front ends will handle in that situation.
The 6-car is running the same setup as Newman ran in the Fall race here last year with the only change being the seat setup.
Alex Bowman said he feels that he has to be super committed to the bottom for his car to stick down there right now.
Kyle Larson says when he arcs the car into the corner he hits the bumps just right, the car is slightly better than it was last session but he still needs more balance in the car to handle the bumps they way he wants.
Halfway through the session, drivers are learning how to pass in race conditions with the sun starting to set.
There is a pack with Johnson, Jones, Logano, and Buescher that are going around in a group of four to try and see which lines work the best around the track.
The last four races, Stage 1 has been caution free. Last year the Fall race ended with a 72-lap green flag run and the March race ended with a 100-lap green flag run.
A lot of drivers are focusing on very long runs in this session, especially Martin Truex Jr. who doesn’t have the best take off speed but the longer he runs, the more consistent his lap times stay.
John Hunter Nemechek has looked sporty in this final practice and is showing confidence in the handling of his car in similar conditions to the end of the race.
Jimmie Johnson is saying his car still needs better balance later in runs as the handling falls off as the run goes longer.
With less than 20 minutes left in the session there is a group of 10 cars racing each other around the track and switching lanes and trying to pass.
Kyle Busch is looking for a feel in the car and he thought he found it but he got loose in dirty air coming off Turn 4 and brought it to the garage after just one lap on the track.
Aric Almirola loves the car on speed and he’s purposely driving in dirty air to make sure the package change they made for this year is working how they want it to.
Denny Hamlin has only made series of 3-4 lap runs for most of this practice as it doesn’t seem like they have a great feel in their car just yet.
Several cars did a mock qualifying lap late in the session to test their setup for qualifying on Saturday.
Pit Road entry practice also happened late in the session including Christopher Bell locking up his rear tires on a late entry.
Alex Bowman was second in 15-lap average and tops in 20-laps average
Matt DiBenedetto likes the direction they’re going but also said his hands were full in this session and they have their work cut out for them.
Opening Practice for Pennzoil 400
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Friday, February 21 4:05 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
68 degrees with 5 mph wind and 11% humidity
Penalized Drivers
Denny Hamlin has 30 minutes of penalty split between start and end
Kyle Busch 15 minutes (bondo on the fender)
Martin Truex Jr. 15 minutes (bondo on the fender)
Erik Jones 15 minutes (bondo on the fender)
Christopher Bell (bondo on the fender)
Top-20 Speeds (single-lap speeds)
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
Ross Chastain has his seat in the 6-car and adjusted the pedals and steering wheel and the brake spring to his liking
Jimmie Johnson says the front end of his car is tapping on the track through three and four on the splitter and he feels that if he was going faster they’d be on the splitter more
The JGR Toyotas including the LFR 95 got penalized for trying to change the body lines on the front fender.
Alex Bowman wasn’t comfortable with the front end of the car in the beginning of the session.
A lot of drivers were doing a 10-15 lap run at the start to see how the ride heights and feel were early in the run as the tire pressures were coming up.
There is a new tire on the cars this week for the Cup cars
Chris Buescher had a bit of a wiggle in the middle of Turns 1&2 with 37 minutes left in the session.
Most of the drivers are driving about a car width to 1.5 car widths off the bottom in Turns 1&2 but then on the bottom line in Turns 3&4 early in the session as those seem to be the fast grooves at either of the track at this point.
Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Ryan Blaney were going around in a group trying to see what their cars are doing in a pack and how the air affects them.
Brad Keselowski was complaining of his car fluctuating from tight to loose to tight throughout the run.
Kyle Larson says his car is free over the bumps and it’s only about halfway to where it needs to be in the second half of a lap but better in turns 1 & 2.
Alex Bowman says the back of the car is “wagging” around on him in Turns 1 & 2 and he added more wheel to Turns 3 & 4 and it felt better over the bumps.
Clint Bowyer has done mainly single car runs in this practice but did do a bit of driving in a group. He was on the pole here in September.
With 22 minutes left in the session, six Fords make up the top-10 single lap speeds.
Alex Bowman is still looking for the right balance in his car in the first set of corners
Aric Almirola lost almost no lap time over a 10-lap run and is now working on pit road speed with 18 minutes left in the session.
Lap cars have been the biggest issue for drivers entering pit road in green flag conditions for the last several races and so watch for pit issues on Sunday.
Kurt Busch said it’s hard to put his finger on what his car needs at this point.
Austin Dillon got a bit loose when trying to pass Bubba Wallace to his outside with 16 minutes left in the session.
Kyle Larson nearly spun out coming off Turn 4 with 14 minutes left in the session and backed it down and headed to the garage immediately, that’s the fourth time he’s been to the garage this session trying to get balance figured out.
Jimmie Johnson said his car is better now but still not great and still needs help over the bumps and with a bit more drive off coming off the corners.
Clint Bowyer made a mock qualifying run with 8 minutes left in the session.
Aric Almirola is also doing a mock qualifying run as well.
Kevin Harvick has been in race trim the whole practice and the mock qualifying run he made was in race trim as well.
Bowyer said they’ve come to the track this week with a drastically different setup from a year ago when he qualified well but didn’t race very well.
Ty Dillon did a late mock qualifying run with just under a minute left and shot to P3 on the speed charts.
The Chevys have a new body and new nose on the front of the cars this year and this will be the first test for how they work aerodynamically in race conditions.