Practice report

NASCAR Cup Chicagoland

Alex Bowman tops Kurt Busch in first Cup practice at Chicagoland

Alex Bowman topped the charts in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in the first practice session of the weekend from Chicagoland Speedway.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Jun 29, 2019, 4:30 PM

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Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Axalta

Ryan Blaney set the pace early in the session at 175.547mph in the Team Penske Ford Mustang.

Some drivers opted to draft with one another with the 2019 aero package brining some unknowns to this year's race at Chicagoland Speedway. In the closing minutes, a large pack of up to nine cars took to the circuit to get a better feel for the package.

"We're trying to knock out all the little details now," Denny Hamlin explained to NBCSN. "That we we can spend Happy Hour focusing on just speed and race setup."

There was a close call between Ryan Newman and Paul Menard, but otherwise no incidents during the session.

Kevin Harvick ultimately usurped Blaney for quickest single lap before Kurt Busch did the same. The No. 88 of Bowman was forced to replace a driveshaft during the session, but in the final seconds shot to the top of the board himself with a 175.942mph lap.

Bowman also led the way in best ten-lap consecutive averages ahead of Harvick and Clint Bowyer.

2018 race winner Kyle Busch clocked in 16th on the speed charts.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 88 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 29 30.692 175.942 2 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 36 30.704 0.012 0.012 175.873 3 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 26 30.708 0.016 0.004 175.850 4 24 William Byron Chevrolet 34 30.718 0.026 0.010 175.793 5 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 28 30.736 0.044 0.018 175.690 6 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 28 30.761 0.069 0.025 175.547 7 6 Ryan Newman Ford 25 30.827 0.135 0.066 175.171 8 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 44 30.889 0.197 0.062 174.820 9 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 35 30.925 0.233 0.036 174.616 10 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 33 30.939 0.247 0.014 174.537 11 13 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 27 30.941 0.249 0.002 174.526 12 21 Paul Menard Ford 30 30.961 0.269 0.020 174.413 13 22 Joey Logano Ford 42 30.974 0.282 0.013 174.340 14 10 Aric Almirola Ford 32 31.000 0.308 0.026 174.194 15 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 34 31.006 0.314 0.006 174.160 16 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 38 31.006 0.314 0.000 174.160 17 34 Michael McDowell Ford 29 31.010 0.318 0.004 174.137 18 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez Ford 44 31.042 0.350 0.032 173.958 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 38 31.051 0.359 0.009 173.907 20 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 36 31.073 0.381 0.022 173.784 21 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 36 31.129 0.437 0.056 173.472 22 20 Erik Jones Toyota 40 31.158 0.466 0.029 173.310 23 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 19 31.161 0.469 0.003 173.294 24 38 David Ragan Ford 27 31.171 0.479 0.010 173.238 25 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 33 31.172 0.480 0.001 173.232 26 37 United States Chris Buescher Chevrolet 36 31.181 0.489 0.009 173.182 27 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 35 31.196 0.504 0.015 173.099 28 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 33 31.219 0.527 0.023 172.972 29 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 30 31.256 0.564 0.037 172.767 30 36 Matt Tifft Ford 28 31.376 0.684 0.120 172.106 31 15 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 11 31.474 0.782 0.098 171.570 32 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 17 31.543 0.851 0.069 171.195 33 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 29 31.697 1.005 0.154 170.363 34 52 Bayley Currey Chevrolet 7 31.898 1.206 0.201 169.290 35 51 B.J. McLeod Ford 6 32.001 1.309 0.103 168.745 36 53 United States Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 3 32.045 1.353 0.044 168.513 37 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 17 32.321 1.629 0.276 167.074 38 77 Quin Houff Chevrolet 21 32.346 1.654 0.025 166.945

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