Practice report
NASCAR Cup Dover
Kurt Busch tops blistering first NASCAR Cup practice at Dover
Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Kyle Larson led the way in Friday’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.
Jim Utter
Published: May 3, 2019, 4:11 PM
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Busch’s average lap speed of 168.445 mph set a blistering pace for the 50-minute session, which saw 23 drivers post speeds faster than the track’s qualifying record.
Brad Keselowski set the record in 2014 with an average lap speed of 164.444 mph.
Larson ended up second (168.106 mph) and Kevin Harvick was third (167.950 mph). William Byron and Ryan Blaney completed the top-five.
“Good job boys,” Busch said over his team radio after posting the fast lap.
“It feels like it’s fast – the most downforce, the most power on the smallest track we go to with it,” Busch said in a later interview. “We’ve got to back it up later in qualifying.”
Rounding out the top-10 are Alex Bowman, Denny Hamlin, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chase Elliott and Jimmie Johnson.
All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers posted fast speeds in the top-10.
Four drivers had to sit out the final 15 minutes of Friday’s practice – Ross Chastain, Chris Buescher and Cody Ware for being late into inspection last weekend and Kurt Busch for having multiple inspection failures last weekend.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 1 
Kurt Busch Chevrolet 11 21.372 168.445 2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 11 21.415 0.043 0.043 168.106 3 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 9 21.435 0.063 0.020 167.950 4 24 William Byron Chevrolet 11 21.474 0.102 0.039 167.645 5 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 11 21.474 0.102 0.000 167.645 6 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 11 21.491 0.119 0.017 167.512 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 14 21.493 0.121 0.002 167.496 8 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 9 21.535 0.163 0.042 167.170 9 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 11 21.536 0.164 0.001 167.162 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 10 21.548 0.176 0.012 167.069 11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 11 21.571 0.199 0.023 166.891 12 10 Aric Almirola Ford 10 21.601 0.229 0.030 166.659 13 20 Erik Jones Toyota 11 21.606 0.234 0.005 166.620 14 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 11 21.615 0.243 0.009 166.551 15 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 11 21.618 0.246 0.003 166.528 16 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 14 21.622 0.250 0.004 166.497 17 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 14 21.645 0.273 0.023 166.320 18 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 15 21.670 0.298 0.025 166.128 19 22 Joey Logano Ford 13 21.693 0.321 0.023 165.952 20 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 13 21.702 0.330 0.009 165.883 21 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 15 21.737 0.365 0.035 165.616 22 6 Ryan Newman Ford 15 21.750 0.378 0.013 165.517 23 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 10 21.764 0.392 0.014 165.411 24 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 16 21.917 0.545 0.153 164.256 25 38 David Ragan Ford 11 21.917 0.545 0.000 164.256 26 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 19 22.023 0.651 0.106 163.465 27 21 Paul Menard Ford 12 22.036 0.664 0.013 163.369 28 32 Corey Lajoie Ford 15 22.054 0.682 0.018 163.236 29 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 15 22.056 0.684 0.002 163.221 30 36 Matt Tifft Ford 28 22.075 0.703 0.019 163.080 31 47 Ryan Preece Chevrolet 29 22.089 0.717 0.014 162.977 32 34 Michael McDowell Ford 19 22.139 0.767 0.050 162.609 33 52 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 3 22.935 1.563 0.796 156.965 34 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 10 23.013 1.641 0.078 156.433 35 77 Quin Houff Chevrolet 24 23.569 2.197 0.556 152.743 36 51 Cody Ware Ford 15 23.638 2.266 0.069 152.297 37 27 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 13 24.002 2.630 0.364 149.988
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