Practice report

NASCAR Cup Kentucky

Kyle Larson leads Blaney in first Cup practice at Kentucky

Kyle Larson waited until the end to go right to the top in Friday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session.

Jim Utter

Edited: Jul 13, 2018, 7:01 PM

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Kyle Larson, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro

With just over a minute remaining in the 50-minute session, Larson posted an average lap speed of 185.867 mph, easily topping second-place Ryan Blaney (184.508 mph). Joey Logano ended up third (184.300 mph).

In four career starts at Kentucky Speedway, Larson has never led a lap and has one top-10 finish (second last season). In Larson’s first three starts at the track, he never finished better than 19th.

Kyle Busch ended up fourth and last year’s race winner, Martin Truex Jr., completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Erik Jones, Paul Menard and Daniel Suarez.

Jones, who earned his first Cup win last weekend at Daytona, completed the most laps (36).

Jesse Little, making his first start in the Cup series, ended up 36th fastest.

“Nice and secure, no weird feels yet,” Little said over his radio on his first lap on the track. “I’m struggling in (Turns) 3 and 4 getting back to the throttle ... only because I think it’s so light. I want to rush back to the throttle.”

Among the drivers who completed at least 10 consecutive laps, Clint Bowyer had the best average speed (181.444 mph). Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Drivers Chase Elliott and Suarez both were forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session because their respective teams were late to pre-race inspection last weekend.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 42 united_states Kyle Larson Chevrolet 10 29.053 185.867 2 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 19 29.244 0.191 0.191 184.653 3 22 Joey Logano Ford 18 29.300 0.247 0.056 184.300 4 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 30 29.355 0.302 0.055 183.955 5 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 15 29.365 0.312 0.010 183.892 6 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 19 29.383 0.330 0.018 183.780 7 1 united_states Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 25 29.422 0.369 0.039 183.536 8 20 Erik Jones Toyota 36 29.435 0.382 0.013 183.455 9 21 Paul Menard Ford 18 29.444 0.391 0.009 183.399 10 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 30 29.450 0.397 0.006 183.362 11 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 25 29.461 0.408 0.011 183.293 12 41 united_states Kurt Busch Ford 28 29.476 0.423 0.015 183.200 13 10 Aric Almirola Ford 24 29.496 0.443 0.020 183.076 14 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 19 29.523 0.470 0.027 182.908 15 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 26 29.578 0.525 0.055 182.568 16 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 25 29.613 0.560 0.035 182.352 17 9 united_states Chase Elliott Chevrolet 20 29.633 0.580 0.020 182.229 18 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 21 29.649 0.596 0.016 182.131 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 14 29.681 0.628 0.032 181.935 20 6 Matt Kenseth Ford 18 29.701 0.648 0.020 181.812 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 25 29.729 0.676 0.028 181.641 22 88 united_states Alex Bowman Chevrolet 26 29.739 0.686 0.010 181.580 23 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 27 29.754 0.701 0.015 181.488 24 24 William Byron Chevrolet 22 29.761 0.708 0.007 181.446 25 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 20 29.846 0.793 0.085 180.929 26 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 21 29.849 0.796 0.003 180.911 27 38 united_states David Ragan Ford 26 29.891 0.838 0.042 180.656 28 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 14 29.926 0.873 0.035 180.445 29 34 Michael McDowell Ford 20 29.963 0.910 0.037 180.222 30 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 22 29.979 0.926 0.016 180.126 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 7 30.047 0.994 0.068 179.718 32 72 united_states Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 15 30.551 1.498 0.504 176.754 33 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 21 30.709 1.656 0.158 175.844 34 23 J.J. Yeley Toyota 13 30.747 1.694 0.038 175.627 35 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 16 30.960 1.907 0.213 174.419 36 07 Jesse Little Chevrolet 24 31.085 2.032 0.125 173.717 37 51 united_states B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 9 31.172 2.119 0.087 173.232 38 99 Garrett Smithley Chevrolet 10 31.181 2.128 0.009 173.182 39 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 13 31.366 2.313 0.185 172.161

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