In the opening Sprint Cup Series practice session on Friday morning, Kyle Larson ended up being the fastest at the Dover International Speedway.
Larson’s lap at 165.578 mph was his final lap in the practice session as the No. 42 team was preparing for qualifying. Larson enters Dover as the last driver in a Chase advance spot, only five points ahead of teammate Jamie McMurray. Dover just happens to be one of Larson’s best racetracks; the young California driver has four top 10s in his five starts at Dover, including a close second to Matt Kenseth in the spring race earlier this season.
The Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of Carl Edwards and Kenseth were second and third respectively. Ryan Newman was the best non-Chaser in fourth while 10-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was fifth.
The Chase drivers who stand to be eliminated from Round 1 of NASCAR’s playoffs didn’t fare very well. Austin Dillon was the highlight in ninth followed by McMurray in 16th. Tony Stewart was 24th and Chris Buescher, who sits 30 points out and needs a win to advance to the next round, struggled in 31st.
Four drivers ran 10 consecutive laps in this session. Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was the fastest, with an average speed of 159.336 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, was second and Dillon was third. Trevor Bayne, 27th on the overall chart, was the slowest of the four in fourth place. Busch was 28th on the speed chart, as the No. 18 team focused on race trim instead of qualifying trim.
The practice started with a 15-minute delay due to rain. Rain is a major part of the forecast this weekend, with the Weather Channel reporting an 80 percent chance of rain on Saturday and a 60 percent chance of rain on Sunday.
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