Final Practice at Food City 500
Saturday, April 14 11:05 a.m. ET
55 minutes in length
Penalized Drivers
No drivers served penalities during the Happy Hour session
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
1 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 71 | 114.535 | 15.051 | 127.487 | 2 |
2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 75 | 120.846 | 15.1 | 127.073 | 5 |
3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 63 | 119.047 | 15.109 | 126.997 | 6 |
4 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 69 | 120.422 | 15.164 | 126.537 | 8 |
5 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 17 | 122.591 | 15.193 | 126.295 | 5 |
6 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 61 | 119.618 | 15.204 | 126.204 | 3 |
7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 70 | 122.819 | 15.213 | 126.129 | 10 |
8 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 56 | 28.491 | 15.215 | 126.112 | 4 |
9 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 56 | 95.863 | 15.219 | 126.079 | 2 |
10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 95 | 119.88 | 15.226 | 126.021 | 3 |
11 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 65 | 119.798 | 15.228 | 126.005 | 7 |
12 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 58 | 122.147 | 15.255 | 125.782 | 6 |
13 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 55 | 122.03 | 15.256 | 125.773 | 7 |
14 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 46 | 122.513 | 15.259 | 125.749 | 13 |
15 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 61 | 121.512 | 15.26 | 125.74 | 8 |
16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 48 | 121.612 | 15.269 | 125.666 | 5 |
17 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 63 | 119.701 | 15.278 | 125.592 | 7 |
18 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 63 | 120.293 | 15.291 | 125.486 | 9 |
19 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 65 | 121.228 | 15.294 | 125.461 | 5 |
20 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 80 | 121.566 | 15.303 | 125.387 | 6 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. loves his car so far this week and his Crew Chief said his car just “rolls fast.” It’s also his favorite race track and they are simply hoping to make it through happy hour without issues.
- Joey Logano is the first car on the track as practice opens, though he and a few others are just running through pit road speed tests.
- Pit road speeds here can be tricky because it’s two sections and the radius around the turn can throw drivers off on their speeds plus the final section is just 49 feet long and that can cause issues too.
- Kyle Larson is still working adamantly to get a top groove going during this session as well. He is still one of only two or three drivers trying to do it
- Jeff Gordon says that there is a totally different feel to the top groove than the bottom. There is a bump in the middle of 1 & 2 to contend with and there is a different balance to the car that has to be there to make it fast at the top of the track.
- Denny Hamlin likes his car a lot better to start the happy hour than this morning’s practice. He said the balance is better, the bumpiness has calmed down quite a bit and it’s much more to his liking, though there is still work to be done.
- When the track reapplied the PJ1 compound this morning they increased it to five feet wide at the bottom of the track and a further 20 feet coming off each corner
- AJ Allmendinger said his car is diabolical with 38 minutes left in practice and he is coming back into the garage area to have it worked on. He looked nervous driving it
- Ryan Blaney is still trying to work on the turn in the car. They were hoping to make two long runs in happy hour but they are trying to make the car more secure in the corners
- William Byron can’t get the front end to turn the way he wants and after a few laps the car just starts to chatter in the corners with 36 minutes left in practice.
- Joey Logano got loose going into turn 3 and is having to adjust his entrance into the corners to keep from getting free and to get as much of the traction compound as he can.
- With 32 minutes left in practice, Kyle Busch leads the 15-lap average chart with Chase Elliott, Kurt Busch, Brad Keselowski, and Michael McDowell rounding out the top-five on the chart
- The 4-car team is working really hard on getting the backup car ready for the race but the car is all over the track according to Kevin Harvick and he says it feels nothing like the first practice and wants the team to take big swings and squaring it away.
- Clint Bowyer is trying to figure out what happened to his race car because it went from really loose to really tight in just a few laps with 20 minutes left in the session.
- Kyle Larson says his car is pretty good around the bottom but he prefers the top groove and was frustrated that no one would go up there with him in happy hour
- With 7 minutes left in practice, Jimmie Johnson and Darrell Wallace Jr. have run 90 and 82 laps respectively including a few 35+ lap runs each.
- With four minutes to go Kurt Busch hit the wall got loose in the rear and tagged the inside the wall on the back stretch going into turn 3. He will go to a backup car and have to start in the back of the field but still be scored at P2.
- Clint Bowyer hit the back of Trevor Bayne’s car with the front right of his car. They are trying to work on it to see if they can use the car.
- Kyle Busch topped all of the long run averages at the end of practice.
Second Practice at Food City 500
Saturday, April 14 8:30 a.m. ET
55 minutes in length
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized in this session
Top-20 Best Speeds (one lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 70 | 122.866 | 14.874 | 129.004 | 5 |
2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 40 | 76.654 | 14.88 | 128.952 | 5 |
3 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 44 | 121.551 | 14.881 | 128.943 | 5 |
4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 50 | 123.562 | 14.882 | 128.934 | 10 |
5 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 53 | 119.217 | 14.894 | 128.83 | 3 |
6 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 53 | 120.862 | 14.898 | 128.796 | 5 |
7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 43 | 123.395 | 14.907 | 128.718 | 6 |
8 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 43 | 124.484 | 14.913 | 128.666 | 12 |
9 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 31 | 121.282 | 14.925 | 128.563 | 5 |
10 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 62 | 123.055 | 14.932 | 128.503 | 40 |
11 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 52 | 116.164 | 14.939 | 128.442 | 3 |
12 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 47 | 123.395 | 14.939 | 128.442 | 6 |
13 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 49 | 123.055 | 14.941 | 128.425 | 5 |
14 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 37 | 120.626 | 14.942 | 128.417 | 17 |
15 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 52 | 122.945 | 14.949 | 128.356 | 12 |
16 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 37 | 124.881 | 14.975 | 128.134 | 8 |
17 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 40 | 123.213 | 14.978 | 128.108 | 7 |
18 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 40 | 124.178 | 14.993 | 127.98 | 3 |
19 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 41 | 123.833 | 15.008 | 127.852 | 6 |
20 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 39 | 99.142 | 15.02 | 127.75 | 8 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Best 20-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Kyle Busch made major changes to the car in this practice session trying to find more grip in the track after not being comfortable with the traction compound yesterday
- Kyle Larson has run the most laps in this session as he tries to find a line that he likes around the track and his car felt too tight by the end of the long run
- Martin Truex Jr. ran over something on the track and took it to the pits to have it looked over
- David Ragan had his car become looser on him as his run went longer but he’s not sure what’s causing it
- Erik Jones is likes his car a lot and thinks he has the speed he needs for the race
- Denny Hamlin is having trouble with turning on his car. They were trying to fix the middle of the corner and took wedge out but now it is sliding through entry and he even said on the radio that he’s a mess
- Joey Logano thinks his car has pretty good speed at the beginning of practice but he’s one of the ones getting loose in the corner. He’s still just working the bottom of the track
- Jimmie Johnson won’t be able to start the race on his qualifying tires and thus will start in the back of the field, but will still count for scoring as having started P17 to start the race
- Kasey Kahne wasn’t happy with the car at the beginning of the session as he was getting very free and sliding up the track however it got a bit better throughout practice but isn’t quite where he wants it to be.
- Kevin Harvick was taking the backup car through its paces in this practice. This is the first time while at SHR that he has needed a backup car.
- Aric Almirola has an issue with his car being “snappy” off the straightaways and early in practice the car wasn’t great on landing coming out of a corner
First Practice for Food City 500
Friday, April 13th12:00 pm ET
55 minutes in length
Weather
71 degree air temp with 87 degree track temp and winds at 4 mph
Penalized Drivers
These drivers went through inspection too many times at Texas and will serve penalties in the first practice:
Reed Sorensen (15 minutes at end of practice)
Paul Menard (15 minutes at end of practice)
Kyle Larson (15 minutes at end of practice)
Jamie McMurray (15 minutes at end of practice)
Top-20 Speeds(one lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 10 | 128.96 | 14.774 | 129.877 | 2 |
2 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 23 | 129.877 | 14.774 | 129.877 | 23 |
3 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 14 | 128.796 | 14.799 | 129.657 | 13 |
4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 15 | 127.665 | 14.822 | 129.456 | 11 |
5 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 17 | 128.408 | 14.84 | 129.299 | 16 |
6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 21 | 129.282 | 14.842 | 129.282 | 21 |
7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 20 | 127.132 | 14.859 | 129.134 | 19 |
8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 11 | 124.371 | 14.874 | 129.004 | 8 |
9 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 18 | 127.758 | 14.875 | 128.995 | 14 |
10 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 11 | 128.926 | 14.883 | 128.926 | 11 |
11 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 19 | 125.346 | 14.936 | 128.468 | 18 |
12 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 18 | 128.442 | 14.939 | 128.442 | 18 |
13 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 32 | 128.288 | 14.957 | 128.288 | 32 |
14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 15 | 128.236 | 14.963 | 128.236 | 15 |
15 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 11 | 128.168 | 14.971 | 128.168 | 11 |
16 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 12 | 126.896 | 14.977 | 128.116 | 11 |
17 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 16 | 128.082 | 14.981 | 128.082 | 16 |
18 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 13 | 127.997 | 14.991 | 127.997 | 13 |
19 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 22 | 127.767 | 15.018 | 127.767 | 22 |
20 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 15 | 127.36 | 15.026 | 127.699 | 14 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- The track laid down PJ1 (grip compound) on the bottom groove of the track
- Five minutes into practice only three cars have hit the track while they wait out the grip level to change because of the warming of the track
- It’s a bit more abrupt getting into Turn 1 and 2 than Turn 3 and 4 and it’s throwing some guys a bit.
- Kurt Busch is in qualifying trim and is waiting for other drivers to work in the traction compound a bit more before getting on the track
- Kyle Larson’s crew chief said they will tend toward being loose all week here since previously the track has changed as the rubber gets laid down and his car has gotten tight when that’s happened
- With 45 minutes left in practice nearly half the field have now run at least a lap on the track
- Jimmie Johnson had a wiggle coming out of Turn 4 getting out of the PJ1 compound and pulled into the garage for adjustments, he did not hit anything when getting loose
- The traction compound has been applied to the bottom four feet of the track, previously it’s been eight feet.
- Brad Keselowski was late arriving to practice because he had an outdated schedule that showed it starting at 12:30 instead of 12.
- A lot of drivers are having issues with getting loose even in the middle of the corner if they get the right side tires out of the PJ1.
- William Byron is getting a new left rear spring put in the car after getting very loose coming out of Turn 4. They are possibly changing the ride height too to see if that will help with getting loose.
- Goodyear slightly changed the tires for this week’s race and added a bit more stagger to the left sides than in races past at Bristol. Stagger is the differential between size of the left side compared to right side. The smaller left side allows for a tighter turn.
- The pit road at Bristol is a very tricky one since it’s split and there are two possible entries for it and two identical looking sets of pit stalls. It can confuse drivers occasionally,
- Aric Amirola has a new Crew Chief this week (Tony Gibson) as his regular Crew Chief is at home with his wife and newborn son. He is in race trim to start practice.
- Several drivers have already changed out the left rear spring with 30 minutes left in the session.
- With 29 minutes left in practice, Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch are the top two on the charts. Each ran a mock qualifying run and Blaney is the only driver with a sub-15-second lap to this point.
- Michael McDowell started in race trim and are switching to Q trim now. He was the first one on the track in the session. This is the first time he’s been here in a Ford Fusion and he wanted to get the rhythm of the track in the different car with ride heights.
- It’s been more than 30 years since the points-leader coming into Bristol has won the Bristol race. Kyle Buschis the points-leader currently. Dale Earnhardt Sr.was the last one to do it in 1987.
- Joey Logano is still in race trim with 18 minutes left in the session.
- Daniel Suarez is dealing with a left thumb injury from his crash at Texas. Ligaments and tendons actually pulled a small piece of bone out of place and he’s wearing a brace on that hand this week.
- With 16 minutes left in the session, five drivers have now posted sub-15-second laps in qualifying trim with Blaney still being quickest.
- The track hasn’t taken the traction compound as far off the corner as they have previously and that is causing problems for drivers coming off the turns.
- AJ Allmendinger got very loose in Turn 1 and has damage to the rear of the car. It’s unclear exactly how much damage was done.
- Kevin Harvick got into the wall in Turn 3 with nine minutes left in practice. The car never turned and there was an audible loud pop on the audio. A piece broke and a tire went down. He will go to a backup car.
- With eight minutes left in practice, Allmendinger’s team was pulling the backup car out of the hauler and will switch to that for the race.
- David Ragan liked his car by the end of practice and said it was pretty close after having the balance be off for most of the session
- Kasey Kahne is concerned with the fall off in his car and think they will still need adjustments for qualifying runs and more work for the race as it's still a bit free.