Final Practice at Toyota/Save Mart 350

Sonoma Raceway

Friday June, 22 5:30 pm ET

75 minutes in length

Weather

91 degree air temp I 139 mph track temp I Light breeze from the SW

Penalized Drivers

No driver(s) served a penalty in this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
141Kurt BuschFord2588.82976.16394.0611
211Denny HamlinToyota2291.25476.20394.0121
378Martin Truex Jr.Toyota1691.59476.44293.7181
41Jamie McMurrayChevy2590.42376.5893.5492
54Kevin HarvickFord2888.52676.66993.4411
637Chris BuescherChevy1893.41376.69293.41318
72Brad KeselowskiFord2691.0876.73493.3611
86Trevor BayneFord1493.27976.80293.27914
910Aric AlmirolaFord2488.80676.86893.1991
1034Michael McDowellFord1610.35176.90493.15515
1138David RaganFord2088.92276.94493.1071
1247AJ AllmendingerChevy2191.03276.9793.0757
133Austin DillonFord2192.08977.09892.92119
1442Kyle LarsonChevy2239.9477.11692.89914
159Chase ElliottChevy2491.15577.22392.771
1632Matt DiBenedettoFord1889.92377.39492.5654
1714Clint BowyerFord3090.11277.42492.52918
1848Jimmie JohnsonChevy2690.71677.42992.52321
1918Kyle BuschToyota2190.87777.43592.51616
2095Kasey KahneChevy1989.96877.45792.4910

 

Best Lap Averages

Items of Note:

  • Bubba Wallace is still trying to get used to this place and used footage of his runs laid over a  ghost car to see where his line was different
  • Clint Bowyer says his car is fast and it unloaded fast but this track is tough to get around.
  • Turn 1 has a lot of options to make it through with several different lines that allow you to carry speed through it.
  • Kyle Busch was working on pit road speeds early in the practice session
  • The temps for the qualifying session will be higher than they today which will affect the grip level of the car.
  • It is an impound weekend meaning the crews can’t work on the cars after qualifying on Saturday so the pole time should be slower than they were last year due to not being able to make changes from qualifying trim to race trim like camber and low fuel loads and changing the weight in the frame rails.
  • Kyle Larson had a lot of smoke coming out of the back of the car coming out of Turn 4 and through the esses and Larson said he smelled oil but it could be power steering fluid.
  • William Byron had a similar issue to Larson in nearly the same part of the track and his car was smoking a lot from the left rear tire and inside the car.
  • Martin Truex Jr. did a mock qualifying run right out of the gate and was at the top of the chart until 56 minutes left in the session. He isn’t concerned with the temperature changes because Sunday will be cooler than today has been which will change the grip level for the better potentially.
  • With 45 minutes left in practice Kevin Harvick is doing a long race run and looks to be good off the corners and getting back in the throttle quickly.
  • AJ Allmendinger says his car was sliding everywhere and it was hard to keep the rear end underneath him during his mock qualifying run but it was turning better than at first practice.
  • Kevin Harvick is happy with the car and has done 16-straight laps this practice even though he wasn’t supposed to do that many in one run according to his crew chief.
  • Denny Hamlin has started this practice doing mock qualifying runs but with 35 minutes left in the session he is doing race runs
  • William Byron had an oil leak in the rear end from when the team made adjustments in between practice and so they tightened things up, and refilled the car with oil.
  • Ryan Blaney is working with a longer run setup that will be softer and allow for more hitting of the curbs around the track than a stiffer setup will.
  • With 10 minutes left in the practice Martin Truex Jr. ran into the back of Bubba Wallace in Turn 7 and received quite a bit of damage to the front end of his car
  • Denny Hamlin says he is really tight in traffic and struggling to get it to turn when he wants it to after spending quite some time in the garage.
  • Kevin Harvick has the best 10-lap and 15-lap average with 3 minutes left in the session and AJ Allmendinger is the best 5-lap average car.
  • Kurt Busch has run 21-consecutive laps in this practice in order to see what a full stage will feel like being that the first two stages are 25-laps each.
  • Stewart-Haas cars are the top three in 10-lap average which sets them up well for the race.
  • Chris Buescher ran a mock qualifying lap at the end of practice and finished the session in P6.

 

Opening Practice Toyota/Save Mart 350

Sonoma Raceway

Friday, June 22 2:40 pm ET

75 minutes in length

Weather

79 degree Air temp I 122 degree track temp I Light breeze out of the SW

Penalized Drivers

Kyle Larson - 15 minutes at end of practice

Kyle Busch - 15 minutes at end of practice

Kasey Kahne - 15 minutes at end of practice

David Ragan - 30 minutes at end of practice

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
114
Clint Bowyer
Ford1493.39476.54793.5912
212Ryan BlaneyFord1593.54676.58393.54615
322Joey LoganoFord1893.17276.8993.17218
41Jamie McMurrayChevy1589.31676.99293.0493
519Daniel SuarezToyota1492.74677.24392.74614
648Jimmie JohnsonChevy1389.86277.31492.6613
734Michael McDowellFord1492.6577.32392.6514
878Martin Truex Jr.Toyota1490.46477.35392.6143
947AJ AllmendingerChevy1390.65477.36892.5963
1031Ryan NewmanChevy1692.59577.36992.59516
1121Paul MenardFord1392.52677.42792.52613
124Kevin HarvickFord1490.177.45892.4893
139Chase ElliottChevy1289.79577.47892.4652
1441Kurt BuschFord1789.77177.51292.4243
1517Ricky Stenhouse Jr.Ford1192.41177.52392.41111
1642Kyle LarsonChevy1190.65877.58892.3342
1711Denny HamlinToyota1690.48477.60892.314
1818Kyle BuschToyota1289.98977.74492.1495
1910Aric AlmirolaFord1988.8577.78492.1012
2038David RaganFord1488.11577.81692.0632

 

Best Five-lap Averages

Items of Note:

  • Joey Logano has a map of the track taped to his steering wheel this week
  • Trevor Bayne has a big confidence boost from watching Matt Kenseth and having him drive the car the same way and say the same things that were wrong with it.
  • There is 160 feet of elevation change on the track in each lap
  • Every car is required to have a wiper mechanism and motor and most cars will run a wiper arm across the windshield because it increases the aerodynamics of the car.
  • The tire fall off is massive here because the tire wears down after about three laps so dirt track experience also helps as well
  • Jamie McMurray doesn’t have a car that’s turning good enough or to his liking but he does have good rear grip. They are going to swap out breaks with 60 minutes left in the session.
  • Kasey Kahne spun out with 55 minutes left spinning out in the exit of turn 2 but no damage appears to have happened to the car. He does have a new crew chief as Travis Mack was fired in the off week.
  • AJ Allmendinger says the car didn’t turn through turn 1 on the first lap and says the car isn’t breaking the way he wants it to and when he stepped on the break it locked up the right front tire.
  • Erik Jones went off the track into Turn 3 and put the car into the grass and he has a lot of grass in his grill from it with 50 minutes left.
  • Paul Menard hit the tires on the inside of Turn 11 and did heavy damage to the from right of the car.
  • Kurt Busch says his car is too free on the left-handers and too tight on the right-handers and his crew was trying to give him some more clearance under the car for going over the curbs
  • Jimmie Johnson made one lap early in the session and then spent a lot of time in the garage making adjustments to the car. On his second run of the session he posted the third-fastest time with 40 minutes left in the session.
  • With 28 minutes left in practice, Johnson is in the garage getting his power steering system worked on due to problems they are having in the middle of the lap. Other than that he likes car.
  • William Byron is having trouble gettin the car to turn in Turn 11 and some of the slower turns. He is 30th after 13 laps.
  • Kyle Larson is having trouble with tightness as well and they are trying a few different things to get it to loosen up. He is done for this session with 15 minutes left and is sitting 10th.
  • Ryan Newman fished tailed the car in Turn 4 but saved it and didn’t hit anything.
  • Bubba Wallace slid the car off the track through Turn 3 as he is still learning the track and the lines to go on.
  • With 13 minutes left in the practice, Clint Bowyer is tops on the single lap and the five-lap average speeds with Kevin Harvick also in the top-five of both.
  • As practice winds down several cars are making mock qualifying runs on fresh sticker tires.
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr. says he had really good grip on the first run out and he was happy with his speed but as the run went on he last front turn and rear grip