DFS NASCAR: South Point 400 Practice Notes

Final Practice South Point 400

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Saturday, September 15th 3:30 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

92 degrees I Track Temp 105

Penalized Drivers

No drivers were penalized in this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

Items of Note:

• Final practice temp in March was 58 degrees, nearly 40 degrees cooler than today
• Kevin Harvick’s crew chief said that so far a lot has translated between the March race and this race. However the temps haven’t reached the race temps and the length of time the cars are on the track is far longer in the race.
• Brad Keselowski’s spotter wants him to move around to different lines in the final practice to find some more speed on the track
• Kyle Larson is yet again running the top line and easily passed cars doing the lower line. However that doesn’t necessarily mean he has the overall fastest car just that he’s quite good at driving the fastest line.
• Team Penske has done well here with Keselowski having six straight top-seven finishes, Logano with five straight top-10s, and Blaney with three straight top-10s and this being Blaney’s highest average finish track.
• Kurt Busch is having some trouble with the rear grip in his car and the track bar inside the car isn’t helping very much
• Denny Hamlin didn’t appear to be very happy with the speed his car had in the final practice finishing in 19th for single lap and why down on the lap average list.
• Erik Jones said his car was better this practice than the first practice over the long run but there is a few things they can do to still add more speed to the 20-car despite qualifying on the poll.
• Kyle Bush complained of his car being tight for most of the practice but his car still showed good speed even being tight.
• Aric Almirola believes that the lap traffic made the lap times a bit slower than they probably would’ve been with clearer pavement in front of him.

Second Practice South Point 400

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Saturday, September 15th 1:00 pm ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

90 degree air temp I 101 Track temp

Penalized Drivers

No drivers were penalized in this session

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

In the graph above you want the line to be closer to the bottom and stay flatter throughout the run. The blue line for Martin Truex Jr. does just that showing he has more consistent long run speed.

Items of Note:

• NASCAR washed the track on the front stretch before this practice trying to get the oil from the Truck race off the surface.
• Kevin Harvick is driving the middle line for most of the start of practice and that line around the track is much smoother than taking the bottom line where all the bumps and waves are in the surface.
• Dale Jr. expects the groove to be pretty wide for tomorrow’s race but in Turns 1 & 2 might be a tighter corner because of billboards casting shadows on the track for a lot of the race.
• The track temp is expected to be 20-25 degrees warmer for the race than it is in this session which will drastically effect the grip level of the track and what lines are available to the drivers.
• With 35 minutes left in the session it was 128 degrees inside AJ Allmendinger’s car. It will be 10 degrees warmer during the race and there will be more laps run so the heat will be worse.
• With 34 minutes left in the session, Bubba Wallace got loose and wiggled quite a bit but saved it and didn’t hit anything but brought it to the garage for adjustments.
• Of any track that Kurt Busch has raced on at least 15 times, Las Vegas holds his worst average finish at 22.5.
• Erik Jones has the second best average finish of anyone over the last 10 races of 2018 coming into the playoffs including a win.
• The outside lane at Vegas has proven to be faster and better for keeping up momentum than the lower line
• Martin Truex Jr. went with the same set of tires for the entire practice session, starting on four-lap scuffs and sticking with them. His long run speed was very impressive especially for running on the same set of tires.
• Kyle Larson was the fastest car over the long run however his laps were up at the top of the track which is where some extra speed can be found.
• Clint Bowyer felt his car got a bit loose towards the end of practice but it started tight and that after a switch in the tires. He says the track is slick and a handful and got down to the bottom of the track.
• Aric Almirola made multiple runs but after each of them the balance was still a little off even after adjustments but overall he said the car feels good and had good speed.

Opening Practice South Point 400

Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Friday, September 14th 2:05 pm ET

55 minutes in length

Weather

91 degrees air temp I Feels like 100 I Wind at 10-15 mph SSE

Penalized Drivers

Martin Truex Jr. 30 minutes at the end of practice

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

Best Lap Averages

No driver ran 10-consecutive laps in this practice

Items of Note:

• The first round of the playoffs have three different tracks than it has ever had before with Vegas, Richmond, and the Charlotte Roval
• The opening practice for the race in March was 63 degrees compared to the 91 degrees for today’s practice.
• The Camping World Truck race in 2011 when they ran here at the same time of the year in the same temps it was a crash filled race because the grip level dropped so much.
• Based on footage from Denny Hamlin’s helmet cam, the track is incredibly rough and bumpy especially in Turns 1 & 2.
• Drivers will swap springs and shocks to make the car ride through the bumps more smoothly to make speed better than other drivers.
• Kurt Busch said the right rear was there right away and wasn’t loose like it normally is. He was surprised by the lack of horsepower he felt because of the altitude or wind at the track.
• Several of the drivers are in qualifying trim but there are a few that are in race trim like Jimmie Johnson who is driving the middle groove in the middle of Turns 1 & 2 in order to miss the big bumps in that corner.
• Kevin Harvick was penalized for his rear window stability after his win and was docked those points in the standings following the March race.
• Most of the practice was spent feeling out the track and testing the new adjustments made to the 1.5-mile cars that everyone brought to Vegas after having not raced at a similar track in several weeks.
• A win here can take the pressure off of the Charlotte Roval since a win automatically gets you through to the next round.
• Kyle Busch late in practice is just 21st fastest in qualifying trim and said his right front has no grip and that it’s too tight. His second run he said it felt better but it was still tight and he couldn’t feel the right front tire after going over the bumps in Turn 1.
• With 2 minutes left in the session there are only two drivers in double-digit laps run with Chris Buescher and AJ Allmendinger running 12 and 11 respectively.