Coca-Cola 600 Final Practice
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Saturday, May 25 11:05 am ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
85 degrees Air Temp I 113 degrees Track Temp I Wind at 5 mph
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized for this session
Top-20 Speeds (single lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Delta | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | -- | 51 | 130.208 | 29.883 | 180.705 | 4 |
2 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Chevy | 0.003 | 27 | 73.905 | 29.886 | 180.687 | 3 |
3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0.025 | 52 | 177.778 | 29.908 | 180.554 | 6 |
4 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Chevy | 0.039 | 46 | 123.686 | 29.922 | 180.469 | 2 |
5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0.071 | 46 | 177.655 | 29.954 | 180.276 | 9 |
6 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 0.08 | 46 | 89.426 | 29.963 | 180.222 | 9 |
7 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 0.111 | 13 | 178.265 | 29.994 | 180.036 | 6 |
8 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 0.155 | 41 | 177.061 | 30.038 | 179.772 | 6 |
9 | 24 | William Byron | Chevy | 0.16 | 48 | 176.016 | 30.043 | 179.742 | 7 |
10 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 0.178 | 47 | 129.168 | 30.061 | 179.635 | 5 |
11 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 0.187 | 30 | 177.907 | 30.07 | 179.581 | 5 |
12 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 0.197 | 47 | 175.604 | 30.08 | 179.521 | 4 |
13 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 0.204 | 43 | 124.338 | 30.087 | 179.48 | 4 |
14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 0.216 | 59 | 124.786 | 30.099 | 179.408 | 3 |
15 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 0.222 | 42 | 176.269 | 30.105 | 179.372 | 5 |
16 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 0.224 | 40 | 177.078 | 30.107 | 179.36 | 6 |
17 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 0.237 | 41 | 177.136 | 30.12 | 179.283 | 26 |
18 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 0.243 | 62 | 126.313 | 30.126 | 179.247 | 41 |
19 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 0.261 | 42 | 176.586 | 30.144 | 179.14 | 29 |
20 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 0.27 | 47 | 175.987 | 30.153 | 179.087 | 4 |
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
- The track temp is up 30 degrees from morning practice and it will be possible that the track temps will be similar to this at the start of the race.
- Ryan Newman opted to repair the primary car instead of going to a backup car but his car was too loose in this practice and will need to be adjusted prior to the race.
- Aric Almirola is looking for longer run speed than what they’ve shown so far. He wants some more balance in the car and is planning on a 40-lap run this practice.
- Joey Logano is planning on two long runs and has about 47 laps to play with on the engine in this session. He feels pretty good about the car so far but is still looking for better balance.
- Daniel Suarez is still looking for better balance in the car as the car swung extremely tight on him in the first practice and he wants more speed in the car too.
- Early in the practice session Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin are all in the top-five of best 15-lap average metric including the first three being in the top-three.
- Chase Elliott’s car looks better this practice but still has a long way to go with speed and balance.
- Austin Dillon is done with practice with 32 minutes left in practice because he felt comfortable with his car and had a bit of a lap limit on the engine. He raced behind other cars in this session and felt good in traffic as well.
- Brad Keselowski is still a bit on the free side. Made one lap and then came to the garage for quick adjustments but is still fighting free.
- Ryan Blaney is unsure about his car in terms of balance and speed after just one long-run in practice to this point.
- Jimmie Johnson got very loose in Turn 3 in the middle of a long run with 20 minutes to go in the session.
- Aric Almirola and Joey Logano got very close to each other and the air made them loose but no contact was actually made between the two.
- Kyle Busch is first in five lap, 10 lap, 15 lap, 20 lap averages with eight minutes to go and was second in those categories in the first Saturday practice.
- Paul Menard was racing with some others in a single-file pack late in practice and was able to hang in with the bigger teams as they were on long runs.
- Alex Bowman says his car is driving really well at this point but he doesn’t have a lot of speed but he likes it that way for a long race.
- Bubba Wallace’s car went from 98 degrees in the car to 119 in the car at the end of practice.
- Daniel Suarez is happier with his car and feels like they found something for long run speed for the race over 25+ laps.
Through Final Practice
Practice to qualifying table:
Coca-Cola 600 Second Practice
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Saturday, May 25 8:35 am ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
76 degrees and feels like 93 degrees with a light breeze of 4 mph
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized in this session
Top-20 Speeds (single lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Delta | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | -- | 49 | 127.714 | 29.647 | 182.143 | 4 |
2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0.02 | 45 | 179.82 | 29.662 | 182.051 | 35 |
3 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 0.11 | 48 | 178.288 | 29.754 | 181.488 | 32 |
4 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 0.12 | 27 | 177.229 | 29.769 | 181.397 | 5 |
5 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 0.13 | 35 | 178.737 | 29.774 | 181.366 | 6 |
6 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0.13 | 52 | 129.341 | 29.78 | 181.33 | 6 |
7 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 0.16 | 43 | 175.993 | 29.803 | 181.19 | 6 |
8 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 0.16 | 28 | 179.976 | 29.81 | 181.147 | 10 |
9 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Chevy | 0.17 | 46 | 175.793 | 29.814 | 181.123 | 25 |
10 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 0.17 | 34 | 162.808 | 29.82 | 181.087 | 25 |
11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 0.19 | 42 | 172.265 | 29.834 | 181.002 | 6 |
12 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 0.19 | 26 | 178.566 | 29.836 | 180.989 | 3 |
13 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 0.21 | 50 | 127.617 | 29.855 | 180.874 | 4 |
14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 0.22 | 43 | 125.874 | 29.862 | 180.832 | 28 |
15 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 0.22 | 48 | 121.275 | 29.867 | 180.802 | 36 |
16 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevy | 0.25 | 43 | 176.022 | 29.898 | 180.614 | 27 |
17 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | Chevy | 0.28 | 41 | 174.441 | 29.925 | 180.451 | 4 |
18 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 0.28 | 48 | 177.632 | 29.93 | 180.421 | 31 |
19 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 0.34 | 37 | 94.709 | 29.983 | 180.102 | 22 |
20 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Chevy | 0.34 | 33 | 166.374 | 29.989 | 180.066 | 4 |
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Most cars are working on getting the cars feeling comfortable to drive in this session since the race is 4.5 hours long.
- Several drivers are taking their time getting on the track in race trim since they are waiting for the ARCA tire rubber to be worn off the track by the other drivers first.
- Kurt Busch likes his car but he is looking for more speed in the car right now
- Chase Elliott is feeling pretty confident in the car they have brought this weekend and they know they have found something in this package that they hadn’t prior in the season.
- William Byron has yet to be on track in this session with 20 minutes already elapsed.
- Austin Dillon ran a 21-lap run and came back saying it is the best car he’s had at Charlotte in his career. He is working on pit road speed at this point.
- Erik Jones wanted to start with a different setup in the car based on what they learned in the All-Star race trying to find more long-run speed. They are trying to make sure the day/night switch that happened last week is accounted for this weekend.
- The cars have added AC units and air blowers into the cockpit since qualifying in order to give the drivers a bit of creature comforts in the heat and length of the race.
- Ryan Blaney said his goal in this session is to set the car up for the second half of the race and he thinks the car is driving good, but almost too good. The next session he will focus on the first half of the race.
- Brad Keselowski was hoping to find a comfortable balance in this first practice and then compare it to the second practice on Saturday but they are still missing some speed in the car.
- Chase Elliott is not happy with his car and they have made a ton of changes to the car including swapping out shocks with five minutes left in the session.
- Kyle Larson has run 31 laps this session and is 25th in single lap speed and doesn’t show up in any of the long run speed metrics.
- Seven drivers have won both the All-Star race and the Coke 600 in the same season with the most recent being Kurt Busch in 2010.
- William Byron thinks his car is okay at this point but there are some things they need to work on like handling in traffic.
- Ryan Newman got into the wall at the very end of practice and has damage to the right side of his car that might be more than just some scuffed paint.
- Chris Buescher liked the adjustments they made to his car throughout the session and he managed to climb a bit up the speed charts after those adjustments but he still needed more help getting over the bumps in Turn 3.
Coca-Cola 600 Opening Practice
Charlotte Motor Speedway
Thursday, May 23 2:35 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
82-degree Air temp I 114-degree Track temp I SW winds at 9 mph
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized for this session
Top-20 Speeds (single lap)
Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Delta | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | Chevy | -- | 8 | 182.791 | 29.542 | 182.791 | 8 |
2 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 0.07 | 8 | 181.99 | 29.615 | 182.34 | 5 |
3 | 24 | William Byron | Chevy | 0.09 | 8 | 181.513 | 29.636 | 182.211 | 5 |
4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 0.1 | 8 | 181.72 | 29.643 | 182.168 | 2 |
5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 0.13 | 7 | 181.342 | 29.669 | 182.008 | 1 |
6 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | 0.13 | 8 | 181.008 | 29.671 | 181.996 | 2 |
7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 0.14 | 10 | 181.922 | 29.683 | 181.922 | 10 |
8 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 0.15 | 8 | 181.892 | 29.688 | 181.892 | 8 |
9 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 0.15 | 8 | 180.892 | 29.693 | 181.861 | 5 |
10 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | 0.15 | 7 | 181.861 | 29.693 | 181.861 | 7 |
11 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 0.19 | 11 | 167.764 | 29.728 | 181.647 | 2 |
12 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 0.19 | 10 | 177.614 | 29.729 | 181.641 | 4 |
13 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 0.21 | 11 | 181.519 | 29.749 | 181.519 | 11 |
14 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 0.21 | 11 | 181.513 | 29.75 | 181.513 | 11 |
15 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 0.22 | 8 | 179.934 | 29.761 | 181.446 | 2 |
16 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevy | 0.23 | 8 | 181.403 | 29.768 | 181.403 | 8 |
17 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 0.24 | 10 | 178.43 | 29.781 | 181.324 | 2 |
18 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | Chevy | 0.27 | 8 | 181.165 | 29.807 | 181.165 | 8 |
19 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 0.32 | 13 | 180.62 | 29.858 | 180.856 | 7 |
20 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 0.37 | 14 | 180.548 | 29.909 | 180.548 | 14 |
Best Lap Averages
Landon Cassill was the only driver to run 10-consecutive laps
Items of Note:
- Most drivers are focusing strictly on qualifying in this session since qualifying is tonight and the other practices aren’t until Saturday.
- The track will be quite different for qualifying than it is now in the middle of the afternoon in the sunshine.
- Denny Hamlin’s Crew Chief expects there to be a lot of white knuckling in this practice as they learn exactly how they can trim the car out to qualify well.
- Ryan Newman has made a few mock qualifying runs this session and he’s not very happy with his car overall.
- Kyle Larson nearly lost the car in the center of Turns 3 & 4
- Kevin Harvick bottomed out in the middle of the corner and the car drifted up the track but no damage occurred
- Jimmie Johnson said his car felt good until it didn’t and then it went loose in a big way and the throttle has also been sticking a bit and not coming back to his foot when he let’s off of it.
- Ryan Blaney’s car looks like it is sitting straight on the track and it is bouncing all over the place. He abandoned his mock qualifying lap to bring it back to the garage for major adjustments.
- Kevin Harvick had yet to complete a lap at speed with eight minutes left in practice. He was the last car in the field to make a lap at speed in this session.
- Daniel Hemric’s fastest lap of the practice tops on the chart, came with just five minutes left in the session and was very close to the pole time he ran for the Monster Energy Open last weekend.
- Kyle Larson said he had to lift nearly every lap which he didn’t like and said he needs adjustments made to the grip and handling so he doesn’t have to lift off the throttle.
- Daniel Hemric says his car feels faster this week than it did last week when he was on the pole for the Open.
- A bunch of drivers have continually had issues in Turns 3&4 all practice long with cars getting loose in that corner.