Kyle Busch fastest in first Cup practice at Daytona

Kyle Busch was fastest in the two NASCAR Cup practice sessions Thursday at Daytona International Speedway. Dale Earnhardt Jr. led practice 2 but the speeds were much lower.

Busch had a top lap of 197.438 mph around the 2.5-mile high banked superspeedway in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as teams begin preparations for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 (televised on NBC).

Brad Keselowski, who won last year’s Coke Zero 400, was second-fastest (197.230 mph). In fact, Keselowski led a phalanx of six straight Ford drivers that included Kevin Harvick (197.200), Joey Logano (197.165), Ryan Blaney (also 197.165), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (197.161) and Matt DiBenedetto (197.148).

Austin Dillon and his Chevrolet broke up the Ford onslaught with the eighth-fastest speed (197.131 mph), followed by two additional Fords: Trevor Bayne (197.109) and Daytona 500 winner Kurt Busch was 10th-fastest (197.100), meaning Fords took eight of the 10 fastest spots. our current stuff is old but does the job quite well. I just hope this new stuff is thought thru so it will last a long time.

Results

Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed -Fastest -Next
1 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota 45.584 197.438 —.— —.—
2 2 Brad Keselowski Detroit Genuine Parts Ford 45.632 197.230 -0.048 -0.048
3 4 Kevin Harvick Jimmy John's Ford 45.639 197.200 -0.055 -0.007
4 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford 45.647 197.165 -0.063 -0.008
5 21 Ryan Blaney Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford 45.647 197.165 -0.063 -0.000
6 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fifth Third Bank Ford 45.648 197.161 -0.064 -0.001
7 32 Matt DiBenedetto Incredible Bank Ford 45.651 197.148 -0.067 -0.003
8 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol Chevrolet 45.655 197.131 -0.071 -0.004
9 6 Trevor Bayne Liberty National Life Insurance Company Ford 45.660 197.109 -0.076 -0.005
10 41 Kurt Busch Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford 45.662 197.100 -0.078 -0.002
11 13 Ty Dillon # GEICO Military Chevrolet 45.844 196.318 -0.260 -0.182
12 43 Darrell Wallace Jr.(i) Smithfield Ford 45.855 196.271 -0.271 -0.011
13 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota 45.895 196.100 -0.311 -0.040
14 19 Daniel Suarez # Subway Toyota 45.950 195.865 -0.366 -0.055
15 34 Landon Cassill Love's Travel Stops Hnrng the Qt Prfssnl Ford 45.958 195.831 -0.374 -0.008
16 95 Michael McDowell WRL General Contractors Chevrolet 45.995 195.673 -0.411 -0.037
17 27 Paul Menard Moen/Menards Chevrolet 46.017 195.580 -0.433 -0.022
18 72 Cole Whitt RTIC Coolers Chevrolet 46.026 195.542 -0.442 -0.009
19 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Nationwide Chevrolet 46.080 195.313 -0.496 -0.054
20 14 Clint Bowyer Mobil 1 Ford 46.102 195.219 -0.518 -0.022
21 38 David Ragan Shriners Hospital for Chldrn 95th Annvrsry Ford 46.142 195.050 -0.558 -0.040
22 20 Matt Kenseth DEWALT Flexvolt Toyota 46.161 194.970 -0.577 -0.019
23 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pros Shops/TRCKR BTS Toyota 46.175 194.911 -0.591 -0.014
24 24 Chase Elliott NAPA Patriotic Chevrolet 46.227 194.691 -0.643 -0.052
25 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet 46.275 194.489 -0.691 -0.048
26 5 Kasey Kahne UniFirst Chevrolet 46.285 194.447 -0.701 -0.010
27 77 Erik Jones # Sport Clips Toyota 46.387 194.020 -0.803 -0.102
28 31 Ryan Newman Velveeta Shells & Cheese Chevrolet 46.547 193.353 -0.963 -0.160
29 *7 Elliott Sadler(i) Golden Corral Chevrolet 46.729 192.600 -1.145 -0.182
30 *75 Brendan Gaughan(i) Beard Oil Distributing Chevrolet 46.741 192.550 -1.157 -0.012
31 10 Danica Patrick Aspen Dental Ford 46.766 192.448 -1.182 -0.025
32 23 Corey LaJoie # Dr Pepper Toyota 47.313 190.223 -1.729 -0.547
33 *83 Ryan Sieg(i) Dustless Blasting Toyota 47.449 189.677 -1.865 -0.136
34 42 Kyle Larson Credit One Bank Chevrolet 47.620 188.996 -2.036 -0.171
35 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's $1 Any Size Soft Drink Chevrolet 47.671 188.794 -2.087 -0.051
36 37 Chris Buescher Coffee Mate Chevrolet 47.844 188.111 -2.260 -0.173
37 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger ClickList Chevrolet 48.156 186.893 -2.572 -0.312
38 15 DJ Kennington Xchange of America/LordCo Toyota 48.332 186.212 -2.748 -0.176
39 *55 Reed Sorenson RoyalTeakCollection.com Toyota 48.704 184.790 -3.120 -0.372
40 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt hulu Chevrolet 49.191 182.960 -3.607 -0.487