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Kurt Busch Leads The Field In Charlotte Practice

Pete McCole

Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch posted the fastest lap in Saturday's early practice session for Sunday's 57th annual Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Busch's opening lap of 191.002 mph (28.272 seconds) was the best run of any driver during the session, the second overall since the Sprint Cup cars rolled into the track on Thursday. Busch, who fell just short of advancing to the final round of qualifying and will roll off 13th, was more than a half-a-mile-an-hour fastest than the next quickest driver, Jimmie Johnson. Both drivers ran 1-2 in Thursday's practice session.

Johnson ran a 190.617 mph lap on his opening run to take the second spot. Polesitter Martin Truex, Jr. was third, followed by Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.

Practice #1 Results


Pos. # Driver Make Sponsor Lap Time Behind
1 41 Kurt Busch Chevy Monster Energy 191.002 28.272 Leader
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevy Lowe's Patriotic 190.617 28.329 –0.057
3 78 Martin Truex Jr Toyota Bass Pro Shops 190.061 28.412 –0.140
4 19 Carl Edwards Toyota Subway 189.887 28.438 –0.166
5 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford Fastenal Ford Fusion 189.414 28.509 –0.237
6 24 Chase Elliott Chevy NAPA Auto Parts 189.381 28.514 –0.242
7 4 Kevin Harvick Chevy Jimmy John's 189.301 28.526 –0.254
8 21 Ryan Blaney Ford Motorcraft 188.383 28.665 –0.393
9 31 Ryan Newman Chevy Whelen 188.252 28.685 –0.413
10 42 Kyle Larson Chevy Target 188.239 28.687 –0.415
11 3 Austin Dillon Chevy Cheerios 187.990 28.725 –0.453
12 22 Joey Logano Ford Shell Pennzoil 187.820 28.751 –0.479
13 5 Kasey Kahne Chevy LiftMaster 187.813 28.752 –0.480
14 6 Trevor Bayne Ford Advocare 187.767 28.759 –0.487
15 14 Tony Stewart Chevy Mobil 1 187.559 28.791 –0.519
16 1 Jamie McMurray Chevy Cessna/McDonald's 187.305 28.830 –0.558
17 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevy Harris Teeter 187.272 28.835 –0.563
18 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevy Nationwide 187.084 28.864 –0.592
19 34 Chris Buescher Ford CSX – Play It Safe 187.065 28.867 –0.595
20 16 Greg Biffle Ford Cheez-It 186.677 28.927 –0.655
21 15 Clint Bowyer Chevy 5-Hour Energy 186.290 28.987 –0.715
22 27 Paul Menard Chevy Knauf / Menards 186.181 29.004 –0.732
23 2 Brad Keselowski Ford Miller Lite 186.156 29.008 –0.736
24 43 Aric Almirola Ford U.S. Air Force 186.002 29.032 –0.760
25 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Freight 185.848 29.056 –0.784
26 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota DeWalt 185.510 29.109 –0.837
27 83 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota Hope for the Warriors 185.350 29.134 –0.862
28 10 Danica Patrick Chevy Nature’s Bakery 185.052 29.181 –0.909
29 13 Casey Mears Chevy GEICO 184.508 29.267 –0.995
30 23 David Ragan Toyota Bubba Burger 184.489 29.270 –0.998
31 38 Landon Cassill Ford MDS Transport 184.326 29.296 –1.024
32 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's RWB 184.281 29.303 –1.031
33 44 Brian Scott Ford Twisted Tea 183.580 29.415 –1.143
34 95 Michael McDowell Chevy Thrivent Financial 183.436 29.438 –1.166
35 7 Regan Smith Chevy Nikko RC 183.057 29.499 –1.227
36 46 Michael Annett Chevy Pilot Flying J 180.487 29.919 –1.647
37 98 Cole Whitt Chevy VYDOX Plus 179.940 30.010 –1.738
38 30 Josh Wise Chevy Curtis Key Plumbing 179.188 30.136 –1.864
39 32 Jeffrey Earnhardt Ford Can – Am 178.843 30.194 –1.922
40 55 Reed Sorenson Chevy World Record Striper Co. 176.154 30.655 –2.383