NSCS: Kurt Busch Leads Final STP 500 Practice at Martinsville Speedway

At the end of the final practice for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway, it’d be Kurt Busch topping the charts with a lap of 19.502 seconds. Busch won this event last year and enters this race coming off of a pair of top-five finishes.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon were second and third, respectively. They’re both looking for their ninth career victory at Martinsville Speedway. Denny Hamlin and Ryan Newman would round out the top-five.

Kasey Kahne was sixth quickest, followed by Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle. Biffle would make slight contact with the wall as a result of a spin during the session, but his Roush Fenway Racing team was able to fix it.

Alex Bowman also ran into problems during the session, losing power and slowly crawling to the garage. They also began their first bits of close quarter racing, running four-wide at one point, while Austin Dillon and Danica Patrick made contact going into Turn 3 after battling hard for the past couple laps in practice.

2015 NSCS STP 500 Final Practice Session Speeds

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed	Lap #	# Laps	-Fastest	-Next
1	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	19.502	97.098	9	69	—.—	—.—
2	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Chevrolet	19.56	96.81	12	62	-0.058	-0.058
3	24	Jeff Gordon	Axalta Chevrolet	19.577	96.726	11	65	-0.075	-0.017
4	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	19.592	96.652	34	50	-0.09	-0.015
5	31	Ryan Newman	Quicken Loans Chevrolet	19.603	96.598	10	52	-0.101	-0.011
6	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmer’s Insurance Chevrolet	19.609	96.568	51	71	-0.107	-0.006
7	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	19.631	96.46	8	94	-0.129	-0.022
8	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet	19.632	96.455	40	81	-0.13	-0.001
9	19	Carl Edwards	ARRIS Toyota	19.633	96.45	54	62	-0.131	-0.001
10	16	Greg Biffle	Ortho Ford	19.649	96.371	11	44	-0.147	-0.016
11	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	19.659	96.322	34	52	-0.157	-0.01
12	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row/Visser PrecisionChevrolet	19.666	96.288	29	39	-0.164	-0.007
13	10	Danica Patrick	TaxAct Chevrolet	19.675	96.244	16	50	-0.173	-0.009
14	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	19.676	96.239	12	57	-0.174	-0.001
15	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	19.685	96.195	11	65	-0.183	-0.009
16	98	Josh Wise	Phil Parsons Racing Ford	19.701	96.117	8	35	-0.199	-0.016
17	47	AJ Allmendinger	Bush’s Beans Chevrolet	19.703	96.107	36	60	-0.201	-0.002
18	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet	19.704	96.102	11	67	-0.202	-0.001
19	14	Tony Stewart	Code 3 Associates/Mobil 1 Chevrolet	19.725	96	39	65	-0.223	-0.021
20	43	Aric Almirola	STP Ford	19.735	95.951	7	56	-0.233	-0.01
21	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet	19.736	95.947	52	67	-0.234	-0.001
22	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Fastenal Ford	19.739	95.932	8	37	-0.237	-0.003
23	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	Medallion Bank/Mercury Marine Ford	19.741	95.922	8	39	-0.239	-0.002
24	3	Austin Dillon	Cheerios Chevrolet	19.741	95.922	4	53	-0.239	0
25	18	David Ragan	M&M’s Crispy Toyota	19.75	95.879	4	69	-0.248	-0.009
26	27	Paul Menard	Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Chevrolet	19.76	95.83	7	72	-0.258	-0.01
27	25	Chase Elliott(i)	NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	19.769	95.786	35	60	-0.267	-0.009
28	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna Chevrolet	19.77	95.782	13	60	-0.268	-0.001
29	55	Brett Moffitt #	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	19.788	95.694	50	74	-0.286	-0.018
30	51	Justin Allgaier	Fraternal Order of Eagles/Switch HitchChevrolet	19.814	95.569	14	61	-0.312	-0.026
31	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Newtown Building Supplies Chevrolet	19.816	95.559	8	41	-0.314	-0.002
32	7	Alex Bowman	Nikko RC/Toy State Car Chevrolet	19.823	95.525	27	42	-0.321	-0.007
33	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford	19.864	95.328	39	47	-0.362	-0.041
34	46	Michael Annett	Pilot/Flying J Chevrolet	19.871	95.295	7	56	-0.369	-0.007
35	15	Clint Bowyer	5-Hour Energy Toyota	19.916	95.079	20	33	-0.414	-0.045
36	38	David Gilliland	Love’s Travel Stops Ford	19.918	95.07	34	53	-0.416	-0.002
37	32	Mike Bliss(i)	CorvetteParts.net Ford	19.923	95.046	8	46	-0.421	-0.005
38	26	Jeb Burton #	Maxim.com Toyota	19.961	94.865	7	26	-0.459	-0.038
39	34	Chris Buescher(i)	A&W All American Food Ford	19.963	94.856	43	54	-0.461	-0.002
40	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	19.987	94.742	13	31	-0.485	-0.024
41	83	Matt DiBenedetto	Dr. Pepper Toyota	20.093	94.242	9	45	-0.591	-0.106
42	33	Alex Kennedy #	Dream Factory Chevrolet	20.133	94.055	6	41	-0.631	-0.04
43	23	JJ Yeley(i)	American Cancer Society Toyota	20.157	93.943	6	38	-0.655	-0.024