In the second test session on Thursday ahead of Sunday’s Kobalt 400, it’d be Aric Almirola topping the charts with a lap of 27.988 seconds.
Almirola is hoping to have a strong run this weekend after wrecking out of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 400 last weekend on the last lap. Almirola hasn’t posted any top-10s at Vegas in his last seven starts, though.
Austin Dillon was second quickest as he looks to build on last week’s 11th place finish, followed by rookie Ryan Blaney. Blaney ran solidly during part of the race at Atlanta, though faded back to 25th in the second half.
Las Vegas native Kurt Busch was fourth after finishing fourth at Atlanta, with Greg Biffle rounding out the top-five. After struggling last year, it seems that Roush Fenway Racing is turning a corner this season thus far as Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was quick in the morning session and finished eighth at Atlanta.
Carl Edwards sixth quickest, followed by Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., and Denny Hamlin. Hamlin’s day didn’t go cleanly as he would make contact with the wall during the session. His team will roll out the back-up for tomorrow. Notably, since this is prior to “race weekend”, it will not hurt him in anyway moving forward.
“We’ve been tight all day,” he told reporters at the track. “We made one significant change there and I just couldn’t hang on. & We had a lot of things to try, and we were pretty good all day. That change really moved the needle finally and I only got one lap on it and wrecked. It was obviously beyond my talent limits, for sure.”
Notably, last week’s race winner Jimmie Johsnon whom led the first session had the best 10 consecutive lap average of all drivers. Johnson has been successful at Las Vegas in the past, scoring four wins and has the second best average finish (11.5) of active drivers. Kenseth was second, followed by Kurt Busch, Dillon, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick, Stenhouse Jr., Brian Vickers, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch.
2016 NSCS Kobalt 400 Final Test/Practice Session Speeds
Pos | Car | Driver | Team | Time | Speed | Lap # | # Laps | -Fastest | -Next |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 27.988 | 192.94 | 30 | 30 | —.— | —.— |
2 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Dow Energy & Water/Intellifresh Chevrolet | 28.029 | 192.658 | 41 | 41 | -0.041 | -0.041 |
3 | *21 | Ryan Blaney # | Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford | 28.175 | 191.659 | 45 | 45 | -0.187 | -0.146 |
4 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Monster Energy/Haas Automation Chevrolet | 28.216 | 191.381 | 56 | 56 | -0.228 | -0.041 |
5 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Cheez-It Ford | 28.451 | 189.8 | 1 | 43 | -0.463 | -0.235 |
6 | 19 | Carl Edwards | ARRIS Toyota | 28.452 | 189.793 | 36 | 49 | -0.464 | -0.001 |
7 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | DeWalt Toyota | 28.455 | 189.773 | 29 | 75 | -0.467 | -0.003 |
8 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Farmers Insurance Chevrolet | 28.481 | 189.6 | 37 | 77 | -0.493 | -0.026 |
9 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr | Furniture Row Toyota | 28.484 | 189.58 | 56 | 56 | -0.496 | -0.003 |
10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Office Toyota | 28.513 | 189.387 | 19 | 41 | -0.525 | -0.029 |
11 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Nationwide Chevrolet | 28.517 | 189.361 | 68 | 75 | -0.529 | -0.004 |
12 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Kobalt Chevrolet | 28.552 | 189.129 | 1 | 86 | -0.564 | -0.035 |
13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Miller Lite Ford | 28.559 | 189.082 | 40 | 61 | -0.571 | -0.007 |
14 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Fastenal Ford | 28.567 | 189.029 | 1 | 95 | -0.579 | -0.008 |
15 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | AdvoCare Ford | 28.591 | 188.871 | 24 | 52 | -0.603 | -0.024 |
16 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M’s 75 Toyota | 28.605 | 188.778 | 59 | 74 | -0.617 | -0.014 |
17 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Smith’s/Kingsford Chevrolet | 28.656 | 188.442 | 23 | 43 | -0.668 | -0.051 |
18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Dutch Boy/Menards Chevrolet | 28.66 | 188.416 | 63 | 74 | -0.672 | -0.004 |
19 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Jimmy John’s Chevrolet | 28.682 | 188.271 | 26 | 72 | -0.694 | -0.022 |
20 | 14 | Brian Vickers | Mobil 1 Chevrolet | 28.694 | 188.193 | 2 | 117 | -0.706 | -0.012 |
21 | 34 | Chris Buescher # | Love’s Travel Stops Ford | 28.753 | 187.806 | 20 | 60 | -0.765 | -0.059 |
22 | 24 | Chase Elliott # | NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet | 28.755 | 187.793 | 54 | 61 | -0.767 | -0.002 |
23 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Target Chevrolet | 28.756 | 187.787 | 1 | 97 | -0.768 | -0.001 |
24 | 22 | Joey Logano | Shell Pennzoil Ford | 28.771 | 187.689 | 13 | 81 | -0.783 | -0.015 |
25 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Nature’s Bakery Chevrolet | 28.799 | 187.507 | 3 | 41 | -0.811 | -0.028 |
26 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 28.875 | 187.013 | 1 | 50 | -0.887 | -0.076 |
27 | 44 | Brian Scott # | Albertsons Co/White Tail Ford | 28.911 | 186.78 | 47 | 47 | -0.923 | -0.036 |
28 | 13 | Casey Mears | GEICO Chevrolet | 28.937 | 186.612 | 2 | 52 | -0.949 | -0.026 |
29 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Cessna Chevrolet | 29.032 | 186.002 | 1 | 68 | -1.044 | -0.095 |
30 | 95 | Michael McDowell | WRL General Contractors Chevrolet | 29.108 | 185.516 | 21 | 38 | -1.12 | -0.076 |
31 | 38 | Landon Cassill | MDS Transport Ford | 29.135 | 185.344 | 31 | 39 | -1.147 | -0.027 |
32 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 5-Hour Energy Chevrolet | 29.207 | 184.887 | 2 | 33 | -1.219 | -0.072 |
33 | 7 | Regan Smith | Road Rippers Street Beatz Chevrolet | 29.279 | 184.433 | 34 | 41 | -1.291 | -0.072 |
34 | 46 | Michael Annett | Pilot Flying J Chevrolet | 29.412 | 183.599 | 35 | 36 | -1.424 | -0.133 |
35 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | Cosmo Motors Toyota | 29.496 | 183.076 | 20 | 39 | -1.508 | -0.084 |
36 | *98 | Cole Whitt | Speed Stick Chevrolet | 29.547 | 182.76 | 1 | 28 | -1.559 | -0.051 |
37 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt # | Can-Am Ford | 29.595 | 182.463 | 7 | 36 | -1.607 | -0.048 |
38 | 23 | David Ragan | Dr Pepper Toyota | 29.852 | 180.892 | 10 | 38 | -1.864 | -0.257 |
(i) Ineligible for Driver Points in this Series
# Denotes Rookie
* Required to Qualify on Time