Photo Credit: Justin McFarland
He has won the last three races, and so far is off to a good start at Auto Club Speedway as Kyle Busch topped the opening practice for the TreatMyClot.com 300. Busch topped the charts with a lap of 40.603 seconds.
While Busch has been quick as usual, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates have been just as fast as him thus far this season, and that continues as well. Erik Jones, who challenged Busch for the win last weekend at Phoenix International Raceway, was second quickest, 0.544 seconds off of Busch’s quick time.
Kyle Larson was third quickest as he makes his third start of the season after finishing second earlier this year, followed by JR Motorsports’ Elliott Sadler and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon. Sadler has been off to a strong start this season since moving over to JRM, posting a solid string of top-10 finishes to currently sit second in points.
Ryan Blaney was sixth quickest in his first XFINITY start of the season, followed by series points leader Daniel Suarez, Ryan Reed, Ty Dillon and Justin Allgaier.
The XFINITY Series will have another practice on track from 2:30 pm local time to 3:25pm local time, followed by qualifying and the race on Saturday.
| POS | DRIVER | LAPS | FAST SPEED | FAST TIME | BEHIND |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | #18 Kyle Busch | 22 | 177.327 | 40.603 | Leader |
| 2 | #20 Erik Jones | 22 | 174.982 | 41.147 | 0.544 |
| 3 | #42 Kyle Larson | 12 | 174.910 | 41.164 | 0.561 |
| 4 | #1 Elliott Sadler | 11 | 174.795 | 41.191 | 0.588 |
| 5 | #2 Austin Dillon | 26 | 174.681 | 41.218 | 0.615 |
| 6 | #22 Ryan Blaney | 18 | 174.588 | 41.240 | 0.637 |
| 7 | #19 Daniel Suarez | 25 | 174.355 | 41.295 | 0.692 |
| 8 | #16 Ryan Reed | 24 | 174.279 | 41.313 | 0.710 |
| 9 | #3 Ty Dillon | 9 | 174.233 | 41.324 | 0.721 |
| 10 | #7 Justin Allgaier | 2 | 174.149 | 41.344 | 0.741 |
| 11 | #88 Kevin Harvick | 13 | 173.766 | 41.435 | 0.832 |
| 12 | #48 Brennan Poole | 35 | 173.410 | 41.520 | 0.917 |
| 13 | #6 Darrell Wallace Jr. | 34 | 173.314 | 41.543 | 0.940 |
| 14 | #11 Blake Koch | 16 | 172.948 | 41.631 | 1.028 |
| 15 | #43 Jeb Burton | 16 | 172.216 | 41.808 | 1.205 |
| 16 | #51 Jeremy Clements | 14 | 171.944 | 41.874 | 1.271 |
| 17 | #28 Dakoda Armstrong | 17 | 171.862 | 41.894 | 1.291 |
| 18 | #98 Aric Almirola | 9 | 171.846 | 41.898 | 1.295 |
| 19 | #33 Brandon Jones | 22 | 171.331 | 42.024 | 1.421 |
| 20 | #62 Brendan Gaughan | 13 | 171.034 | 42.097 | 1.494 |
| 21 | #39 Ryan Sieg | 16 | 170.948 | 42.118 | 1.515 |
| 22 | #44 David Starr | 15 | 170.867 | 42.138 | 1.535 |
| 23 | #4 Ross Chastain | 11 | 170.661 | 42.189 | 1.586 |
| 24 | #14 J.J. Yeley | 6 | 169.791 | 42.405 | 1.802 |
| 25 | #40 Josh Reaume | 1 | 169.779 | 42.408 | 1.805 |
| 26 | #1 Ryan Preece | 18 | 169.599 | 42.453 | 1.850 |
| 27 | #90 Mario Gosselin | 13 | 169.527 | 42.471 | 1.868 |
| 28 | #0 Garrett Smithley | 10 | 169.185 | 42.557 | 1.954 |
| 29 | #21 Spencer Gallagher | 25 | 168.685 | 42.683 | 2.080 |
| 30 | #93 Dylan Lupton | 19 | 168.646 | 42.693 | 2.090 |
| 31 | #24 Corey LaJoie | 15 | 168.055 | 42.843 | 2.240 |
| 32 | #7 Ray Black Jr. | 14 | 167.069 | 43.096 | 2.493 |
| 33 | #89 Morgan Shepherd | 4 | 166.593 | 43.219 | 2.616 |
| 34 | #78 B.J. McLeod | 6 | 165.229 | 43.576 | 2.973 |
| 35 | #52 Joey Gase | 3 | 164.805 | 43.688 | 3.085 |
| 36 | #70 Derrike Cope | 11 | 163.793 | 43.958 | 3.355 |
| 37 | #13 Carl Long | 2 | 163.659 | 43.994 | 3.391 |
| 38 | #15 Todd Peck | 17 | 163.488 | 44.040 | 3.437 |
| 39 | #25 Timmy Hill | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | — |
| 40 | #74 Mike Harmon | 0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | — |
