NSCS: Kevin Harvick Tops Friday Axalta 400 Practice at Pocono Raceway

At the end of the lone Friday practice for the Axalta 400 at Pocono Raceway, it’d be Kevin Harvick topping the charts with a lap of 50.867 seconds. Harvick is looking to score his third win of the season fresh off announcing that crew chief Rodney Childers has signed an extension with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Kyle Busch was second quickest as he looks make his way into the Chase despite missing the first 11 races of the season. He is also looking to bounce back after a wreck took him out of contention last weekend at Dover International Speedway. Carl Edwards third quickest, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt won both races at Pocono last year.

Austin Dillon rounded out the top-five, followed by Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Martin Truex Jr., Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon.

2015 NSCS Axalta 400 First Practice Session Speeds

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed	Lap #	# Laps	-Fastest	-Next
1	4	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser/Jimmy John’s Chevrolet	50.867	176.932	17	17	—.—	—.—
2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Crispy Toyota	50.913	176.772	13	13	-0.046	-0.046
3	19	Carl Edwards	ARRIS Toyota	50.929	176.717	8	12	-0.062	-0.016
4	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Nationwide Chevrolet	50.973	176.564	9	13	-0.106	-0.044
5	3	Austin Dillon	Dow Chevrolet	50.974	176.561	12	12	-0.107	-0.001
6	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Ground Toyota	50.978	176.547	10	10	-0.111	-0.004
7	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Ford	50.989	176.509	17	17	-0.122	-0.011
8	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet	51.031	176.363	9	9	-0.164	-0.042
9	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s/Jimmie Johnson Foundation Chevrolet	51.038	176.339	11	11	-0.171	-0.007
10	24	Jeff Gordon	Axalta/Penn State Chevrolet	51.048	176.305	17	17	-0.181	-0.01
11	1	Jamie McMurray	Cessna Chevrolet	51.056	176.277	13	13	-0.189	-0.008
12	31	Ryan Newman	Grainger Chevrolet	51.083	176.184	11	11	-0.216	-0.027
13	42	Kyle Larson	Target Chevrolet	51.165	175.901	13	13	-0.298	-0.082
14	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Chevrolet	51.274	175.528	10	12	-0.407	-0.109
15	22	Joey Logano	Shell Pennzoil Ford	51.357	175.244	13	13	-0.49	-0.083
16	47	AJ Allmendinger	Clorox Chevrolet	51.395	175.114	6	8	-0.528	-0.038
17	20	Matt Kenseth	Dollar General Toyota	51.416	175.043	7	9	-0.549	-0.021
18	16	Greg Biffle	Ortho Ford	51.422	175.022	13	13	-0.555	-0.006
19	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Chevrolet	51.428	175.002	10	10	-0.561	-0.006
20	27	Paul Menard	Schrock/Menards Chevrolet	51.531	174.652	9	9	-0.664	-0.103
21	41	Kurt Busch	Haas Automation Chevrolet	51.578	174.493	11	11	-0.711	-0.047
22	55	David Ragan	Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota	51.585	174.469	14	14	-0.718	-0.007
23	10	Danica Patrick	GoDaddy Chevrolet	51.597	174.429	15	15	-0.73	-0.012
24	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Zest Ford	51.647	174.26	11	11	-0.78	-0.05
25	15	Clint Bowyer	Jack Link’s/Big Machine Records Toyota	51.666	174.196	10	10	-0.799	-0.019
26	43	Aric Almirola	Nathan’s Famous Ford	51.684	174.135	8	9	-0.817	-0.018
27	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	Medallion Bank Ford	51.792	173.772	12	12	-0.925	-0.108
28	33	Ty Dillon(i)	Yuengling Chevrolet	51.912	173.37	18	18	-1.045	-0.12
29	14	Tony Stewart	Mobil 1/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet	51.914	173.364	14	15	-1.047	-0.002
30	46	Michael Annett	Sherwin Williams Chevrolet	51.929	173.314	17	17	-1.062	-0.015
31	51	Justin Allgaier	SEM Chevrolet	51.971	173.174	14	16	-1.104	-0.042
32	7	Alex Bowman	Accell Construction Chevrolet	52.071	172.841	13	13	-1.204	-0.1
33	38	David Gilliland	MDS Ford	52.134	172.632	10	12	-1.267	-0.063
34	98	Josh Wise	Ford	52.17	172.513	7	7	-1.303	-0.036
35	6	Trevor Bayne	AdvoCare Ford	52.279	172.153	21	21	-1.412	-0.109
36	34	Brett Moffitt #	Dockside Logistics Ford	52.311	172.048	17	17	-1.444	-0.032
37	40	Landon Cassill(i)	Interstate Moving Services Chevrolet	52.52	171.363	13	13	-1.653	-0.209
38	83	Matt DiBenedetto #	Burger King Toyota	52.805	170.438	16	16	-1.938	-0.285
39	26	Jeb Burton #	Maxim Fantasy Sports Toyota	52.838	170.332	16	16	-1.971	-0.033
40	32	Travis Kvapil(i)	Visone RV Parts Ford	52.919	170.071	15	15	-2.052	-0.081
41	35	Cole Whitt	Ford	52.943	169.994	10	10	-2.076	-0.024
42	23	JJ Yeley(i)	Dr Pepper/Heinz Toyota	53.392	168.565	11	13	-2.525	-0.449
43	62	Brendan Gaughan(i)	Chevrolet	54.759	164.357	1	3	-3.892	-1.367