Kyle Busch tops first Shootout practice
Kyle Busch topped the first official NASCAR Sprint Cup practice session of the year in preparation for Saturday night's Bud Shootout
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver set the fastest lap of the session with a time of 47.01 seconds at an average speed of 191.453 miles per hour at the wheel of the No. 18 M&M's Toyota, edging defending champion Jimmie Johnson by less than a tenth of a second.
Johnson caused the only stoppage during the session when a piece of sheet metal flew off from his car, causing the red flag to wave about five minutes before the scheduled end of practice.
With the session being the first chance for teams to run at the track where they will compete in a week's time in the season-opener, most of the twenty-eight drivers chose to test the waters in the draft when the green flag waved.
A number of them had sideways moments, including rookie Joey Logano, Johnson and last year's series runner-up Carl Edwards, but the 45-minute session was incident-free.
The session saw some new combinations run on track for the first time, under clear skies and cool temperatures. Tony Stewart ran his new colours on the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Chevy and was among the front-runners in the draft despite finishing the session only 24th fastest.
Roush Fenway's David Ragan also led the pack of cars in draft for a number of laps in the No. 6 UPS Ford, although he only finished twentieth fastest.
Last year's Shootout winner Dale Earnhardt Jr was sixth fastest followed by Edwards, while rookie Scott Speed ran a promising ninth fastest in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota, well ahead of fellow newcomer Logano who ranked seventeenth in the No. 20 Home Depot Camry.
Teams will get a further practice session before Saturday's race, while the rest of the teams not competing in the Shootout will get their first chance to run in qualifying trim on Saturday morning, ahead of Sunday's quaifying session.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Kyle Busch Toyota 191.453 47.009 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 191.156 47.082 + 0.073 3. Matt Kenseth Ford 191.144 47.085 + 0.076 4. Reed Sorenson Dodge 190.706 47.193 + 0.184 5. AJ Allmendinger Dodge 190.512 47.241 + 0.232 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 190.146 47.332 + 0.323 7. Carl Edwards Ford 190.126 47.337 + 0.328 8. Denny Hamlin Toyota 190.102 47.343 + 0.334 9. Scott Speed Toyota 190.074 47.350 + 0.341 10. Robby Gordon Dodge 190.070 47.351 + 0.342 11. Elliott Sadler Dodge 190.038 47.359 + 0.350 12. Michael Waltrip Toyota 189.773 47.425 + 0.416 13. Brian Vickers Toyota 189.725 47.437 + 0.428 14. Kasey Kahne Dodge 189.717 47.439 + 0.430 15. Jamie McMurray Ford 189.577 47.474 + 0.465 16. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 189.406 47.517 + 0.508 17. Joey Logano Toyota 189.251 47.556 + 0.547 18. Kurt Busch Dodge 189.159 47.579 + 0.570 19. Greg Biffle Ford 189.147 47.582 + 0.573 20. David Ragan Ford 189.032 47.611 + 0.602 21. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 188.806 47.668 + 0.659 22. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 188.679 47.700 + 0.691 23. David Stremme Dodge 188.596 47.721 + 0.712 24. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 188.501 47.745 + 0.736 25. Bobby Labonte Ford 187.609 47.972 + 0.963 26. David Reutimann Toyota 187.465 48.009 + 1.000 27. Paul Menard Ford 186.807 48.178 + 1.169 28. Casey Mears Chevrolet 186.749 48.193 + 1.184
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