Being a five-time winner at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch has obviously learned a few things about getting around the nearly half-mile bullring.
And when it comes to putting those lessons into practice, what better way to do so than – what else – in practice itself.
Knocking on the door of a 130 mph lap, the elder Busch brother was the fastest in Friday’s early afternoon practice session at BMS, covering the .533-mile surface at 129.789 mph (at 14.784 mph).
Five other drivers exceeded 129 mph with their best efforts: Jeff Gordon (129.421), Denny Hamlin (129.351), Carl Edwards (129.317), Marcos Ambrose (129.238) and last week’s Las Vegas race winner Brad Keselowski (129.203).
Parker Kligerman, who has struggled in the first three races of his rookie Sprint Cup season, had a hard time finding speed, coming in second-slowest at 123.300 mph, followed by Timmy Hill, last on the practice grid at 119.010 mph.
Here’s how the practice session played out for the 45 drivers who will attempt to make the 43-car field later today in qualifying:
1 Kurt Busch 128.789 mph
2 Jeff Gordon 129.421
3 Denny Hamlin 129.351
4 Carl Edwards 129.317
5 Marcos Ambrose 129.238
6 Brad Keselowski 129.203
7 Ryan Newman 128.779
8 Casey Mears 128.589
9 Martin Truex Jr. 128.425
10 Joey Logano 128.417
11 Kevin Harvick 128.417
12 Paul Menard 128.279
13 Aric Almirola 128.253
14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 128.168
15 Michael McDowell 128.116
16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 128.031
17 AJ Allmendinger 127.920
18 Kasey Kahne 127.673
19 Kyle Busch 127.580
20 Clint Bowyer 127.563
21 Landon Cassill 127.529
22 David Gilliland 127.487
23 Austin Dillon 127.470
24 Cole Whitt 127.470
25 Brian Vickers 127.368
26 Jamie McMurray 127.317
27 Jimmie Johnson 127.250
28 Greg Biffle 127.199
29 Kyle Larson 127.064
30 Matt Kenseth 127.039
31 David Ragan 126.888
32 Tony Stewart 126.846
33 Michael Annett 126.829
34 Danica Patrick 126.495
35 Alex Bowman 126.478
36 Dave Blaney 126.470
37 David Reutimann 126.337
38 Josh Wise 126.013
39 Travis Kvapil 125.988
40 Ryan Truex 125.077
41 Reed Sorenson 124.436
42 Joe Nemechek 123.857
43 Parker Kligerman 123.300
44 Timmy Hill 119.010
45 Justin Allgaier – no speed/time recorded
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