Jimmie Johnson, Greg Biffle, Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. fastest in Friday Sprint Cup practice - MotorSportsTalk

Three drivers who are still chasing their first win of 2014 set the pace during Friday afternoon’s practice for Sunday’s Duck Commander 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway. Happy Hour practice and qualifying take place Saturday.

Six-time and defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who won at TMS last fall during the Chase for the Sprint Cup, recorded the fastest lap of 192.237 mph.

The next fastest were Greg Biffle (192.055) and Ryan Newman (191.564), followed by Daytona 500 winner and current Sprint Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. (191.327) and Brian Vickers (190.934).

Two significant mishaps occurred during the 110-minute practice.

First, David Ragan slid into the infield, with the splitter on his No. 34 catching in the grass, doing enough damage to the front end and undercarriage that the team will likely have to go to a backup car.

Another driver who will definitely have to go to a backup car is last week’s winner at Martinsville, Kurt Busch.

With less than 10 minutes remaining in the practice session, Busch was coming down the backstretch when it appeared his left rear tire blew out, sending him careening hard and nearly head-on into the retaining wall.

Busch was uninjured, but his car sustained heavy damage.

What made the wreck even harder to take for Busch is he had been the fifth-fastest speed up to that point during the session, and had suffered the problem on the 51st practice lap he had made around the 1.5-mile track.

The slowest driver on the track was JJ Yeley, who was the only driver that failed to crack 180 mph, recording a best of just 179.480 mph in only two laps during the session.

Here’s the entire practice speed chart:

1 Jimmie Johnson 193.237 mph

2 Greg Biffle 192.055

3 Ryan Newman 191.564

4 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 191.327

5 Brian Vickers 190.934

6 Jamie McMurray 190.950

7 Kurt Busch 190.590

8 Trevor Bayne 190.577

9 Paul Menard 190.564

10 Marcos Ambrose 190.308

11 Kevin Harvick 190.174

12 Kasey Kahne 190.034

13 Casey Mears 189.947

14 Tony Stewart 189.940

15 Denny Hamlin 189.720

16 Carl Edwards 189.553

17 Aric Almirola 189.467

18 Jeff Gordon 189.334

19 Austin Dillon 189.102

20 Kyle Busch 188.990

21 AJ Allmendinger 188.904

22 Clint Bowyer 188.785

23 Josh Wise 188.712

24 Dave Blaney 188.495

25 Michael McDowell 188.429

26 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 188.291

27 Danica Patrick 188.265

28 Martin Truex Jr. 188.147

29 Matt Kenseth 188.081

30 Joey Logano 187.624

31 Alex Bowman 187.441

32 Kyle Larson 187.279

33 Brad Keselowski 187.220

34 David Stremme 186.722

35 David Reutimann 186.458

36 David Ragan 186.303

37 David Gilliland 186.213

38 Joe Nemechek 185.727

39 Ryan Truex 185.134

40 Justin Allgaier 184.982

41 Landon Cassill 184.093

42 Travis Kvapil 183.836

43 Reed Sorenson 183.530

44 Michael Annett 183.505

45 Cole Whitt 183.380

46 Parker Kligerman 183.243

47 JJ Yeley 179.480

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Auto racing safety has continued to improve through the decades, but the sport remains inherently dangerous, according to a new survey.

At the close of 2018, a new organization called Racing Safety United emerged with the intention of reducing drivers’ risk of being harmed.

RSU is made up of more than 30 members including former NASCAR Cup Series competitor Jerry Nadeau, two-time NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Randy LaJoie, NHRA team owner Don Schumacher and motorsports journalist Dick Berggren.

One of RSU’s first initiatives was to determine what current drivers thought of racing safety. The organization developed a 14-question survey and promoted it on select motorsports websites and forums.

Participants were given the opportunity to disclose their identity or remain anonymous, and those who provided contact information were entered to win a $500 prize (for anonymous participants, the prize funds would be donated to a motorsports charity).

More than 140 individuals participated in the survey over the course of 12 months. Below are the results of the survey:

Driver status

The vast majority of survey participants (60%) were amateur racers, while 26% of the participants were classified as Semi-Pro/Professional racers. The remaining 14% consisted of other individuals involved in the sport such as team owners and crew chiefs.

When asked how frequently they race, 58% of driver respondents averaged 10 or more times per year on track, while 42% averaged 10 times or less.

The top five tracks respondents said they raced most often: Road Atlanta (21 votes), Watkins Glen (17 votes), Virginia International Raceway (16 votes), Mid-Ohio (16 votes), and Road America (13 votes).

Vehicular damage, injuries common

Over a third of respondents said they had been injured while racing, and almost two-thirds sasid they had suffered severe vehicle damage while racing

Driver error was cited as the top cause of vehicle damage (42 mentions), followed by concrete walls (26 mentions), mechanical failures (24 mentions), and other drivers (19 mentions). The study concluded those results indicated a need for better driver training/coaching, energy absorbing walls, and more technical inspections.

Almost a quarter of drivers said they had experienced racing-related concussions, and nearly half the respondents said one or multiple concussions would affect their decision to race in the future.

Drivers primarily influenced by peers

Roughly half the drivers said they would consider adopting new safety equipment if influenced by another driver (51 total mentions) and/or if recommended by a sanctioning body (47 total mentions). The study concluded those results indicated a need for drivers to become safety advocates and educate other drivers and for sanctioning bodies to mandate safety equipment.

Drivers concerned with concrete walls

Approximately three-quarters of the drivers surveyed said they believed certain race tracks were more dangerous than others. Nearly half the drivers surveyed believe that concrete walls were the primary cause of damage to drivers and vehicles.

Drivers willing to help

Just more than three-quarters of the drivers surveyed said that they would be willing to join a safety alliance to advocate for safer tracks. Two-thirds of drivers said that they also would be willing to contribute to a motorsports safety fund.

Click here for the full results of RSU’s survey

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