Chris Buescher only driver to eclipse 170 mph in Thursday’s second Nationwide Series practice at Darlington

In his first full season on the Nationwide Series, Chris Buescher was the fastest in Thursday’s second NASCAR NNS practice session at Darlington Raceway for Friday’s VFW Sport Clips Help a Hero 200 race.

The 21-year-old Roush Fenway Racing driver was the only driver to both exceed 169 mph and 170 mph, clocking in at 170.365 mph.

After failing to qualify for the NNS season-opener at Daytona, Buescher has finished 15th, 9th, 16th, 14th and 27th in his last five starts. He is ranked 11th in the Nationwide points standings heading into Friday night’s race at Darlington.

Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch was second-fastest at 168.758 mph, followed by Ty Dillon (168.469), Trevor Bayne (168.296) and last week’s winner at Texas, Chase Elliott (168.117).

Texas Sprint Cup race winner Joey Logano, who was the fastest in the first practice session Thursday afternoon, was seventh-fastest in the second session.

Here’s how Thursday’s second Nationwide Series practice session played out:

1 Chris Buescher 170.365 mph

2 Kyle Busch 168.578

3 Ty Dillon 168.469

4 Trevor Bayne 168.296

5 Chase Elliott 168.117

6 Brian Scott 168.031

7 Joey Logano 168.025

8 Kyle Larson 167.705

9 Matt Kenseth 167.442

10 Kevin Harvick 167.197

11 Elliott Sadler 167.072

12 Regan Smith 167.010

13 Cole Conley 166.862

14 Ryan Reed 166.721

15 Brendan Gaughan 166.309

16 David Starr 166.259

17 JJ Yeley 165.531

18 Landon Cassill 165.275

19 Dakoda Armstrong 165.148

20 Jeremy Clements 164.948

21 Ryan Sieg 164.948

22 Dylan Kwasniewski 164.749

23 James Buescher 164.689

24 Mike Wallace 163.936

25 Mike Bliss 163.664

26 Tanner Berryhill 163.132

27 Josh Wise 162.883

28 Kevin LePage 162.485

29 Eric McClure 162.292

30 Todd Bodine 161.694

31 Matt DiBenedetto 161.524

32 Jeffrey Earnhardt 160.769

33 Tommy Joe Martins 160.318

34 Carlos Contreras 160.151

35 Derrike Cope 159.652

36 Matt Carter 157.889

37 Blake Koch 157.303

38 Joey Gase 157.252

39 Mike Harmon 151.199

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Bob Fernley will bring his experience as former deputy team principal at Force India F1 to McLaren Racing’s IndyCar effort in 2019.

Fernley will report directly to McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown.

“Heading back to the Brickyard will be a very special experience for me,” Fernley said at IndyCar.com. “I am proud to be leading this McLaren project and team. The 500 is a hell of a challenge and we have incredibly strong competitors to overcome if we’re to be successful. We will need to prepare well for the month of May and that work starts now.”

Fernley’s appointing come of the heels of last week’s announcement that McLaren will create a brand new team to compete in the 2019 Indy 500.

MORE: Fernando Alonso to return to Indy 500 in 2019

For now, Fernley’s responsibility is to create an entry that is capable of allowing two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso to win the Indy 500 in just his second start. But speculation has been widespread that the entry will be a jumping off point for a much broader involvement in IndyCar.

In 2017, Alonso qualified on the middle of row two (fifth), led 27 laps and succumbed to mechanical failure. His effort was impressive enough to be name Rookie of the Year for the Indy 500.

“Bob is a fantastic operator and someone I respect greatly,” Brown said. “His experience and leadership will be essential for us on this project. He is particularly talented at putting effective teams together and extracting maximum performance with finite resources. The Indy 500 is no easy race and Bob’s is a key role, so I’m delighted he’s on board.”