Matt Kenseth fastest in Friday's Sprint Cup practice at Indy - MotorSportsTalk

INDIANAPOLIS – Matt Kenseth took the first step towards his first win of 2014 – and his first career win in the Brickyard 400 – recording the fastest speed in Friday’s sole Sprint Cup practice session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Kenseth, who was one of only two drivers over 186 mph (186.285 mph), has struggled to reach victory lane this season after earning a series-high seven wins in 2013.

“I felt like we had a really good hour-and-a-half,” Kenseth said. “It was productive, so one of our goals was to get a good lap in case it does rain tomorrow, they always go off first practice speeds and we’ve been bit by that this year.

“We wanted to try to lay down a lap early when the track was as good as it could be and we were able to do that in case there is bad weather for qualifying, then we just worked hard on race trim the whole time. Felt like we got through a lot of stuff. Felt like we gained a lot. I feel like we’re closer than we’ve been in a long time in balance and in speed. Still have a lot of work to do tomorrow, but I felt pretty good about today.”

His 24-lap effort Friday could be more important than just a routine practice session. Heavy thunderstorms are predicted for Saturday, and the second Cup practice is slated to go off between 9 and 11 am ET, followed by qualifying from 2:10 pm to 3:45 pm ET.

If Saturday’s practice and qualifying are washed out, the qualifying field for Sunday’s race would be based upon Friday’s practice session speeds.

Clint Bowyer was the second-fastest in Friday’s session at 186.070 mph, followed by Brad Keselowski (185.939), four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson (185.647) and Sprint Cup rookie Kyle Larson (185.445).

Sixth- through 10th-fastest were Kurt Busch (185.117 mph), Kyle Busch (185.113), Joey Logano (184.858), Marcos Ambrose (184.740) and Kevin Harvick (184.721).

Tony Stewart, seeking his third Brickyard victory and first win of 2014, was 11th-fastest (183.793), followed by Ryan Newman (183.587), Brian Vickers (183.307), four-time Brickyard winner Jeff Gordon (182.408) and Kasey Kahne was 15th-fastest (182.290).

Danica Patrick was 16th-fastest (182.216 mph), followed by Aric Almirola (181.973), Austin Dillon (181.962), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (181.910) and Carl Edwards was 20th-fastest (181.496).

The rest of the field was:

21 Trevor Bayne 181.477

22 Ryan Truex 181.283

23 Michael Annett 181.061

24 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 180.937

25 Paul Menard 180.897

26 Martin Truex Jr. 180.636

27 Denny Hamlin 180.166

28 Juan Pablo Montoya 180.144

29 Brett Moffitt 180.040

30 David Ragan 179.971

31 Greg Biffle 179.842

32 Jamie McMurray 179.194

33 Michael McDowell 179.019

34 Casey Mears 178.923

35 Justin Allgaier 178.593

36 AJ Allmendinger 178.398

37 Travis Kvapil 177.725

38 David Stremme 177.438

39 Reed Sorenson 177.284

40 Landon Cassill 177.050

41 Bobby Labonte 176.025

42 Josh Wise 175.771

43 Alex Bowman 175.524

44 David Gilliland 175.022

45 Cole Whitt 174.132

46 Matt Crafton 173.444

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Eli Tomac led all 23 laps of the Monster Energy Supercross race at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas and the results show he now has three wins in the season and is one shy of tying Ricky Carmichael’s 48 for third on the all-time list. With this win, he takes a seven point lead in the standings with 12 rounds remaining.

For Tomac at Houston, it was literally a tale of two races. Both his heat and the main started the same with Tomac grabbing the holeshot, but he was passed quickly by Chase Sexton in the heat. Tomac faded quickly after getting passed and was trailing by almost eight seconds at the checkered flag, which caused him to retreat to the hauler and reassess his lines. Without making any adjustments to the bike, Tomac entered the Main with a new attitude, and simply rode better.

Supercross Results Houston — *Chase Sexton played it safe in the sand, but he was aggressive in every other turn. – Feld Motor Sports*

Sexton had so great a lead in his heat that one could not even use the cliche that he left Tomac in his dust. By the time the rider with the No. 1 plate crossed the same real estate as the No. 23, the dust was well settled. Sexton had a modest start on the initial gate drop and ended Lap 1 in fourth. He worked his way past Aaron Plessinger on Lap 3 and got around Jason Anderson three laps later. Sexton was able to catch Tomac and pressure him, but he picked a safe, i.e. slow line through the sand section and could never get alongside his rival.

RESULTS: Click here for 450 Results; Click here for full 250 East Main Results

After starting the season with back-to-back seventh-place finishes, Anderson now has a pair of podiums. He won his heat and was easily one of the top three riders in the field, ultimately finishing behind the riders who finished 1-2 in the other preliminary. Anderson was subdued on the podium – happy he was there, but disappointed he has not yet found a way around the riders he is chasing in the points.

In the early stages of the race, Plessinger appeared to have a bike capable of winning. He pressured Tomac on the first two laps and was setting up the pass just as a red flag waved for an injury to Dylan Ferrandis that brought out a red flag. He lost second to Anderson on the restart and eventually slipped to fourth to score his first top-five of the season.

Click here for 450 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier

Cooper Webb rounded out the top five. Along with Sexton, he is now one of just two riders with a sweep of that mark in 2023, but with Tomac’s three wins, he is beginning to slip in the points. Webb sits third in the standings, 12 points behind the leader.

Ken Roczen entered the race as the third rider with a sweep of the top five and progressively better results in the first three races of 2023. Had the pattern held, he would have finished at least second, but he struggled for most of the night, finishing fifth in his heat and eighth in the Main. There may have been extenuating circumstances, however. Ferrandis’ injury was suffered when he landed on the back of Roczen’s bike and potentially damaged the No. 94 Suzuki.

Click here for 450 Main results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points | Lap Chart

The 250 East division made their 2023 debut in Houston, but the name atop the board was familiar. Hunter Lawrence joined his brother Jett Lawrence as the early points’ leader in their respective divisions, but it didn’t come without a little anxiety.

Riding behind Supercross newbie Tom Vialle on the second lap, Lawrence was forced to take evasive action when the leader pitched his bike sideways to scrub speed over a jump. Lawrence veered left and landed off course, but he cleared the Tuff Blox and kept his bike straight. Lawrence made the pass for the lead on Lap 18 and never relinquished it.

Click here for 250 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier

*In his first attempt on a 250, Max Anstie ascended to the podium. – Feld Motor Sports*

England’s Max Anstie made the move from 450s to 250s this year after scoring a best result of 11th on the big bike at Anaheim 2 last year. It didn’t take anytime at all to find the front for Anstie, who finished second in both his heat and main.

It has been a while since Jordon Smith stood on the podium: February 23, 2019 to be exact when he finished that well in Detroit. A series of injuries kept him off the bike for much of 2020 and 2021, but he’s proving to be a factor when he’s healthy.

Click here for 250 Main results | 250 East Rider Points | Combined Rider Points | Lap Chart

There was a lot of hype surrounding the debut of Haiden Deegan in the 250 class and he proved it was merited. He finished fourth in his heat and main. He was as far down as ninth at one point in the feature before slowly picking off riders on his way to the front.

Jeremy Martin finished fifth and now has a streak of three consecutive top-fives to his credit stretching back to last year. Unfortunately, his pair of strong runs in 2022 were interrupted by injury.

Making impressive debuts in the 250 division, Vialle recovered from a fall to finish seventh, Chance Hymas finished eighth, and Talon Hawkins just missed the top 10 with an 11th.

2023 Results

Race 3: Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen win
Race 2: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence win
Round 1: Tomac, Lawrence win

2023 SuperMotocross Power Rankings

Week 3: Ken Roczen takes the top spot
Week 2: Roczen moves up; Chase Sexton falls
Week 1: Eli Tomac tops 450s; Jett Lawrence 250s

Matt Kenseth fastest in Friday’s Sprint Cup practice at Indy

Supercross 2023: Results and points after Houston

Read more about SuperMotocross