Kurt Busch tops again in second Cup practice at Pocono - MotorSportsTalk

After leading yesterday’s first Sprint Cup practice and then qualifying fourth for Sunday’s GoBowling.com 400, Stewart Haas Racing’s Kurt Busch was quickest in this morning’s second Cup practice at Pocono Raceway with a lap of 178.859 miles per hour.

It’s been an uneven first season at SHR for Busch, who put himself into the Chase picture with a win at Martinsville but has been in the lower reaches of the Top 30 in the standings ever since.

But the Outlaw believes that things are picking up in the 41 garage.

“We’ve got a fast Chevy and that’s what it’s all about, putting yourself in position,” Busch told ESPN. “And [crew chief] Daniel [Knost] and all the guys back at the shop have been working hard. This year, we’ve been hot and even ice cold, so Daniel and the guys at the shop keep plugging away to find new things that will help my balance with the car.

“…It’s just a matter of each week learning and growing as a team, and we haven’t quite matured at the level we hoped we would. But here we are – we’re coming back around these tracks a second time and I’m feeling good about it.”

Following him was Richard Childress Racing’s Ryan Newman, who qualified a disappointing 21st but was second-fastest in Practice 2 with a lap of 178.430 mph. Newman currently sits 13th on the Chase Grid (+47 points over 16th place), but is still searching for his own regular season win that can get him over the top.

“[We had a] really disappointing day yesterday to be 21st…[But] we felt like we were really good in race trim yesterday and proved it again today,” Newman told ESPN. “I guess that’s all we’ve got left this weekend is race trim. We’ll see if we can have a good car tomorrow.”

Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano were quick once again in Practice 2, placing third and fourth respectively (Keselowski with a 178.398; Logano with a 178.232). Another SHR driver, Kevin Harvick, was fifth (178.211). Sunday’s polesitter, Kyle Larson, was 18th (177.434) on the time sheets.

Sprint Cup final practice will run later this morning at 11:30 a.m. ET.

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES AT POCONO – SECOND PRACTICE TIMES

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.

POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.