Earnhardt Jr Fastest in First Homestead Practice

Dale Earnhardt Jr., with a lap speed of 173.193 mph, was the quickest during the first NSCS Ford 400 practice session at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

The current series points leader, Carl Edwards, was second quickest with a lap speed of 172.678 mph, while second in the points, Tony Stewart, was 15th quickest with a lap speed of 171.249 mph.

Rounding out the top-ten quickest during practice were Matt Kenseth (172.298), Ryan Newman (172.068), Jimmie Johnson (172.013), Kasey Kahne (171.920), Landon Cassill (171.887), Jeff Gordon (171.674, Kevin Harvick (171.652) and Juan Pablo Montoya (171.581) posting the tenth quickest lap speed.

Following shortly after this session, the teams “Happy Hour” (final) practice session (the last series practice session of 2011) is scheduled to run from 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM (ET) with qualifying set to get underway at 2:40 PM (ET).

Practice Speeds

Harvick and Johnson top 170 mph, Top Kansas' Second Practice Session

Kevin Harvick, with a lap speed of 170.401 mph, was the fastest in the second Hollywood Casino 400 practice session at Kansas Speedway.

Defending series champion, Jimmie Johnson, with a lap speed of 170.057 mph, was second fastest, followed by Carl Edwards (169.998), David Ragan ( 169.929) and pole sitter Greg Biffle (169.875).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Denny Hamlin (169.811), Jeff Gordon (169.747), Kyle Busch (169.678), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (169.625) and Kasey Kahne (169.545).

Practice Times

Keselowski Fast Again; Tops Charts in First Atlanta Practice Session

Keselowski stays in groove (Getty)

There is no cooling off period for Brad Keselowski as he paced the first Atlanta practice session with a lap of 187.722 mph. Fresh off of winning at Bristol and going four straight races of placing within the top-three, Keselowski looks to be formidable again for Sunday night's race.

Denny Hamlin, with a lap speed of 186.679 mph, was second on the charts which should be a good sign for the struggling No. 11 team trying to hold on to the final Chase spot with only two races remaining until the field is set.

Clint Bowyer is in a similar position to Hamlin -- fighting for his season -- where he has to take care of business with a win or finish in the top-five with hopes that Tony Stewart falters. So far, so good for Bowyer as he ran the third fastest lap (185.016).

Martin Truex, Jr. (184.911) was fourth fastest and Mark Martin (184.794) was fifth. Both of these drivers have looked much better of late and could be onto something for the rest of the season. Truex Jr. also led the way with the fastest 10 consecutive lap average.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest was Brian Vickers (184.223), Greg Biffle (184.125), AJ Allmendinger (184.113), Jimmie Johnson (184.107) and Kasey Kahne (184.058).

The teams will return on Saturday for their final practice session that will run from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (EDT) and then return later in the day for their 5:10 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session. Results from today's practice session will set the qualifying order.

First Practice Speeds

Kurt Busch Tops The Charts In Sonoma's First Practice Session

Kurt Busch fastest in first Sonoma practice session (Getty)

Kurt Busch, with a lap speed of 93.014 mph, was the fastest during the first Cup series practice session at Sonoma.

Busch gained the top speed in the final moments of practice while in qualifying trim, but had the second fastest time prior while in race trim which should be a sign that Busch has something pretty strong for the road racing regulars to contend with Sunday.

The bulk of all the top speeds were gained late with drivers in qualifying trim. In race trim, Marcos Ambrose topped the charts for the first hour of the 90 minute session.

Second fastest with a lap speed of 92.559 mph, was last week’s winner, Denny Hamlin, and he was followed by Kasey Kahne (92.546), Kevin Harvick (92.361) and Martin Truex Jr. (92.359).

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were A.J. Allmendinger (92.309) who was sixth fastest, Jamie McMurray (92.298) seventh, Tony Stewart (92.276) eighth, David Gilliland (92.206) ninth and Marcos Ambrose (92.184) was the tenth fastest.

The teams will return to the track for their 6:40 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session this evening, and then they will have two more practice sessions on Saturday (12:30 PM-1:15 PM & “Happy Hour” – 1:45 PM-3:00 PM EDT).

Top-5 Friday Practice Speeds:
#22-Busch 93.014
#11-Hamlin 92.559
#4-Kahne 92.546
#29-Harvick 92.361
#56-Truex, Jr. 92.359
slowest: #46-Pilgrim 89-597 & #38-Ave 89.170.
notes: #6-Ragan ran off course early but was able to drive away without hitting anything. #7-Gordon also slid off track but avoided damage.
This session will set the qualifying order for tonight's qualifying, with slowest out first and fastest out last, all cars, the field is not separated by top-35 in owners points anymore.

Sonoma Practice Speeds


Kurt Busch Comments Friday From Sonoma

KURT BUSCH (No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge Charger R/T) HOW WOULD YOU RATE THE STRENGTH OF YOUR TEAM RIGHT NOW? “I would give us a B-plus. We’ve run really well, consistent. We just haven’t had those break-through performances with a win. Every area of the team is graded. Whether it’s aerodynamics, motor department, chassis design, pit crew. I’d say that we’re an “A” and a “B” in every category, but we end up with a B-plus overall. There are teams out there that are A-pluses in certain areas and As in others. I know that we can be better. Right now, we have a great shot at making the Chase. We just have to continue to grow as a team and make sure that when we hit the Chase, we’ve got an A-plus grade because you can’t throw away points in the Chase. You have to make sure that you capitalize on every moment. Like last week, we led some laps. I thought that we were a fourth-place car. We drove home 11th. Those seven points in the Chase kill you. Seven points right now aren’t so bad.”

CAN YOU ARTICULATE THE DIFFERENCES IN THIS TRACK? “Most oval races, you get into that groove of (turns) 1, 2, 3, 4 and you’re working on a general chassis setup that just goes left. Here at a road course, there’s 11 turns that we count. It’s about shifting gears. It’s about going up and down the hills, turning left, turning right. There’s more of a percentage of turning right here than left, so our primary focus is turning right. Just trying to get the car to balance itself on the short run as well as the long run because you’re paid really well when you run well on the long run.”

Busch taking the run strong in 2009 at Sonoma (Getty)

WHAT MAKES THIS A GREAT RACE ON SUNDAY? “The fact that you get to see cars turning right and left; the whole gist of road racing with stock cars. It’s not the Grand Am series or GT class of cars where they’re spread out. You’ll see guys beating and banging on each other on a road course. You don’t see that all that often.”

WHEN YOU HAVE A BAD RUN AT A TRACK, DOES IT STICK WITH YOU FOR A WHILE? “It just pumps you up even more to know that you were that close and you just need to do one or two things different to seal the deal. Marcos Ambrose will be tough this weekend. We raced hard against him at Watkins Glen last fall and ended up coming out on top. (Juan) Montoya won, we were second and Ambrose was third. We know that we have to race those guys if we want to win the race on Sunday.”

WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER ABOUT THE WAY THAT JEFF GORDON RACED HERE LAST YEAR? “It was an off-day for Jeff. He apologized to a handful of guys afterwards and for some reason (he) pinpointed me. I thought that was interesting because he drove straight through our right rear, gave us a flat and we finished 32nd. You have your bad days. You have your moments of beating and banging. It’s one of those things where the lines keep getting drawn further and further towards the aggressive side here at Sonoma. You don’t see it so much at Watkins Glen, but here, everybody seems to get more and more aggressive at the end of the races.”

WHY ARE WE SEEING MORE AGGRESSIVE RACING HERE? “I’m not sure. We have our cars here that put up a big fight and don’t take the damage as rough as they use to. You can really lean into somebody pretty hard and still maintain your track position.”

CAN YOU DESCRIBE THE DRIVING ABILITY OF YOU YOUR BROTHER? “Kyle does a great job everywhere he goes. Whether it’s the Truck, Nationwide, Cup series, he’s found that success, in the Truck series as a driver and owner. It’s great to watch him put it all together. He’s competitive every week. Whether it’s mile-and-a-half, short track or superspeedway, he can driver at all the race tracks. I like to joke around and say that I taught him too much, he’s absorbed it all and done very well with it.”

WHAT DOES KYLE DO WELL? “Just raw speed. He gets that car as fast as it can be and finding that lap time out on the track.”

IF THERE WAS ONE CORNER THAT YOU COULD TAKE ONE-TENTH OF A SECOND OFF, WHERE WOULD THAT BE? “For racing, I would like Turn 10. That’s the fast right-hander behind the drag tower. If you can get through there quick, that puts you in position for getting into Turn 11.”

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO WIN ON SUNDAY? “It’s a tough battle. You can’t expect to win. You have to go there and give it your best all through practice. Stick with the race strategy and knowing when to pit. When you’re out there racing, there are certain guys you know to race early in the run. Then there are guys late in the run that you know to race. To win here, it’s a culmination of putting together so many elements because we only do road racing twice a year. You have to be able to adapt. Most importantly, the car has to run its lap times lap after lap after lap. Not missing a gear and staying on track and executing the basics are what it takes to win here.”

WHERE DO YOU LOOK TO PASS ON THIS TRACK? “Looking to pass here is tough. There are opportunities to take advantage of other drivers when they make mistakes. I’d say Turn 7 and 11 are your primary choices. They’re two hard braking zones. A big deceleration rate and you can out brake people in these corners. You have to look to pass anywhere when somebody makes a mistake and take advantage of that.”

HOW IMPORTANT IS QUALIFYING HERE? “I think it’s very important. When you start up front and you’re right in that lead group, you’re out of the trouble, out of those double-file restarts where it seems like cheap shots happen. You’re out there just trying to hang on. If you’re up front and can separate yourself from the rest of the group, then life is easier.”

- Darnell Communications for Dodge Motorsports, Press Release

Keselowski Captures Coca-Cola 600 Pole; Driver Quotes Following Qualifying

Sporting News Wire Service

Keselowski captures second pole of his career Thursday at Charlotte

A strong practice session translated into an excellent qualifying run for Brad Keselowski, as the driver of the No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge won the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Keselowski sped around the 1.5-mile track in 28.112 seconds (192.089 mph) Thursday to win the second Coors Light Pole Award of his career, the first coming this past September at New Hampshire. Keselowski edged A.J. Allmendinger (191.693 mph), who will start his second consecutive Sprint Cup points race from the outside of the front row.

Series points leader Carl Edwards, winner of last Saturday's Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte, will start third after at lap at 191.686 mph. Edwards' lap was one-thousandth of a second slower than Allmendinger's (28.170 seconds versus 28.171). Denny Hamlin (191.367 mph) will line up next to Edwards on the outside of the second row.

Jeff Burton (191.245 mph) qualified fifth. Jimmie Johnson, David Reutimann, David Ragan, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Clint Bowyer will start from positions six through 10, respectively. Stenhouse, driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford in place of Trevor Bayne, is the first driver to make his Cup debut in the Coke 600 since Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 1999.

Andy Lally, T.J. Bell, Scott Wimmer, Tony Raines and Scott Riggs failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

Starting Lineup

Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying Notes:
• Brad Keselowski earns his second career pole in his 65th start.
• Brad Keselowski's first pole came at Loudon (2010).
• Brad Keselowski becomes the ninth different pole winner in 11 qualifying sessions this season; Dover was rained out.
• A.J. Allmendinger (second) scored his best start in nine Charlotte races.
• Carl Edwards (third) posted his seventh top-10 start in 12 races this season.
• Denny Hamlin (fourth) posted his best start in 12 races at Charlotte.
• Jeff Burton (fifth) posted his best start since starting fourth in the Daytona 500.
• Jimmie Johnson (sixth) posted top-10 starts in last eight Charlotte races, longest current streak
• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified ninth in his career-first start; he is the 26th driver to make his Cup debut in the 600 and the first since Dale Jr. in 1999.

Driver Quotes Following Qualifying

Ragan won the Sprint Showdown just ahead of Keselowski

DAVID RAGAN ON QUALIFYING EFFORT: “We’re prepared. We know what’s in front of us. Qualifying here tonight is just the beginning. It’s obviously a good tone-setter for the rest of the week and allows us to pick a good pit stall. Hopefully, we can wind up here in the top 10, but 600 miles is a long race. You’ve really got three stages, you’ve got the first 150 or so laps – the middle part while the track is changing – and then when it gets really cool in the evening. We feel like we’ve got a good game plan and we’re ready to go try and win this thing.”

GREG BIFFLE ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP: “The car was pretty good, but it just slid the nose a little bit in three and four. I just chattered the front tires, but I thought it was gonna be way faster than that actually. It’s a long race and we know that it’s cooling down fast, so we’ll get bumped down but that’s the way it goes.”


AJ ALLMENDINGER ON QUALIFYING: “The U.S. Air Force Ford is really quick. I’m proud of Mike Shiplett and all the guys and I think we’ve got a good race car. The mile and a half program hasn’t been our best. We’ve been struggling with it a little bit and haven’t been as good as our teammate, Marcos, and a lot of the Fords, so I thought last week in the All-Star Race we got better. We still weren’t as good as we wanted to be, but we learned some things. We came back here with a different plan to work on setup and, so far, at least in qualifying trim, it was pretty good. That will at least get us in the top five or top six, which, for 600 miles it doesn’t really matter at that point. You just want to start up front and now we’ve got to work on Saturday to make the car better and then stay there on Sunday.”

CARL EDWARDS ON HIS CAR THIS WEEK: “We’re fast and that’s a car that we didn’t plan on bringing to this race. I don’t know if you saw it, but I tore up the other car. This one is fast, so we’ve got a fast Scotts EZ Seed Fusion and it looks like we’ll probably be third. That will be a great starting spot. We’ll get a great pit stall and it’s a great way to start off our 600 weekend.”

“The car is very good. Bob and I were a little frustrated with our lap and then we realized that’s OK to qualify third considering where we were a year ago. I think AJ said it well. We’ve been working hard at all of this stuff and the cars are fast. I think at least one of those Fords is gonna be a threat to win on Sunday, so I hope it’s our Ford. It looks like we’ve got a great start.”

Edwards thinks this weeks car may be better than last week

EDWARDS ON WHICH CAR IS BETTER, COKE CAR OR ALL-STAR: “I think this car might be better actually. I didn’t know that the car I tore up had been torn up at Phoenix and it raced at Martinsville and got beat and banged up there. I didn’t feel so bad after that, but this one that we’ve got now is a brand new car and it’s neat.”

EDWARDS ON WHAT’S GOING ON IN MISSOURI? “I’m really proud to be from Missouri, and I’m extra proud after what I’ve seen here the last week. The whole state of Missouri and Oklahoma and Kansas for that matter, everyone has really joined up and volunteered. There are firemen and first responders and hospitals. A couple buddies of mine took their tractors down there to Joplin and they made a base at a church and they went out and helped people get trees off their houses and gather up their belongings. It’s a tragedy. We’re praying and thinking of them and as we learn more, we’ll know who we can help more.”

MARCOS AMBROSE ON QUALIFYING: “We’re just gonna pay the price. We’re not gonna qualify well. We just didn’t get it right this afternoon when the track was hot and it is what it is. It’s a long race, but every spot counts.”

RICKY STENHOUSE, JR. ON HIS EMOTION AFTER QUALIFYING: “I’m relieved to get this thing in. I knew the car had the speed. Our Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Fusion was fast in practice. Whether I could put it all together was a different story and we were able to, which was good. I didn’t imagine we would have a lap that good, but we’ll definitely take it. I left a little bit out there because we just had to get in. These Wood Brothers guys did an awesome job and I just can’t wait to get in the race on Sunday and just try to make all the laps we can. It’s a long race. I’ve got a lot to learn. That was just qualifying, so, hopefully, on Saturday we’ll have a good practice and a good Nationwide race. Our Fastenal Mustang was fast in Nationwide practice and, hopefully, have a good race and get into Sunday and just really learn a lot.”

Burton looked sharp in in practice and qualifying

JEFF BURTON ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (5TH): “Obviously you always hate to be first in practice and not first in qualifying, but that’s good nonetheless. Obviously we’ve had a tough year and feel like this has always been a good race track for us. Hopefully we can get a good night. It’s good for us to start there and that’s our best effort of the year and that will help us with our pit stall and I’m real happy with that. I’m a little disappointed because we gave up a little bit from where we were in practice but nonetheless I’m still happy with that.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (6TH): "It wasn’t bad. We had a good practice session and a good qualifying session. I would have liked to have been up there in the top three for the optimal pick on pit road but we’ll take that.”

JOHNSON ON WHAT THE KEY IN THE 600 MARATHON? “Well, it’s a long race and a lot of things take place. So it’s tough to pinpoint just one thing. In a compromise I would say that probably the best phrase to use is that it starts in the day and ends at night. And then what we saw with tire strategy playing out through the All-Star weekend, pit road strategy and what you do there might be a big part of this. Fuel mileage could be an issue. So you’ve got to be on your toes.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON HIS QUALIFYING LAP (12TH): “We didn’t back-up the position we ran in practice. It was a good effort. I’m not happy with it. But we did what we thought was right and just came up short today.”


KEVIN HARVICK ON HIS QUALIFYING (28TH): “It is still not going to be great but everyone on our Budweiser Chevrolet team did a great job just getting it competitive. I feel like we are going to be fine in race trim. We just have been off since we unloaded in qualifying trim. We’ll keep at it. That is better than where we were in practice, so that is an improvement.

HARVICK ON HIS SPECIAL PAINT SCHEME: “Budweiser is a big supporter of our troups so we are running a special scheme this week. Kind of our jet-fighter flat black scheme paying tribute to all of those who serve.”


DALE EARNHARDT, JR ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (25TH): “I don’t if it is one of the best cars we’ve had in qualifying. We’ve got this feeling we are looking for. We got closer to it. We’ve been terrible all year long in qualifying and today not much better with the grip and the way the car felt in the direction we need to go. We had a real big wiggle in the middle of one and two and jumped up the track and lost some time there. We are gaining on it. Our car was great today when we unloaded in race trim. We were faster than everyone that was around us. I look forward to the race.”


TONY STEWART ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (22ND): “It was pretty good in one and two. We’ve heard a lot of guys talking about not getting their cars turning down in three and four so I probably turned a little bit early but I made sure I got down and probably gave up a little time there. We made a pretty good gain there. We just didn’t gain as much as we would have liked but there are some guys that were faster than us in practice that we have beat already. Probably going to end up 18th-20th in that range but you have 600 miles. If you don’t get there, it doesn’t matter whether you start first or 43rd, if you have a car that is going to win the race; you are going to win the race no matter where you start. We just have to do our thing.”

Gordon feels pretty confident coming into Coca-Cola 600

JEFF GORDON ON QUALIFYING 11th: “It was a good lap for the Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet team but it wasn’t a great lap. Coming to the green, it definitely didn’t stick the way I was hoping it would. It kind of made me a little nervous. It made me a little bit hesitant to attack three and four like I needed to to be on the pole. The car definitely has got it in it. These guys showed it last week and been showing it today. It is a decent lap. We can do it from there.”

GORDON ON HOW HE FEELS ABOUT THE RACE? “We were feeling good from the All-Star Race, this is the same car that we had there. Obviously in the Drive To End Hunger colors on it this weekend. The car felt good. That wasn’t my best lap. I knew that we weren’t going to be on the pole and you always wish you could do it over again.

“The car is definitely driving really good and we just missed it just a slight bit there. The All-Star Race was great for us. The car was good and we feel like we learned some things from that. I think that we can definitely show that in the 600 this weekend.”

MARK MARTIN ON HIS QUALIFYING EFFORT (13TH): “Our car has got speed but it is playing hide and seek with us. Showed itself a time or two and we’ve been seeking the rest of the time. That is fairly decent. But, you know, there was more there, we just didn’t get every bit of it. Every ounce of it. Last week we qualified a little too loose, tonight we qualified a little too tight. It will be ok. We are up ahead of a lot of good cars and we are going to have a lot of good cars ahead of us.”

CLINT BOWYER ON HIS QUALIFYING (10TH): “I screwed up a little bit getting into three. Got through one and two so good, I just tried to get it all in three and got in there a little bit too hard and it kind of come around on me a little bit and had to wait on it to settle back down so I could get to the gas. Hurt my guys a little bit. But that will be a good starting spot for the big, long race.”

Hamlin and No. 11 team still searching for first win of 2011

DENNY HAMLIN ON HOW IMPORTANT QUALIFYING IS: “We’re by no means a qualifying race team, so that’s a good sign for us and this weekend. I’m looking forward to it. I felt like last weekend there were some minor adjustments a little bit more time on the longer runs — we had a pretty good car last weekend. So hopefully now this weekend we’ll get all these bugs worked out and spun around for our FedEx Toyota team. We’re excited about this weekend and looking forward to getting back to victory lane.”

DAVID REUTIMANN ON RUNNING HIS ALL-STAR CHASSIS: “The guys at Michael Waltrip Racing did a great job getting this car back and turning it around. It’s wasn’t the original plan, but we’ve got a good Aaron’s Dream Machine. Really proud of my guys and happy to have the Armed Forces Foundation paint scheme on the car this weekend so we’re hoping to give it a good run.”

BRIAN VICKERS ON HOW GOOD HIS CAR IS FOR THIS WEEKEND: “I think the car is good. We haven’t run in race trim yet, but we really changed a lot of stuff from last week in our base package coming into this week. So far I’ve been really happy with it. I felt really good about one and two. I missed three and four a little — I just rushed the throttle. I felt so good about down there that I tried to get too much down here. That was my fault, but I think the car is good.”

VICKERS ON WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO HAVE PEOPLE'S PICTURES ALL OVER HIS CAR: “It’s pretty awesome. Just the reception from everyone — from the industry to the fans — I’m on there and I’m excited about it. I’m in the car every week and I’m excited about being on the race car. I literally spent five minutes telling the guys here on the team about my photo on here. If I’m that excited, I have to imagine that everyone else is pretty stoked.”

Kyle Busch wasn't too happy about qualifying effort

KYLE BUSCH ON MEANING OF WINNING COCA-COLA 600: “We would love to win this thing. It’s a long race and that’s where we hope our car will really come into play is 500 or 600 mile mark. Just haven’t quite got the speed out of it today that we’ve been looking for. We unloaded last week off the truck and we were really fast. For some reason, this week we seem to be not being able to find it right now. We’ll go to work tonight, think about it and come back Saturday and make some good changes to it. Hopefully, we’ll have a good happy hour and then go get them on Sunday.”

“When you come to Charlotte, it’s typically the part in the season where you look at where you are. You factor in a little give and take — you could probably be three spots better or five spots worse when it comes Chase time. If you just run steady and do your own deal and concentrate on what you’re doing then you’ll be a Chase contender. That’s where we are right now so we feel good about things.”

JOEY LOGANO ON HIS CAR DURING QUALIFYING (23RD): “We just didn’t pick up what we needed to pick up. At times, we were just a little bit too free through the lap — kind of a four-wheel skate going — sort of the same thing we were fighting all day. We’re going to go back and look at it a little bit and see what we can find.”

- FROM FORD, TOYOTA AND CHEVY PRESS RELEASES

Burton Fastest in First Charlotte Practice Session

Burton had something working well in Q-trim Thursday

Jeff Burton, with a lap speed of 188.580 mph, was the fastest during the first Coca-Cola 600 practice session at Charlotte. Burton looks to capture his fourth win at Charlotte and third Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. His last win on the track came in the fall of 2008.

Carl Edwards was second fastest with a lap speed of 188.029 mph, and was followed by Jimmie Johnson (188.009) who was third fastest, Denny Hamlin (187.970) fourth and Ryan Newman (187.728) was the fifth.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest in practice were Brad Keselowski (187.676) who was sixth fastest, Kasey Kahne (187.624) seventh, Clint Bowyer (187.474) eighth, Kurt Busch (187.461) ninth and A.J. Allmendinger (187.363) was tenth fastest.

The teams will return to the track later this evening for their 7:10 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session, before returning to the track on Saturday (as there is no track activity on Friday) for their final two practice sessions (11:30 AM – 12:15PM & Final Practice: 12:50 PM 1:50 PM – EDT).

Top 5 Speeds from Thursday's 90 minute practice session:
#31-Burton 188.580
#99-Edwards 188.029
#48-Johnson 188.009
#11-Hamlin 187.970
#39-Newman 187.728
#21-Stenhouse Jr. was 12th fastest
slowest: #81-Riggs 180.234 & #37-Raines 181.026

Complete List of First Practice Speeds


Driver Quotes Following First Practice Session

TONY STEWART ON HOW HIS CAR IS FOR SUNDAY: “I think it’s pretty good. I’m pretty happy with the balance so far in race trim. It’s just staying focused on what we’re doing. There have been so many distractions in the last week and a half, and everybody wants to talk about Kansas or something else that doesn’t pertain to anything that we’re doing right now, that it’s hard to focus on it.”

STEWART ON THE 600 BEING A LONG RACE IF THE CAR ISN'T RIGHT: “500 miles is a long time when you’re car’s not right. I’m not sure that we’re practicing in the heat of the day here for qualifying tonight; so that’s why we’ve got Saturday to work on the race stuff.”

RYAN NEWMAN ON THE TEMPO OF THE RACE AND LEADERS BREAKING AWAY: “I think a big part of that depends on the caution flags when you get bunched back up, because you can have a bad run on your second fuel run and be one of the slowest cars on the track if you pulled the lead out and still stay out front. So a good part of it is the restarts because the restarts are so chaotic it seems. But yeah, a team can dominate with or without the temperature change and the track change and everything else. The guy who leads the most laps might only lead 50 of them, you just never know.”

NEWMAN ON KYLE BUSCH SPEEDING TICKET: “My point about the license part of it is if you don’t have to have a driver’s license to compete in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, then, no matter what, it’s DMV (Department of Motor Vehicle) related in my opinion. If he would have clobbered a mail box at 128, then that is a Federal situation. There are different ways of looking at it is my point. If something was to happen to it…it is just a private car incident that has no affect on his eligibility to drive a Sprint Cup car or a Nationwide car. But, to me, it is a very gray area in reference to the police officer and what he did as to how he got away as clean as he did. I think that is probably your judgment question. If it was you running 128 in a 45, would he have treated you the same way? Every officer has to answer that question a different way depending on who he is dealing with.”

Roses are Red, Legs are Blue…, What?

Alternate Title: My First Practice Session on My New Mistress.

No, there is no kinky stuff going on here. Mistress is my new V-Star 1100 Classic. I had just purchased her and had managed to ride her home in one piece. The next thing on the agenda was to get it insured.

I had filled out all kinds of online applications for an insurance quote to find out how much it was going to cost. In my searching earlier that week, I had run across a link to TWFG Insurance Services, a motorcycle insurance broker selling motorcycle insurance in multiple states. They are set up with several different insurance carriers. I had filled out their online email form and they emailed me back a reasonable quote through Progressive. My wife called them and we promptly had the insurance policy in effect.

Now that we had the bike insured it was time to practice riding. I would worry about getting the title and registration transferred over next week. I tossed on the used helmet I was temporarily using, my non-motorcycling jacket and hopped on the shiny V-Star. I was going to head up to one of the local school parking lots to practice, stops, turns, and take offs.

I let out the clutch to leave my driveway giving the bike enough throttle not to kill the engine. I was turning right out of my driveway. There is a dividing island with grass, trees, and regular curbs that starts right at my driveway. It divides our street up from that point on up to the main entrance to my subdivision.

Well, I took the right hand turn a little too wide. Maybe not just a little. Before I knew it, my bike was tracking towards the gutter and too close to the curb of the island. My MSF Basic Riding Course training kicked in about target fixation and I looked beyond to where I wanted to be, anywhere besides next to or hitting that curb. I mean, In the center of the street ahead.

My left floorboard must have just caught the curb. Mind you that I am not really traveling that fast, having just pulled out of my driveway. OK, probably faster than I should have been making a sharp right turn. This is where it got interesting. As near as I can tell, when the left floorboard caught, the front wheel, which is attached directly to the handlebars for you non-motorcyclists, slammed hard left. My hands were no longer holding those grips on those said handlebars. I suddenly felt a sharp pain from my left inner thigh just above where my knee bends. This all happened real fast, in a matter of seconds.

Right after the handlebar bottomed out on my thigh, the gyroscopic force of the motorcycle made the front wheel, with handlebars, whip straight again. Just as they straightened out somehow I managed to grab a hold of the handlebar grips again, gained control, and headed down the center of the lane. If the bike had not had a driver’s backrest I probably would have flipped off the back of the bike. I did the natural and looked around sheepishly to see if anyone had witnessed this miracle. Or, maybe I should call it an embarrassing spectacle.

I continued up to the local school parking lot as planned. I practiced stopping and then taking off right or left like I was at an intersection. Right hand turns seemed to give me the hardest time because the bike wanted to swing wide. I kept practicing until I got it down. I’m sure people in cages driving by that saw me going in circles thought I was crazy. After practicing a good while, I headed back to the house.

I did not think too much more about the incident, other than an aching feeling from my left thigh, until I went to take a shower that night. Most of my whole left thigh was a dark blue, almost black in color. Now I knew why my thigh was aching. A couple of weeks later it was just a yellowish brown in color and my wife saw it and had a fit. I just shrugged it off, and sadly noted how much longer it takes my body to heal, as I get older.


Ride on,
Torch