Race Weekend Central

Brad Keselowski Fastest in Sprint Cup Practice

On Friday afternoon, the 43 Sprint Cup teams assembled at Homestead-Miami Speedway ventured out onto the 1.5 mile oval for a 90 minute practice session to prepare for Friday night’s qualifying session.  While the Chasers were the primary focus, a non-Chaser was fastest of all.

Brad Keselowski, teammate to championship contender Joey Logano, was fastest in the session with a lap of 30.167 seconds (179.004 mph), which he turned in on his final lap on the track.  Kevin Harvick, fastest of the championship contenders, was second quickest, nine thousandths of a second slower.  Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Danica Patrick was third quickest, followed by Matt Kenseth and Kyle Larson.

Kurt Busch made it three Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolets in the top-10 by turning in the sixth fastest time, followed by Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson.  Chaser Ryan Newman was ninth, while Kyle Busch rounded out the top-10.

While Harvick was the only Chaser to practice in the top-5, Ryan Newman in ninth and Denny Hamlin in 11th were still quite fast.  Logano, unlike his teammate, was a bit off the pace in 22nd.

During the session, there were a couple of issues.  Austin Dillon lost a right rear tire during the session, but kept the car out of the wall.  Martin Truex, Jr. had smoke come out of his Furniture Row Chevrolet, accompanied by a fluid leak.  No word as of yet whether Truex requires an engine change.

Qualifying is scheduled for 6:15 p.m.  The session will air live on ESPN 2 and on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About the author

Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.

Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.

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