Prior to Thursday night’s UNOH 225, the Nationwide Series held their first official practice session of the weekend at Kentucky Speedway ahead of tonight’s John R. Elliott HERO Campaign 300. Much like the truck race that followed, Kyle Busch was again the man to beat.
Busch turned in a lap of 30.905 seconds (174.729 mph) to lead the pack in the late afternoon session. Ryan Blaney, driving a Snap-On sponsored No. 12 Ford for Team Penske this week, was second fastest. Brian Scott was the fastest Chevrolet in third, while Paul Menard and Corey LaJoie, making his debut for Biagi-DenBeste Racing, rounded out the top-5.
In the final practice session this morning, Kevin Harvick was fastest in the Proctor and Gamble-backed No. 5 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports. Harvick’s lap of 30.524 seconds (176.910 mph) was four hundreths of a second quicker than Ty Dillon. Michigan winner Paul Menard, who was fastest in the open test on Wednesday, was third fastest, followed by Roush Fenway Racing teammates Trevor Bayne and Ryan Reed.
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.
