In the first NASCAR Xfinity Series practice of the weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, one of the race’s three defending winners topped the charts.
Kyle Busch, 2013 victor at the 2.5-mile Speedway, Indiana track laid down a 178.717-mph lap to set quick time in opening practice for Saturday’s Lilly Diabetes 250. Busch put down the lap in his final practice run of the day to bypass Paul Menard, who ended the session in second with a 177.845-mph lap. Menard, 34, has one win at Indianapolis, coming in the 2011 Brickyard 400 (Sprint Cup). Menard’s last NXS victory came at Michigan in 2014.
Erik Jones (176.139), Kyle Larson (175.967) and Ryan Blaney (175.654) rounded out the top-five speeds. Rookie Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola, Brendan Gaughan, Brian Scott and Regan Smith made up the back half of the top 10.
Xfinity Series championship contenders Chris Buescher (14th), Chase Elliott (15th) and Ty Dillon (16th) all ended the session outside the top 10. Their cars, along with the rest of the 40-car entry list will return to the track at 2:30 p.m. ET for final practice.
2015 LILLY DIABETES 250 FIRST PRACTICE SPEEDS
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Who’s Rowdy Busch? Is he anything like his brothers or is he a nice guy?
Is there anything more prissy than trying to give yourself a nickname that makes you sound manly? About what you would expect from the schoolyard bully that thinks he’s a tough guy because he can take the little kids lunch money. What a clown.
The only thing thats a bigger joke than “Rowdy” Busch is requiring the XFINITY cars to run this downforce package. Think perhaps it was to help the CUP LIGHT teams get a little more experience? I’m sure the average team didnt need the extra expense.