Race Weekend Central

Kyle Larson Tops Rain-Shortened 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 Practice No. 2 at Homestead

The Sprint Cup Series is two-for-two so far this weekend in Homestead. Unfortunately, they’re two-for-two in practice sessions being shortened by rain.

The session itself started about five minutes late due to track drying from overnight rains. Because of that, the session was going to be extended to 11 a.m. That did not turn to out be necessary. Around 25 minutes into the session, it began to spritz rain. At first, the rain was relatively light and lapping continued. Eventually, NASCAR was forced to put out the red flag and cut the session short.

Once the cars got out on track, drivers immediately got to the task of setting down fast laps. With the high tire fall-off seen so far this weekend, almost all of the fastest times were set on the first lap. Kyle Larson‘s first lap of the session, set in the opening minutes, was 30.680 seconds (176.010 mph). That lap held up for the whole session to be fastest of all. The lap was almost 15 hundredths of a second faster than Kevin Harvick, the fastest of the four Chasers in second. Carl Edwards was third quickest, while Greg Biffle and Joey Logano rounded out the top five.

2015 FORD ECOBOOST 400 PRACTICE 2 RESULTS

Ryan Newman was sixth fastest, followed by Jimmie Johnson and Aric Almirola. Kyle Busch was the second fastest Chaser in ninth, while Kasey Kahne was 10th.

Outside of the top 10 were Chasers Jeff Gordon in 15th and Martin Truex Jr. in 19th. Other notables include pole sitter Denny Hamlin in 12th, Kurt Busch in 17th, Phoenix winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 20th, Brad Keselowski in 24th and the returning Matt Kenseth in 32nd.

The session did not pass without incident. Early on, Casey Mears spun exiting turn 2, but managed to avoid contact. AJ Allmendinger was not so lucky. The JTG-Daugherty Racing driver, racing with the late Justin Wilson‘s name above his window pancaked the right side of his Kroger Chevrolet in turn 4.

Final practice is scheduled to be run at 1 p.m. ET with coverage on NBCSN, weather permitting.

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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