It was another case of the Kyle-and-Kyle show atop the boards as Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch swept the top spots in Sprint Cup Series Happy Hour at Martinsville Speedway.
Posting a lap time of 19.835 seconds, Larson earned the best time after 61 laps on track. Kyle Busch ran the most laps of the day [83] as the No. 18 Toyota was fine-tuned for a Sunday event the reigning Cup Series champion has never won.
Brian Vickers finished third, continuing his strong weekend driving the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Ryan Newman and Martin Truex, Jr. completed the top-5 drivers on speed. Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne (who won Saturday morning practice) and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top 10.
An unfortunate streak for SHR continued into final practice as – with the exclusion of Vickers – Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Danica Patrick all failed to finish inside the top 15. Likewise, Richard Petty Motorsports and their drivers Aric Almirola and Brian Scott struggled mightily. They were 27th and 29th, respectively on the speed charts as that organization continues to flounder a bit. RPM has yet to score a top-10 finish so far during 2016.
Joe Gibbs Racing, meanwhile continues to carry the flag for Toyota. They put three cars in the top-8 times with Busch, Hamlin and Kenseth.
After sitting out both qualifying and second practice, Reed Sorenson and his No. 55 Premium Motorsports entry returned to the track for a 34-lap run. The second team for the organization, making its 2016 debut tomorrow wound up 38th quick out of 40 cars that practiced in the session.
About the author
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.