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Kyle Larson Completes New Hampshire Practice Sweep

In the third and final Cup Series practice of the weekend Kyle Larson found himself on top, again. A speed of 132.577 mph claimed the top spot, edging out Denny Hamlin (132.549 mph) by .006 seconds.

Those speeds left Larson, currently 15th in Chase points coming out swinging at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Prepping for Round 1’s second race, his No. 42 Chevy was fastest in the first session on Friday and tied for the top spot in the first practice Saturday morning.

Larson’s second lap was his fastest one of the 50-minute session, a good sign for his Chip Ganassi Racing program as they look to keep the third-year driver advancing through the playoffs. He’ll line up sixth for tomorrow’s 300-lap race.

“Our short run speed is really, really good,” Larson told Frontstretch. “I fall off a little bit too much compared to other people, but I’m sure there are some different things to help that out. We’ve made some improvements. In the first practice, I was extremely loose on entry and this one I felt better. The drive off was good. I just get a little bit too tight past the middle of the corner.”

Kasey Kahne was third quick in final practice, posting a speed of 132.489 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth while July pole sitter Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 5.

Martin Truex, Jr., defending race winner Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Alex Bowman completed the top 10.  Chase drivers Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Kurt Busch and Tony Stewart made up positions 11 through 15. 13 of the top-15 times were clocked in by drivers that are championship eligible.

As for the three who are missing? Jamie McMurray (18th), Austin Dillon (22nd) and Chris Buescher (28th) all struggled during this session. Dillon is running a backup car for the first time in his career after wrecking in Friday practice.

34 drivers made at least one run of 10 consecutive laps, led by Edwards (131.663 mph). Chase drivers were also leading the way, making up the seven fastest times in that category.

The green flag is scheduled to wave on New Hampshire’s Chase race shortly after 2 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Click here for final Sprint Cup Series practice results from New Hampshire

 

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.