Race Weekend Central

Brad Keselowski Fastest in Michigan Happy Hour, AJ Allmendinger Crashes

In Happy Hour for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Michigan, Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski set the fastest lap of the 55-minute session.  Keselowski’s lap of 36.474 seconds (197.401 mph) was just under four-hundredths of a second faster than Kyle Busch.

Pole sitter Kyle Larson was third quickest, followed by Joey Logano and Erik Jones.  Rookie Daniel Suarez was sixth fastest, then Martin Truex Jr. and Clint Bowyer.

Jimmie Johnson, using his backup car after his spin in the second practice, ended up ninth fastest.  More importantly, Johnson put in 15 laps on the backup car to help the team see where they are with the car.  Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10.

Larson also had the best 10-lap average in the session, an average of approximately 36.845 seconds (195.413 mph).  Hamlin had the second best 10-lap average, followed by Kevin Harvick (12th fastest in practice), Keselowski and Ryan Blaney (11th fastest in practice).

Right at the end of the session, JTG-Daugherty Racing’s AJ Allmendinger got out of the groove in turn 2 and hit the outside wall before spinning to the inside skidpad.

Allmendinger will be forced to relinquish the 25th starting spot as a result.  Since practice is now complete, Allmendinger will have to start the race with no practice on his car.

Stewart-Haas Racing’s Danica Patrick ran the most laps in the session (37).  However, Patrick was only able to put up the 24th fastest time of the session.

Front Row Motorsports’ Landon Cassill continued to struggle in Happy Hour.  After crashing right at the end of the first practice on Friday and missing qualifying, Cassill has been at the bottom of the speed charts ever since.  In Happy Hour, Cassill ended up 36th quickest, more than 1.8 seconds slower than Keselowski.

FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400 HAPPY HOUR PRACTICE RESULTS

Coverage of the FireKeepers Casino 400 is due to begin Sunday afternoon with NASCAR RaceDay on FOX Sports 1 at 2 p.m.  The green flag is scheduled to drop at 3:19 p.m.

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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