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Logano’s Season to Date and Ongoing Slump

Joey Logano started the season strong with top-five finishes in all but three of the first nine races. But following his win at Richmond International Raceway, his season turned south fast.

Logano opened the season with a victory in The Clash exhibition race at Daytona International Speedway. He followed it up with finishes of sixth in the Daytona 500 and a week later at Atlanta Motor Speedway. When the sport went west, he finished fourth at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 31st at Phoenix International Raceway after a late wreck and fifth at Auto Club Speedway.

Back east, Logano finished fourth at Martinsville Speedway, third at Texas Motor Speedway and fifth at Bristol Motor Speedway.

It was at Richmond where he scored his first points-paying victory of the season with a win in the Toyota Owners 400. But a few days later, his victory was declared “encumbered” when, upon further inspection at the NASCAR R&D Center, his car didn’t meet up to NASCAR rules, specifically regarding the truck trailing arm. This meant he has docked 25 points, dropped to fifth in points and the win couldn’t be used to qualify him for the playoffs.

The following week at Talladega Superspeedway began his present five-race slump. He was part of a multi-car pileup on the backstretch with 20 laps to go and walked away with a 32nd-place finish. At Kansas Speedway six days later, he suffered a right-front tire blowout, hooked Danica Patrick into the wall and rear-ended the wall himself, walking away with a 37th-place finish.

Logano’s last three races have included lackluster performances of 21st at Charlotte Motor Speedway, 25th at Dover International Speedway and 23rd at Pocono Raceway.

This slump and the encumbered finish at Richmond has dropped him from fourth in points to 11th heading into Michigan International Speedway. It’s also taken him from a 7.2 finishing average in the first nine races to a 27.6 in the last five.

Logano says this last month has not been fun.

“You have to keep life in perspective a lot of times with what you are doing out there,” Logano said. “One of funniest comments, maybe not the truth but, someone said, ‘We aren’t curing cancer out there, we are just trying to make circles really fast.’ It is something we can fix. This team is strong. We have been through this stuff before. Really if you look at the speed, last week in Pocono we made a step. We had a good second run in qualifying and were ninth. We had a good start, we were running sixth and had a flat tire. Those things have been happening to us. It isn’t just the speed. We have had other issues. We had an issue at Dover where we had a top-10 car.

“We aren’t the winning car like we are used to being or want to be but we have made some progress on our cars to where we have gotten faster since Charlotte. We just haven’t had a chance to show it because we are trying to overcome things. Our car isn’t fast enough to overcome issues that happen in the race right now. If we get faster we can overcome having a flat tire last week.”

June 16, 2017
Larson Fastest in First Cup Practice at Michigan

Kyle Larson topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Michigan International Speedway.

The driver of the No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was the fastest with a time of 35.857 and a speed of 200.798 mph. Kyle Busch was second in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 35.889 and a speed of 200.619 mph. Joey Logano was third in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford with a time of 35.914 and a speed of 200.479 mph. Martin Truex Jr. was fourth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota with a time of 35.983 and a speed of 200.094 mph. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-five in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 36.003 and a speed of 199.983 mph.

Jamie McMurray, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-10.

Busch posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 196.591 mph.

With under two minutes remaining in the session, Landon Cassill rear-ended the wall, forcing him to roll out a backup car.

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June 16, 2017
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Preview-Gateway

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series continues this week as it heads to Gateway Motorsports Park. There are currently 28 trucks on the preliminary entry list.

Since its return in 2014, there have been three different winners at Gateway. Those include Darrell Wallace Jr., Cole Custer and Christopher Bell.

Christopher Bell – In last year’s race, Bell led 38 laps en route to victory. However, his victory was overshadowed by a fight between John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher. Bell looks to repeat this year and win his second consecutive race this year. He is second in the points standings, 40 points behind Johnny Sauter.

Matt Crafton – Crafton has the most experience of any active driver at Gateway. In 13 races at Gateway, Crafton has seven top-10 finishes with a best finish of fifth in 2010. In recent years, however, Crafton has a finish of 21st or worse with three DNFs in the last three races.

Kaz Grala – Grala has one start at Gateway and has one top-10 finish. Grala hasn’t won since Daytona and is looking to secure his second victory.

Johnny Sauter – Never count out the current points leader, Sauter, at any racetrack. Sauter has five starts, five top-fives, five top-1o finishes, and has led 33 laps total.

John Hunter Nemechek – Nemechek has made three starts at this racetrack. In the past two races, though, Nemechek has a finish of sixth or better. Expect Nemechek to be in contention on Saturday night.

Ben Rhodes – In last year’s race, Rhodes finished second to Christopher Bell after starting on the pole. Rhodes is continuing his momentum on a good year with three top fives and four top 10s this season. He his still looking for the first win of his career.

Side note – In the last three races, the winner has come from the top-10 starting spot. With that said, qualifying is important if you want a shot at the win.

It will be an all-day event at Gateway Motorsports Park. There will be two practice sessions, qualifying at 5:45 p.m, ET and the green flag is scheduled for 8:48 p.m. ET Saturday night on FS1.

June 15, 2017
Michigan International Speedway – Did You Know?

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the XFINITY Series will compete at Michigan International Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Gateway Motorsports Park. The Cup Series race will headline the competition Sunday with 37 drivers entered in the Cup Series “FireKeepers Casino 400” event.

Last week at Pocono Raceway Ryan Blaney scored his first win in the Cup Series giving Wood Brothers Racing their first checkered flag since Trevor Bayne won the Daytona 500 in 2011. But did you know that he was the 10th different driver to capture a Cup Series victory this season? Blaney joins Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Austin Dillon as first-time winners this year.

Darrell Wallace Jr. will make his second Cup Series start this weekend, filling in for the injured Aric Almirola. Almirola’s recovery is progressing well and he could return as early as July 14 at New Hampshire. This means that Wallace has, at the least, four more chances to hone his skills in the Cup Series.

Sunday’s race is the 95th Cup Series race at Michigan. The first race at the two-mile track was held on June 15, 1969, and was won by Cale Yarborough for Wood Brothers Racing. He gave them another win in the June event the following year. Yarborough has eight career wins at Michigan but did you know that David Pearson leads all drivers with nine victories? Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth lead all active drivers with three each.

Joey Logano heads to Michigan as the defending race winner. The Team Penske driver started the season strong and grabbed a win at Richmond in April but did you know that in the last five races, Logano’s best finish was a 21st place result at Charlotte? He has dropped from as high as third to 11th in the points standings.

Will we see another first-time winner at Michigan?

It may surprise you to learn that Chase Elliott has the series-best driver rating (125.1) at Michigan. In his only two starts last year, he earned two runner-up finishes. Elliott also has the series-best average finish (2.000), average running position (4.300) and the series-most laps in the top 15 (391 laps, 97.8 percent).

Or will we see another veteran take the checkered flag?

Kenseth has the second-best driver rating (102.2) heading into Michigan and the series-most quality passes with 990. He has scored three trips to victory lane at the track with 14 top-fives, 20 top-10s and one pole. Kenseth is looking for his first win this year to solidify his berth in the playoffs. But did you know that a Michigan victory would tie him with Tim Flock for 18th place on the all-time Cup Series wins list?

Could this be the weekend that Dale Earnhardt Jr. and his team get it together and turn his final Cup season around?

Earnhardt is currently 23rd in the standings. He has the fifth-best driver rating (96.0) at Michigan with two wins (2008, 2012), eight top fives, 14 top 10s and two poles plus the second-most quality passes at the track with 933. A top five finish could bolster the confidence of the No. 88 team as they head into the final 11 races of the regular season.

Thirty-seven different drivers have won in 95 races at Michigan and capturing the pole may be the key to winning it all. The pole position has produced more winners (20) than any other starting position.

The on-track activity begins Friday with practice and qualifying on FS2. Tune into the FireKeepers Casino 400 Sunday at 3 p.m. on FS1 for the 15th Cup Series race of the season at Michigan International Speedway.

In the meantime, check out the video below as Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins the LifeLock 400 at Michigan on June 15, 2008, breaking a 76-race winless drought. It was his first visit to victory lane for Hendrick Motorsports.

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

June 15, 2017
NASCAR Racing Schedule for Michigan and Gateway

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the XFINITY Series will compete at Michigan International Speedway this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series travels to Gateway Motorsports Park.

Please check below for the complete schedule of events. All times are Eastern.

Friday, June 16:

On Track – Michigan International Speedway:
11 a.m.-12:25 p.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS2
12:30-1:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series Practice – FS2
3-3:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – FS2
4:15 p.m.: Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS2

Garage Cam: (Watch Live)
10:30 a.m.: Cup Series
Noon: XFINITY Series

Press Conferences: (Watch live)
9:15 a.m.: Daniel Suarez
9:30 a.m.: Wood Brothers Racing
10:15 a.m.: Jimmie Johnson
10:30 a.m.: Cole Custer, Matt Tifft, Tyler Reddick
1 p.m.: Joey Logano
1:15 p.m.: Kyle Larson
1:30 p.m.: Erik Jones
5 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Qualifying (time approx.)

Saturday, June 17:

On Track – Michigan International Speedway:
9-9:55 a.m.: Cup Series Practice – FS2
10 a.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS2
Noon-12:50 p.m.: Cup Series Final Practice – FS2
1:30 p.m.: XFINITY Series Irish Hills 250 at Michigan (125 laps, 250 miles) – FS1

Press Conference:
3:30 p.m.: Post-XFINITY Series Race (time approx.)  (Watch live)

On Track – Gateway Motorsports Park:
10:30-11:25 a.m.: Truck Series Practice – No TV
12:30-1:25 p.m.: Truck Series Final Practice – No TV
5:45 p.m.: Truck Series Keystone Light Pole Qualifying (tape delayed on FS1 at 7 p.m.)
8:30 p.m.: Truck Series Drivin’ for Linemen 200 (160 laps, 200 miles) – FS1

Sunday, June 18

On Track – Michigan International Speedway:
3 p.m.: Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 (200 laps, 400 miles) – FS1

Press Conference:
6:30 p.m.: Post-Cup Series Race (time approx.)  (Watch live)

Race Details:

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Race: Drivin’ For Linemen 200 – Gateway Motorsports Park
Date: Saturday, June 17
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 8 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 200 miles (160 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 35), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 70), Final Stage (Ends on lap 160)

NASCAR XFINITY Series
Race: Irish Hills 250 – Michigan International Speedway
Date: Saturday, June 17
Time: 1:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 1 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 250 miles (125 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 30),
Stage 2 (Ends on lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on lap 125)

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Race: FireKeepers Casino 400 – Michigan International Speedway
Date: Sunday, June 18
Time: 3 p.m. ET
TV: FS1, 2 p.m. ET
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Distance: 400 miles (200 laps); Stage 1 (Ends on lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on lap 200)

Complete TV Schedule

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

June 15, 2017
Wallace on Cup Debut – ‘I did okay, but I want to be better’

Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. made his NASCAR Cup Series debut at Pocono Raceway Sunday in the historic No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford. There were a few bumps along the way but he characterized it as “a wonderful day for me, a wonderful day for the sport.”

Wallace is filling in for Aric Almirola who was injured May 13 at Kansas Speedway, suffering a compression fracture that will sideline him for approximately two to three months.

Although he said he was not nervous during the race, the emotions of the day caught up to him shortly after getting out of the car when he fainted during a media interview.

“It’s happened three times now where I’m very hard on myself, Wallace said, “and I’m super pissed off at myself, and I’m just so mad I just pass out. Competitive.”

Most of the day’s frustrations were a result of multiple penalties for speeding on pit road which put him a lap down. In preparation for his next race at Michigan International Speedway, the team will focus on practicing pit stops.

“I’m so used to analog tachs and everything, and this digital stuff I’ve got to figure out. I’ll say I’m not a fan of it right now,” he admitted. “It’s jumping around too much. You just don’t get a true feel of what you’re running down pit road. A lot of other guys say it’s fine, so I’ve just got to figure out what I’ve got to do better.”

Wallace also realizes that it will take time to become accustomed to the feel and speed of the Cup cars.

His goal is to become “more comfortable in these cars, having the raw speed. I was figuring some things out, figuring out which tire I could feel out there, and that was really cool, as opposed to the XFINITY car, I was talking to Blaney before, you’re kind of just sliding around, not really in the racetrack. Here you can feel each tire, so I was kind of pumped up about that, so some things to keep in the memory bank and talk at the debrief about to see how we can be better. At the end of the day, it was my first race.”

“I did okay, but I want to be better.”

It was not exactly the race he wanted to run but Wallace is having the time of his life.

“I’ve been dreaming about this since I was a little kid, being in the Cup Series, and now it’s here, and I made a name for myself. I thought I ran a pretty decent race, just kind of running there by myself, passed a couple people, tried not to make anybody too mad, and hopefully earned a lot of respect from those guys out there. I definitely had a blast.”

Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

June 11, 2017
Wreck Ends Day for Johnson and McMurray at Pocono

Jimmie Johnson and Jamie McMurray saw their day end in a violent wreck within seconds of each other just prior to the end of the second stage of the Axalta Pocono 400 at Pocono Raceway.

Johnson was working his way down the frontstretch on lap 96 when he suffered brake failure. His car turned down the track, which he later admitted was an intentional move on his part to bleed off speed, and clipped the grass, before turning back up the track and slamming the Turn 1 wall twice.

Johnson was asked if there were any issues with the brakes prior to the incident.

“No, it went right to the floor and I saw a replay inside the medical center. The smoke, I think, is the brake fluid coming out of wherever failed and onto the rotors. I can only speculate that I got the brakes too hot and when I went to the brakes they just traveled straight to the floor,” Johnson said. “I didn’t even have a pedal to push on. At that point, I threw it in third gear and I was just trying to slow it down. I was heading to the grass and I was wondering why I didn’t turn right and get to the wall sooner, but I’m fine. Certainly, a big scare. I haven’t had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen. So, just want to let my wife and kids and my mom know that I’m okay and I will go change my underwear and get ready to go home.”

He also addressed his move to catch the grass, saying he told himself “if this even happened again I would turn immediately into the outside wall and try to slow myself down, but my instincts, you are looking at the corner, you look at all that real estate to the inside and I pointed it down to the infield. Once I was in the grass, I was like, man, I’ve been here before, I should have just turned dead right into the wall and got to the wall right away. You have a split-second decision to make there. Fortunately, this one turned out well for me, just an exciting ride.”

Seconds later, McMurray suffered brake failure and slammed the wall in Turn 1. His car continued down the track before catching fire on the Long Pond Straightaway. He exited the vehicle safe and sound though, and the fire was extinguished.

“So, I didn’t really even see the No. 48 (Johnson) car wrecking until I just went down and I got on the brake pedal and my pedal started to go to the floor and I had a little bit that I could kind of pump it and I thought I was going to be okay,” McMurray said. “And then, I don’t know if I got into some oil or what happened, but I just started spinning and didn’t have any brakes. So, it was really weird that we kind of both had the same thing happen at the same point on the racetrack, but fortunately, we are both okay and yeah, move on.”

Johnson leaves seventh in points, 163 behind Martin Truex Jr. McMurray leaves eighth, 166 back.

June 11, 2017
Blaney Gets Maiden Victory with Late Pass at Pocono

Ryan Blaney passed Kyle Busch in the closing laps of the Axalta Pocono 400 and held off Kevin Harvick for the rest of those closing laps to win for the first time in his career at Pocono Raceway.

Busch, on older tires, got the superior restart over Brad Keselowski, on newer tires, with 13 laps to go. But while Keselowski posed no threat, Blaney took over second and challenged Busch’s claim to the lead. Blaney used the entire width of the frontstretch to go for the lead with 10 to go, but Busch blocked his advance. He got to Busch’s inside heading down the Long Pond Straightaway, but Busch drove him down to the apron to force him to back off going into Turn 2, which he did. Busch rounded the turn a lane off the bottom, giving it to Blaney exiting Turn 2, who used it to his advantage and passed Busch for the lead on the Short Chute.

He spent the next nine laps holding off a hard-charging Harvick to score his first career victory in his 68th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series start.

Harvick finished second and Erik Jones earned a career-best finish of third.

Kurt Busch and Keselowski rounded out the top-five.

Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10.

Kyle Busch led the field to the green flag at 3:22 p.m. The first stage was uneventful, only broken up by a cycle of green flag stops around lap 14-19 and Joey Logano making an unscheduled stop for a flat left-rear tire on the sixth lap. It came to end on lap 50 when the first caution flew for the end of the stage, won by Busch.

The start of the second stage offered a little more with Dale Earnhardt Jr. suffering an engine failure on lap 58 and Clint Bowyer tagging the wall in Turn 1 moments later, but it then settled into another long green run. The lead only changed during a cycle of green flag stops when Busch pitted on lap 91, followed by Denny Hamlin the next lap, giving the lead to Kyle Larson.

Unlike the first stage, there was a caution during the stage to interrupt the flow. Four prior to the end of the second stage, Jimmie Johnson suffered a brake failure and slammed the wall in Turn 1.

Johnson was asked if there was any braking issues before that.

“No, it went right to the floor and I saw a replay inside the medical center. The smoke, I think, is the brake fluid coming out of wherever failed and onto the rotors. I can only speculate that I got the brakes too hot and when I went to the brakes they just traveled straight to the floor,” Johnson said. “I didn’t even have a pedal to push on. At that point, I threw it in third gear and I was just trying to slow it down. I was heading to the grass and I was wondering why I didn’t turn right and get to the wall sooner, but I’m fine. Certainly, a big scare. I haven’t had a scare like that since 2000 at Watkins Glen. So, just want to let my wife and kids and my mom know that I’m okay and I will go change my underwear and get ready to go home.”

Jamie McMurray slammed the wall in Turn 1 seconds later after also suffering brake failure.

After a 23-minute and 25-second red flag, NASCAR opted for a one-lap shootout to end the second stage, instead of running the laps out, and Larson won the stage.

Busch regained the lead by staying out.

Back to green with 55 to go, he made his final stop of the race with 36 to go. After Martin Truex Jr. pitted four laps later, the lead went to Keselowski, who held it for 11 laps before pitting with 20 to go. The lead cycled back to Busch.

The following lap, Kasey Kahne suffered brake failure going into Turn 1 and slammed the wall, bringing out the fourth caution and setting up the 13-lap run to the finish.

“Yeah, I was going down the front stretch about halfway and the right front popped,” Kahne said. “I had been fighting serious brake problems for a while. So, I’m guessing it had something to do with that. But, it happened in the middle of the front stretch so I just kind of rode the wall, blew my brakes off, rode the wall to the backstretch, which was actually was a very easy ride for where it happened. Just disappointed that happened, that is three weeks in a row we have had issues. Been in the care center and man, haven’t done anything wrong yet, just keep having issues. That is a struggle.”

The race lasted two hours, 48 minutes and 40 seconds at an average speed of 142.292 mph. There were 13 lead changes among nine different drivers and four cautions for 18 laps.

Truex leaves Pocono with a one-point lead over Larson.

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June 11, 2017
Keselowski Swipes Pocono XFINITY Victory

By Reid Spencer | NASCAR.com

LONG POND, Pa. — With a dramatic last-lap pass — the first of the season in the NASCAR XFINITY Series — Brad Keselowski won Saturday’s Pocono Green 250 at Pocono Raceway, ending a 46-race drought for the No. 22 Team Penske Ford.

Keselowski swept the stages in the 100-lap event but couldn’t get past leader Kyle Larson until he reached the Long Pond straightaway on the final circuit. Keselowski powered off the first turn, down-shifted and blew past Larson before the cars reached the Tunnel Turn.

Justin Allgaier followed Keselowski past Larson and finished second, .615 seconds behind the race winner. Larson came home third, followed by Elliott Sadler and Daniel Suarez.

Keselowski’s victory didn’t come without a fight. On a restart with 16 laps left, after a caution for Brandon Jones’ blown left rear tire and a frontstetch wreck on Lap 78, Keselowski was on the inside of the front row, taking the green flag beside race leader Cole Custer.

A push from Elliott Sadler got Keselowski to the front, but Sadler continued the shove into Turn 1. Keselowski sailed high in the corner, narrowly keeping the no. 22 Mustang off the wall.

“I got a good push, but the push didn’t stop, and I found myself in the third lane in Turn 1, which is somewhere you don’t want to be,” said Keselowski, who fell back to 13th in the running order. “I got down there and my rear tires were off the ground and went straight, trying not to back it into the wall. With fewer than 16 laps to get back to the front, Keselowski began to bully his way through the field. He split the two cars of Brendan Gaughan and polesitter Kyle Benjamin, bouncing off both in the process.

By Lap 97 he had reeled in Allgaier, and when the No. 7 Chevrolet slipped slightly, Keselowski charged past and took off after Larson. Then came the winning pass in Turn 1.

“I drove by a bunch of cars and just pushed as hard as I could,” Keselowski said of his closing. “It looked like Kyle’s car was struggling just a little bit and he was getting tight in the middle, loose off. He was doing a really good job holding it low so I couldn’t get a run. Just on the last lap, I got on his bumper and got him loose.

“He was trying to do the side draft thing down the backstretch and all the way down the apron. That had to look pretty cool. Hell of a race. Really happy for the 22 team. It’s been a while.”

When Keselowski dropped back on the final restart, Larson found himself in a surprising position.

“I was not expecting to get the lead on that restart,” Larson said. “Elliott gave Brad too good a push in Turn 1, and then Elliott overshot the Tunnel Turn.”

After charging past Sadler on the restart lap, Larson protected his position until the first corner of the last lap.

“I couldn’t get back to the gas as quick as I wanted to — my car was just plowing — and Brad got a great run off the corner,” Larson said.

Allgaier was disappointed with second place, but he had the consolation of assuming the series lead by one point over Sadler. Those two drivers are light years ahead of their JR Motorsports teammate, William Byron, who stands third, 62 points behind Allgaier.

On the eve of his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut in the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. finished 11th in his last scheduled ride in the No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Mustang.

Wallace finishes his stint with RFR fourth in the series standings, 88 points behind the leader.

Benjamin led 28 laps in his second NASCAR XFINITY Series race – one fewer than Keselowski’s 29 – but fell back to 16th at the finish after the late contact with the eventual race winner.

Race results | Series standings

June 10, 2017
Kyle Busch Fastest in Final Practice at Pocono

Kyle Busch topped the chart in final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 51.305 and a speed of 175.421 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 51.345 and a speed of 175.285 mph. Kyle Larson was third in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet with a time of 51.367 and a speed of 175.210 mph. Chase Elliott was fourth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 51.406 and a speed of 175.077 mph. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 51.414 and a speed of 175.050 mph.

Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne and Joey Logano rounded out the top-10.

Harvick posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 172.442 mph.

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June 10, 2017