Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Category: RC NASCAR Cup

Race Central NASCAR Cup Series news and information

  • Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Truex Fastest at Watkins Glen in First Sprint Cup Practice

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Watkins Glen International.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 1:09.513 and a speed of 126.883 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 1:09.810 and a speed of 126.343 mph. Casey Mears was third in his No. 13 Germain Racing Chevrolet with a time of 1:10.058 and a speed of 125.896 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.193 and a speed of 125.654 mph. Kyle Busch rounded out the top-five in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 1:10.199 and a speed of 125.643 mph.

    Joey Logano was sixth in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Brad Keselowski was seventh in his No. 2 Penske Ford. AJ Allmendinger was eighth in his No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch was ninth in his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Kyle Larson rounded out the top-10 in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    Keselowski posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 124.223 mph. Edwards was second at an average speed of 124.194 mph. Ryan Blaney, whose fastest single lap was 25th fastest, was third at an average speed of 123.401 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1622_PRAC1.pdf”]

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Watkins Glen

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Watkins Glen

    The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series travel to Watkins Glen this weekend while the Camping World Truck Series is off. Please check below for the complete schedule of events.

    All times are Eastern.

    Thursday, Aug. 4:

    On-Track:
    1-2:25 p.m.: XFINITY Series First Practice  
    3:30-4:55 p.m.: XFINITY Series Second Practice  

    Friday, Aug. 5:

    On-Track:
    10-10:55 a.m.: XFINITY Series Final Practice – NBCSN
    12:30-1:55 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series First Practice – NBCSN
    3-4:25 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Final Practice – NBCSN
    4:45 p.m.: XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – NBCSN

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    9:30 a.m.: XFINITY Series
    Noon: Sprint Cup Series

    Press Conferences: (Watch live)
    10:45 a.m.: Chris Buescher
    11:15 a.m.: Chase Elliott
    Noon: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
    2:05 p.m.: Carl Edwards
    6 p.m..: Post-XFINITY Series Qualifying (time approx.)

    Saturday , Aug. 6: 

    On Track:
    12:15 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – CNBC
    2 p.m.: XFINITY Series Zippo 200 at The Glen (82 laps, 200.9 miles) – CNBC
    Radio: MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Press Conferences:
    1:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Qualifying (time approx.)
    4:30 p.m.: Post-XFINITY Race (time approx.)

    Sunday, Aug. 7: 

    On-Track:
    2:30 p.m.: Sprint Cup Series Cheez-It 355 at The Glen (90 laps, 220.5 miles) – USA
    Radio: MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

    Press Conferences:
    5:30 p.m.: Post-Sprint Cup Race (time approx.)

     

    Complete NASCAR TV Schedule

     

    Sprint Cup Race Notes via NASCAR:

    Mr. Versatility – Logano Readies To Display Road-Course Prowess Once Again

    Joey Logano showed he can race on any type of track last year when he swept the Watkins Glen International NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and XFINITY Series contests. In addition to his Sprint Cup Series road-course win last year, he also visited Victory Lane at a short track (Bristol), two restrictor-plate tracks (Daytona and Talladega) and two 1.5-mile ovals.

    He returns to Watkins Glen – which features a new racing surface this season – with his sights set on two more victories.

    Logano has finished seventh or better in four of his last five starts at Watkins Glen: fifth in 2011, 32nd in 2012, seventh in 2013, sixth in 2014 and first in 2015.

    In his last two starts at NASCAR’s other road course – Sonoma Raceway – Logano has finished fifth (2015) and third (2016).

    The Middletown, Connecticut native has exhibited good form lately with seven top 10s in his last nine starts, including five top fives. On the season, Logano has one win, eight top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in 21 starts.

     Chase Crasher – Allmendinger All-In At The Glen

    AJ Allmendinger knows he has to follow Rule number 76 this weekend – “No excuses. Play like a champion.”

    Allmendinger crashed the Chase with a win at Watkins Glen International in 2014 and will try to do it again in 2016 with a visit to Victory Lane in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. The road-course ace realizes he won’t have a better opportunity to take a checkered flag the rest of the season.

    In seven career starts at Watkins Glen International, Allmendinger owns one win, two top fives, four top 10s and an average finish of 10.1.

    Beast At The Glen – Track Record-Holder Stewart Goes For Sixth Win At Watkins Glen International

    Tony Stewart owns the track wins record at Watkins Glen International with five victories. He hasn’t crossed the finish line first there since 2009, but will attempt to add his sixth track win in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    In addition to his five wins, Stewart boasts seven top-two, and 10 top-10 finishes at the Central New York road course. From 2002-09, he finished worse than second at Watkins Glen International only once (11th in 2003).

    The rejuvenated Stewart has more top fives and one less top 10 through 13 starts this year than in his last two seasons combined. He has four top-five finishes in his last six races.

    Gordon Prepares For 800th Start, Fifth Win At The Glen

    Jeff Gordon will make his 800th career start – and his third consecutive race in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr. – in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    Gordon will be the ninth driver to make his 800th start, joining: Richard Petty (1,185), Ricky Rudd (906), Terry Labonte (890), Dave Marcis (883), Mark Martin (882), Kyle Petty (829), Bill Elliott (828) and Darrell Waltrip (809).

    A win on Sunday would tie Gordon with Tony Stewart for the Watkins Glen track record for victories with five. In 23 starts at the Central New York road course, he claims four wins, six top fives and nine top 10s. The Hendrick Motorsports driver is NASCAR’s all-time leader in road-course wins with nine.

    Following Watkins Glen, Gordon will make at least one more start for Earnhardt, at Bristol. Gordon has placed 13th at Indianapolis and 27th at Pocono as a sub for Earnhardt the last two races.

    Kenseth Set To Make 600th Start

    Matt Kenseth will make his 600th career start in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

    For his career, Kenseth boasts 38 wins (tied for 19th in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history), 167 top fives, 299 top 10s, 17 poles and 10,851 laps led.

    At Watkins Glen, Kenseth has one top five and six top 10s in 16 starts. He did finish fourth at Watkins Glen last year and ninth in 2014, but has only led three laps there.

    This season, Kenseth is one of five drivers with multiple wins (Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Jimmie Johnson). He has two wins, four top fives, nine top 10s and a 14.1 average finish.

    Five More Clinch Chase Spot

    Though their spots were all but assured as is because of a race win, five drivers clinched spots in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup at Pocono. They are Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Martin  Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin.

    Boardwalk Empire’s Jack Huston To Serve As Official Pace Car Driver

    Jack Huston, star of the upcoming action adventure “Ben-Hur” from Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures will drive the 2016 Toyota Camry Pace Car to kick off Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at The Glen. Mark Burnett and Roma Downey – who are working with NASCAR on a scripted television series – are executive producers of “Ben-Hur”. Huston previously starred for four seasons on Boardwalk Empire and played mobster Pete Musane in “American Hustle.”

     

  • Bad Day for Truex at Pocono

    Bad Day for Truex at Pocono

    What started as a strong weekend for Martin Truex Jr. ended in disaster pretty fast.

    After scoring the pole and posting the fastest time in final practice, the driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota had high hopes going into Pocono Raceway. He started off strong by leading the first 16 laps.

    But when the race restarted on lap 20, his day went downhill. He suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in Turn 2.

    “A lug nut bounced off the ground, fell in behind the wheel behind a pit stop,” Truex said. “It’s just bad luck honestly. I knew something wasn’t right in (turn) one and two and I got real tight off of two on that restart and went down the back and was like, ‘Ah, it feels okay.’ And, as I got closer to the tunnel turn I felt it start to go down and by the time I let off and tried to slow down it was just going straight for the fence.”

    This would be a recurring trend for the rest of his day as he cut his left-front and made an unscheduled stop on lap 41 and cut another tire down around lap 100. He retired from the race and finished 38th.

    He leaves Long Pond, Pennsylvania eighth in points trailing Kevin Harvick by 132.

  • Chris Buescher Gambles to Score First Career Win at Pocono

    Chris Buescher Gambles to Score First Career Win at Pocono

    Eight days after earning a career-best finish at the Brickyard, Chris Buescher opted to play the weather card in the closing stages to win Monday’s weather-shortened Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway.

    After coming off a career-best 14th place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford stayed out hoping for a late caution. He got his wish and scored the victory in the Pennsylvania 400.

    “That’s pretty awesome,” Buescher said in victory lane. “Wild circumstances here at Pocono. This is gonna change our whole year right here, so this puts us in a good situation where we had a good day. It was a lot of fun. The guys really toughed it out. We got a flat tire, but we’re headed in the right direction now, so that will help in points. We got a win here, so we’ll take it any way we can get it.

    “Yes, we’ve been definitely headed in the right direction,” he added on his team’s performance. “The last six or seven weeks have been really good for us. Kentucky was gonna be excellent for us, but is just didn’t play out. It’s pretty awesome to be here right now. I don’t know what to do right now. We don’t have any of the team here right now. The car is out on pit road. This is a little different way to celebrate.”

    It’s his first career win in 27 Sprint Cup Series starts, first top-10 finish both of the season and at Pocono Raceway. He’s the first non-Penske Ford driver to win a race since Aric Almirola at Daytona in July of 2014, the first reigning NASCAR XFINITY Series champion to win a race in the Sprint Cup Series since Brad Keselowski in 2011, the first ARCA Series champion to win in the Sprint Cup Series since Benny Parsons and the first Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender to win a race since Joey Logano at New Hampshire in 2009.

    He’s also the 80th different driver to win a race for Ford.

    Keselowski led eight laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford.

    “Probably five more laps and I think we would have been in great shape, but that’s the way it goes,” Keselowski said. “We had really good speed on the green flag pit stop cycle, which got us in a position to take over the lead and hopefully control the race, but there’s nothing you can do about the fog rolling in.

    “It’s been an interesting weekend here in Pocono. It’s been a lot of fun. I’m really proud of everybody on this Alliance Truck Parts Fusion team.”

    He also took time to congratulate the race winner.

    “I just told him (Chris Buescher) that if I couldn’t win it was cool to see him win,” he said in the media center. “I told him, ‘I can only imagine what’s going through your head right now.’ Just those kind of things. I think he was excited, but he’s kind of the humble, quiet, excited type of guy.”

    It’s his 13th top-10 finish of 2016 and seventh in 14 starts at Pocono.

    Regan Smith rounded out the podium in his No. 7 Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet.

    “It’s been a strange weekend really weather wise,” Smith said of the race. “There were times yesterday I thought we were going to get to race and the track had like a pond underneath it apparently. I’m just proud of Tommy (Baldwin) and then the guys on the box for kind of realizing there was opportunity for a strategy play there. We have had a decent run today. We were a lot better than we were last time here.”

    It’s his second top-10 finish in 11 starts at Pocono.

    Kevin Harvick led seven laps on his way to a fourth-place finish in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    “Our Mobil 1 Chevy has been really fast,” Harvick said. “Obviously, we had one caution come out at the wrong time and the fog here at the end; I felt like we were in a pretty good spot running down to (Turn) 2 and here comes the fog. That’s kind of the way that things have gone this year. It seems like when we have a really fast car we just have some weird circumstances, and today would fall right into that category if they called it right now.”

    Tony Stewart rounded out the top-five in his No. 14 SHR Chevrolet.

    “Well, I’m pretty happy with it,” Stewart said. “I’m not sure. I think we can gain a couple of spots, but I’m not sure that we might not go back a couple spots. We might average out at the end. If we end up fifth I’m pretty happy with this today.”

    Kyle Larson led 37 laps on his way to a sixth-place finish in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Denny Hamlin finished seventh in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

    “My car was pretty fast,” Hamlin said of his Camry. “It’s fast by itself for a few laps and then we lose a little bit of speed, but I think we had a top-three or four car.”

    Carl Edwards finished eighth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Kyle Busch led one lap on his way to a ninth-place finish in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Kurt Busch, who dropped to the rear of the field at the start of the race for unapproved adjustments, rounded out the top-10 in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. He set a new NASCAR record of finishing all laps in the first 21 races of the season.

    “It’s nice to be in position to have completed all the laps,” Busch said of the record. “That is done with a lot of team work. It’s not just one person. It starts at the shop with the quality of cars and congratulations to everybody that has helped be part of this sequence. All-in-all we are finishing on the lead lap, we are finishing top 10 every week. We just know that we need to find a little bit more to be competitive once the Chase starts. All-in-all I can’t say thank you enough to everybody on the No. 41 SHR car.”

    Ryan Newman, who led one lap, finished 12th. Austin Dillon, who led three laps, finished 13th. AJ Allmendinger, who led one lap, finished 14th. Greg Biffle, who led 14 laps, finished 25th. Joey Logano, who led a race-high of 38 laps, finished 37th. Martin Truex Jr., who started on the pole and led 16 laps, was caught up in an early accident and eventually retired from the race in 38th.

    Twenty-eight cars finished the race on the lead lap and 37 were running at the finish.

    The race lasted two hours, 42 minutes and 15 seconds at an average speed of 127.581 mph. There were 19 lead changes among 11 different drivers and seven cautions for 31 laps.

    Harvick leaves with a 22-point lead over Keselowski in the drivers points standings. Race winner Buescher leaves trailing the 30th-place Chase cutoff by six points.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/C1621_UNOFFRES.pdf”]

  • Pennsylvania 400 Postponed to Monday

    Pennsylvania 400 Postponed to Monday

    It may seem like déjà vu, but we’re racing at Pocono on a Monday for a second time this season.

    NASCAR has postponed the Pennsylvania 400 to tomorrow at 11 a.m. due to rain showers. The track was about dry and track officials were dealing with weepers (water coming up out of the track surface) when the skies opened up.

    The amount of time it would have taken to dry the track again, forecasts for more rain and an 8 p.m. sunset forced NASCAR to push the start of tomorrow’s Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono Raceway to Monday.

    This is the 39th time a race has been pushed from its original date for rain, the second time a race has been pushed to Monday this season and the first time in NASCAR history that two races at the same track have been postponed by rain in the same season.

    Coverage of the race will resume tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. on NBCSN and at 10:45 on MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The green flag is scheduled to drop at 11:07.

  • Truex Fastest in Final Practice at Pocono

    Truex Fastest in Final Practice at Pocono

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in final Sprint Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 51.027 and a speed of 176.377 mph. Brad Keselowski was second in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford with a time of 51.097 and a speed of 176.136 mph. Kevin Harvick was third in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 51.133 and a speed of 176.012 mph. Kurt Busch was fourth in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet with a time of 51.159 and a speed of 175.922 mph. Chase Elliott rounded out the top-five in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a time of 51.176 and a speed of 175.864 mph.

    Kyle Busch was sixth in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Kyle Larson was seventh in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Paul Menard was eighth in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was ninth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota. Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top-10 in his No. 48 HMS Chevrolet.

    Truex posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 174.625 mph. Austin Dillon, who’s fastest single lap was 11th fastest, was second at an average speed of 174.442 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/C1621_PRACFINAL.pdf”]

  • Almirola says he’s a proponent of a pit speed limiter for the cars

    Almirola says he’s a proponent of a pit speed limiter for the cars

    Aric Almirola says he’s in favor of a mechanism that forces cars to run no faster than pit road speed on pit road.

    During his media availability at Pocono Raceway earlier today, the driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford elaborated on how he’d like to see NASCAR implement a device on cars that forces the cars to run just pit road speed on pit road.

    “I’ve long been a proponent for some sort of mechanism that we can have in the car that just causes us to go pit road speed,” he said. “If they’re that worried about us getting an advantage between timing lines and things like that, why don’t they just make us all go pit road speed like every other form of racing has. I think it would be safer. I think it would give us the opportunity to actually look out of our windshields because, like I said, every driver coming down pit road – that’s why you see it a lot, if somebody checks up to get in their pit box you, you see cars stack up on pit road.”

    This discussion came about after NASCAR implemented more timing zones on pit road to prevent teams from accelerating into their pit stalls to take advantage of the time over distance formula used to calculate pit speed and to prevent cars from illegally passing one another on pit road. The extra timing zones were first used during last week’s XFINITY Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. There were 12 zones, roughly one for every 3.5 stalls, used during the race.

    For this weekend’s race at Pocono, 18 zones – up from 10 in June – will be utilized, nearly one for every two stalls. Almirola was also asked what effect the zones will have on the race tomorrow.

    “It forces us to be a lot more mindful of our tach,” he added. “You have to realize and something I think a lot of people don’t understand and don’t realize is that our dash is mounted low in the race cars, so when we’re going down pit road we have to look down at our dash to make sure that we’re keeping our pit road speed at an optimal speed. We want to go fast enough to make time on pit road. You don’t want to go too slow because then you give up time to your competitors, and if you go just 100 RPM too fast you’re speeding and then you get a penalty.”

    He addressed how drivers are now focusing more on the dash and less on what’s ahead.

    “So we’re really focused and concentrating on looking down at our dash and not really looking up at all until our spotters and crew chiefs tell us we’re five away or 10 away, and then you kind of look up but at the same time make sure you’re maintaining a pit road speed,” he said.

    “Before, with the timing lines being so far apart, you kind of had some leeway to where if you are supposed to be running one red light and you happen to flash two or three red lights, which would be speeding, you had an opportunity to kind of slow back down and slow back down to a few green lights and get the time between those segments back to where you wouldn’t be speeding. Now, with the timing lines closer together, if you just get a little bit greedy or you look up to see where your pit stall is at and you creep up your rpms a little bit, you’re gonna get a speeding penalty.”

  • Jeff Gordon: ‘I will be here as long as they need me’

    Jeff Gordon: ‘I will be here as long as they need me’

    Jeff Gordon says he “will be here as long as they need me” for Dale Earnhardt Jr.

    Speaking in his weekly media availability at Pocono Raceway, the substitute driver of the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was asked how long he’s prepared to fill in for Earnhardt and if there’s a plan in place for next week at Watkins Glen International.

    “Well, we have to cross that bridge when we get there. It seems like… it was great last Friday to see him (Dale Earnhardt Jr.) say ‘hey I feel good today and made some progress.’ We want to just keep going with how he is feeling.  The doctors are evaluating.  I’m not speculating anything at this time.”

    Earnhardt has been sidelined with concussion-like symptoms since the week leading into the New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Last Friday, he took to Twitter to give an update on his status, saying “Today is the 1st day in many that I sensed improvement. Seen small gains during my physical therapy as well. Light at the end of the tunnel.”

    During his absence, his ride has been driven by Alex Bowman at Loudon and Gordon at Indianapolis. Both Earnhardt and Gordon praised Bowman for his drive at Loudon.

    “The result will not show what a great job and the gang did this weekend. Proud of them guys,” Earnhardt said on Twitter following the race at New Hampshire.

    “I thought Alex Bowman did an excellent job at New Hampshire,” Gordon said. “I tell you after going through what I went through at Indy I have a much greater appreciation for him because that was one of the toughest things I ever did. Not just getting in the race car after eight months, but trying to fill-in for Dale Earnhardt, Jr. knowing the kind of attention that it gets. My heart was beating out of my chest because of the pressure and the eyes that were on you as much as just not being in the car. Great job to Alex.”

    He described his role as “a balance between trying to make this transition. First of all, you want Dale to have the comfort of knowing that somebody is there for him. He doesn’t have to worry about that aspect of it through this process. Just get well at the pace that is the right pace to do it. So, nobody is putting any pressure or time frame on that. He may be putting that on himself more than anybody else. Then there is the side of who is the best person to be in the car to get the most points. And then there is the sponsorship side of it as well. So far from what Rick (Hendrick) is telling me that seems to be me. That is why I was at Indy and that is why I’m here.”

  • Truex Nabs the Pole at Pocono

    Truex Nabs the Pole at Pocono

    Martin Truex Jr. will lead the field to the green flag on Sunday at Pocono Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota scored the pole for the Pennsylvania 400 after posting a time of 50.211 and a speed of 179.244 mph.

    “Feeling great,” Truex said of his feelings on getting the pole position. “It’s exciting for us, you know anytime you win anything in this series it’s a big deal. Getting a pole today is awesome. We had a game plan coming here that we felt like we needed to qualify well to have a shot at winning on Sunday and we were able to do so today was a success.”266

    It’s his 10th career pole in 390 Sprint Cup Series starts, the third of the season, first in 22 starts at Pocono and his 14th top-10 start of 2016.

    Carl Edwards will start second in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota after posting a time of 50.315 and a speed of 178.873 mph.

    ““I guess the thing I’m most grateful for about the lap is coming across the line I had the urge because it was such a good lap to say something on the radio like, ‘That’s it. That’s the pole.’ I’ve got to brag a little bit but it wasn’t good enough so I’m glad I didn’t say that,” Edwards said of his qualifying run. “My lap was awesome and Martin’s lap was spectacular so congrats to them. We have a very fast race car and all three rounds went really well and I’m really looking forward to the race.”

    Paul Menard will start third in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet after posting a time of 50.372 and a speed of 178.671 mph.

    Menard said afterwards that he has “had a rough year. We are not where we expected to be and need to be in points, so we had to make a change. Danny (Stockman) came in here and gave us a good car right off the truck. We stuck in qualifying trim all day. We know we have to improve our qualifying that just starts your race off way better. A good way to start it off.”

    Denny Hamlin will start fourth in his No. 11 JGR Toyota after posting a time of 50.409 and a speed of 178.540 mph. Ryan Newman will round out the top-five starters in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet after posting a time of 50.439 and a speed of 178.433 mph.

    Tony Stewart will start sixth in his No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski will start seventh in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Chase Elliott will start eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Matt Kenseth will start ninth in his No. 20 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano will round out the top-10 in his No. 22 Penske Ford.

    Kyle Larson will start 11th in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Austin Dillon will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet.

    Forty cars attempted to qualify. So no driver was sent home.

    Twenty-two Chevrolet’s, 11 Ford’s and seven Toyota’s will comprise the 40-car field for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 400.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/C1621_STARTROW.pdf”]

  • Menard fastest in first practice

    Menard fastest in first practice

    Paul Menard topped the chart in first Sprint Cup Series practice at Pocono Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 50.722 and a speed of 177.438 mph. Denny Hamlin was second in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 50.731 and a speed of 177.406 mph. Kyle Busch was third in his No. 18 JGR Toyota with a time of 50.842 and a speed of 177.019 mph. Carl Edwards was fourth in his No. 19 JGR Toyota with a time of 50.854 and a speed of 176.977 mph. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet with a time of 50.957 and a speed of 176.620 mph.

    Martin Truex Jr. was sixth in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota. Joey Logano was seventh in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford. Chase Elliott was eighth in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Ryan Newman was ninth in his No. 31 RCR Chevrolet. Austin Dillon rounded out the top-10 in his No. 3 RCR Chevrolet.

    Danica Patrick, who’s fastest single lap was 23rd fastest, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 171.094 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was second at an average speed of 167.161 mph.

    [pdf-embedder url=”http://www.speedwaymedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/C1621_PRAC1.pdf”]