Martin Truex Jr, Kyle Larson pace field during Toyota/Savmart 350 practice
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don Lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
SONOMA-With a new configuration at Sonoma Raceway, it’s very important for Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series drivers to get their cars set up right.
“It took a little getting used to, I’ll tell you that,” Martin Truex Jr. said of the new configuration. “All the visual cues are there, you just don’t have the G-forces, the feeling of the rising and the falling, and all that, so to go out there kinda cold turkey in first practice was a little bit weird. It was pretty hairy in the first couple of laps trying to figure it out.”
Practice 1
In the first practice there was lots of movement.
But, it was Truex Jr., the defending race winner who was fastest with a speed of 95.326 miles per hour.
“Once we were done with practice I really feel like we were comfortable with the changes that we made to our car, and I’m looking forward to hopefully laying down a good qualifying lap tomorrow, and having a shot at winning this thing on Sunday,” Truex added.
The top five for best single lap time was made up of Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Jimmie Johnson, and Michael McDowell.
Alex Bowman, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, and David Ragan rounded out the top ten in single lap times.
Elk Grove’s Kyle Larson had the best ten lap average in the morning session with an average speed of 92.001 MPH.
Chase Elliot, Corey LaJoie, William Byron, and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five in ten lap averages.
Final Practice
After leading the morning session over ten laps, Larson was fastest for most of final practice. Larson won the pole the last two years. Larson’s speed of 95.469 MPH was the fastest of either practice session.
Chip Ganassi Racing had it’s other car, Kurt Busch, finish in second in the last practice of the day.
“We ran a good lap in our mock (qualifying) run today in practice,” Larson explained. “So I feel like I would like to be better in race trim. But if we can get another pole that’d be cool.”
Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer, and Matt DiBendetto rounded out the top five.
On Saturday at 12:10 p.m. the drivers will have their only track time of the day when they qualify for Sunday’s Toyota/Savemart 350.
