Aric Almirola tops Friday’s first Cup practice at Vegas
Aric Almirola led the way in Friday’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Almirola, who has finished in the top-10 three of the four races at Vegas since joining Stewart-Haas Racing, posted an average lap speed of 178.654 mph late in the session to top the speed chart.
“I’m looking forward to Vegas,” Almirola said. “It will be a great chance to grow together with (crew chief Mike Bugarewicz) and the new team to dial in communication and get on the same page.
“We already learned a lot during Daytona Speedweeks and I’m really looking forward to seeing where we are competitively.”
Almirola’s SHR teammate, Clint Bowyer, ended up second (178.383 mph) while Ty Dillon was third and the top Chevrolet (178.071 mph). Joey Logano was fourth and Alex Bowman completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 speeds were Matt DiBenedetto, Kurt Busch, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney.
Martin Truex Jr. was the top Toyota in the session and ended up 13th-fastest.
The Toyotas of Denny Hamlin, Truex, Erik Jones, Kyle Busch and Christopher Bell were docked 15 minutes of practice for making alterations to the manufacturer-designed shape of their cars’ fenders. The issue was discovered during Friday morning’s inspection.
Hamlin and Brennan Poole lost an additional 15 minutes of practice due to pre-race inspection issues at last weekend’s Daytona 500.
| Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 |  Aric Almirola |
Ford | 29 | 30.226 | 178.654 | |||
| 2 | 14 | Clint Bowyer |
Ford | 21 | 30.272 | 0.046 | 0.046 | 178.383 | |
| 3 | 13 | Ty Dillon |
Chevrolet | 28 | 30.325 | 0.099 | 0.053 | 178.071 | |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano |
Ford | 32 | 30.330 | 0.104 | 0.005 | 178.042 | |
| 5 | 88 | Alex Bowman |
Chevrolet | 37 | 30.400 | 0.174 | 0.070 | 177.632 | |
| 6 | 21 | Matt DiBenedetto |
Ford | 25 | 30.424 | 0.198 | 0.024 | 177.491 | |
| 7 | 1 | Kurt Busch |
Chevrolet | 27 | 30.470 | 0.244 | 0.046 | 177.223 | |
| 8 | 9 | Chase Elliott |
Chevrolet | 27 | 30.475 | 0.249 | 0.005 | 177.194 | |
| 9 | 42 | Kyle Larson |
Chevrolet | 24 | 30.480 | 0.254 | 0.005 | 177.165 | |
| 10 | 12 | Ryan Blaney |
Ford | 30 | 30.512 | 0.286 | 0.032 | 176.980 | |
| 11 | 24 | William Byron |
Chevrolet | 26 | 30.540 | 0.314 | 0.028 | 176.817 | |
| 12 | 4 | Kevin Harvick |
Ford | 29 | 30.562 | 0.336 | 0.022 | 176.690 | |
| 13 | 41 | Cole Custer |
Ford | 27 | 30.604 | 0.378 | 0.042 | 176.448 | |
| 14 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota | 25 | 30.604 | 0.378 | 0.000 | 176.448 | |
| 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch |
Toyota | 19 | 30.616 | 0.390 | 0.012 | 176.378 | |
| 16 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet | 33 | 30.627 | 0.401 | 0.011 | 176.315 | |
| 17 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
Ford | 32 | 30.677 | 0.451 | 0.050 | 176.028 | |
| 18 | 6 | Ross Chastain |
Ford | 28 | 30.678 | 0.452 | 0.001 | 176.022 | |
| 19 | 8 | Tyler Reddick |
Chevrolet | 38 | 30.711 | 0.485 | 0.033 | 175.833 | |
| 20 | 20 | Erik Jones |
Toyota | 19 | 30.720 | 0.494 | 0.009 | 175.781 | |
| 21 | 38 | John Hunter Nemechek |
Ford | 23 | 30.758 | 0.532 | 0.038 | 175.564 | |
| 22 | 17 | Chris Buescher |
Ford | 26 | 30.796 | 0.570 | 0.038 | 175.347 | |
| 23 | 47 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
Chevrolet | 25 | 30.813 | 0.587 | 0.017 | 175.251 | |
| 24 | 3 | Austin Dillon |
Chevrolet | 37 | 30.824 | 0.598 | 0.011 | 175.188 | |
| 25 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
Toyota | 17 | 30.836 | 0.610 | 0.012 | 175.120 | |
| 26 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. |
Chevrolet | 27 | 30.852 | 0.626 | 0.016 | 175.029 | |
| 27 | 95 | Christopher Bell |
Toyota | 17 | 30.903 | 0.677 | 0.051 | 174.740 | |
| 28 | 34 | Michael McDowell |
Ford | 21 | 30.932 | 0.706 | 0.029 | 174.576 | |
| 29 | 37 | Ryan Preece |
Chevrolet | 19 | 30.985 | 0.759 | 0.053 | 174.278 | |
| 30 | 96 |  Daniel Suarez |
Toyota | 21 | 31.153 | 0.927 | 0.168 | 173.338 | |
| 31 | 15 | Brennan Poole |
Chevrolet | 11 | 31.460 | 1.234 | 0.307 | 171.647 | |
| 32 | 32 | Corey Lajoie |
Ford | 23 | 31.469 | 1.243 | 0.009 | 171.597 | |
| 33 | 52 | J.J. Yeley |
Ford | 4 | 31.633 | 1.407 | 0.164 | 170.708 | |
| 34 | 00 | Quin Houff |
Chevrolet | 15 | 31.864 | 1.638 | 0.231 | 169.470 | |
| 35 | 53 | Joey Gase |
Ford | 19 | 32.080 | 1.854 | 0.216 | 168.329 | |
| 36 | 77 | Reed Sorenson |
Chevrolet | 3 | 32.085 | 1.859 | 0.005 | 168.303 | |
| 37 | 51 | Garrett Smithley |
Ford | 1 | 32.751 | 2.525 | 0.666 | 164.880 |
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