James Gilbert/Getty Images
Hamlin tops abbreviated Cup Series practice at IMS
Denny Hamlin topped Saturday’s abbreviated NASCAR Cup Series practice for the Brickyard 400 – going fastest with a lap of 182.039mph (49.44s). The Joe Gibbs Racing driver jumped to the top of the board in the final few minutes of the session.
Indianapolis is the last crown jewel race win for Hamlin to add to his resume.
The 25-minute session, with all teams on track, was added to the schedule after rain forced the cancellation of what would have been a full 50-minute practice on Friday. Saturday’s practice will lead right into qualifying.
John Hunter Nemechek was second fastest at 181.781mph, Brad Keselowski third at 181.305mph, Ty Gibbs fourth at 181.076mph and Zane Smith fifth at 180.948mph.
Austin Dillon was sixth fastest at 180.159mph, Kyle Larson seventh at 180.159mph as well, and Erik Jones was eighth fastest at 179.903mph. Carson Hocevar came in ninth at 179.896mph and Austin Cindric rounded out the top 10 at 179.885mph.
Larson is the defending winner of the Brickyard 400.
Cup Series point leader Chase Elliott was 15th fastest, Chris Buescher 17th and Kyle Busch 18th.
William Byron was 21st, Alex Bowman 22nd, Daniel Suarez 24th, Tyler Reddick 25th and Shane van Gisbergen clocked in 26th.
Christopher Bell was 28th fastest, Ross Chastain 30th, Ryan Preece 31st, Ryan Blaney 32nd and Chase Briscoe 34th.
Nemechek was fastest in the best five, 10, and 15 lap average. Briscoe was fastest in the best 20 lap average.
There are 39 teams entered at Indianapolis.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
Read Kelly Crandall's articles
Latest News
Comments
Comments are disabled until you accept Social Networking Cookies. Update cookie preferences
If the dialog doesn't appear, ad-blockers are often the cause; try disabling yours or see our Social Features Support.