As Sprint Cup teams began practice for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, Busch made a statement. And it was loud. His best lap at Charlotte was more than a mile an hour faster than the nearest competitor.
MORE: NASCAR goes patriotic | More downforce changes coming | 10 drivers to watch
Qualifying was scheduled to begin about 7:15 p.m. ET at Charlotte.
Busch speed on Thursday: 192.843. Jimmie Johnson did 191.252. The rest of the fastest five: Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Kyle Larson. In all, 13 drivers topped 190.
Sprint Cup drivers should know Charlotte like the back of their racing gloves. After all, they had All-Star weekend to get reacquainted — even though they lost practice time because of pesky rainfall.
But track time taught lessons that will translate to Sunday evening.
“Last weekend’s All-Star event was in essence a test for this weekend,” said Chad Knaus, Johnson’s crew chief. “We learned some important things about tire fall off even though we didn’t get a ton of practice. The 600-miler is a tough, tough race and it takes a lot of patience and some endurance on everyone’s part to be there at the end.”
And while speed is nice, it’s best to remember this is the Cup season’s longest race. Endurance, just like tire wear, will be important.
Here are the speeds posted in Thursday’s practice.
- — non-chartered or open team
