Less than a week after running the All-Star Race under the nights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Monster Energy Cup Series teams were back on track to prepare for the season’s longest race. It didn’t take long for them to realize the track was in much different condition than last Saturday night.
Thursday afternoon’s practice session was the only one scheduled for the day ahead of qualifying. In the bright sunlight and with VHT having been applied to the high groove (after it had been laid down on the bottom for the All-Star Race) drivers were slipping and sliding throughout the 1 hour, 25-minute session.
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Erik Jones (pictured) paced the session at 192.713 mph over eight-time Charlotte winner Jimmie Johnson at 192.472 mph. The rest of the top five were Kyle Larson (192.465 mph), Denny Hamlin (192.465 mph), and Kevin Harvick (192.150 mph).
Larson, the series point leader, was one of the unfortunate ones who not only washed up the track but hit the wall in Turn 2. The incident left Larson frustrated and confused.
“I don’t know, I just got into (Turn) 1 and went to run my normal line and just got really tight,” Larson said. “Looking at the data it doesn’t show that I tried to run any harder, I just got in there and got tight, never got back to wide open. Kind of half throttle the whole corner and hammered the wall pretty good.
“I don’t know if we’re going to a backup (car) yet or not. But, the Target Chevy was really good before that. Just caught me off guard really … I was a little bit tight coming to green but nothing crazy and I got into [Turn] 1 and tried to run the bottom and almost got to the bottom, I think, and it just stopped turning and went straight and hit the wall.
‘I hate it that they have to work that hard after a final run like that. Good thing is you have a few hours until qualifying starts, but the way inspection goes for qualifying, even if we get it fixed who knows we make it through inspection in time.”
Matt Kenseth (191.891 mph), Brad Keselowski (191.891 mph), Ryan Blaney (191.884 mph), Kyle Busch (191.768 mph), and Jamie McMurray (191.564 mph) rounded out the top 10. Defending Coca-Cola 600 winner Martin Truex Jr. was 11th fastest in the session.
Clint Bowyer also hit the wall in Turn 2 but the damage appeared minor to the No. 14 Ford.
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