BRICKYARD 400 - Day One Practice

by Tom Beeler

KURT BUSCH SETS INDY PACE WITH NEW AERO

INDIANAPOLIS -RIS- (July 24, 2015) - The jury is still out on whether or not the new, high-drag aero set-up mandated by NASCAR has been mastered by the Sprint Cup teams, but it hasn't upset the usual status quo here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Chevrolet is still the brand to beat as NASCAR returns to the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis oval for the 22nd running of the Crown Royal presents the Jeff Kyle 400 at The Brickyard, aka The Brickyard 400.

Kurt Busch set the pace today with a best speed of 181.987 mph, after which he parked the #41 Haas Automation Chevy.

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Jimmie Johnson, and Martin Truex, Jr. rounded out the top Chevys.

Kyle Busch set the best mark for the Toyotas at 180.621, eighth overall, and Joey Logano was the best Ford at 178.884, 14th overall.

Jeff Gordon is making his last competition appearance in his adopted home state of Indiana this weekend. The five-time Brickyard winner, popular here in the Hoosier state, retires from NASCAR Sprint Cup competition at the end of this season.

Gordon's best in final practice today was 23rd overall at 177.669 mph.

The day's three Cup practice sessions were relatively incident-free.

Paul Menard brushed the wall in the #27 during the day's first practice session.

Denny Hamlin had a bit of trouble in the second session as the hood of his #11 blew up into his windscreen, and shattered, bringing out a red flag on practice.

Timmy Hill lost what appeared to be a tungsten weight at the exit of pit lane in the second session, causing a spin at pit-out. But Hill's troubles were just beginning. Early in the last practice session, Hill lost control of the #98 in Turn 4, skidded, and made hard contact with the inside Turn 4 wall, resulting in heavy damage to the nose of the car.

Daniel Suarez topped the XFINITY Series practice for tomorrow's running of the Lilly Diabetes 250. The #18 ARRIS Toyota topped the list of 40 practicers with a speed of 176.810 mph. Kyles Busch and Larson trailed Suarez in 2nd and 3rd with speeds of 175.466 and 174.907, respectively.

XFINITY Series qualifying begins tomorrow morning at 11:35 a.m. Cup qualifying follows at 1:10 p.m. The 100-lap Lilly Diabetes 250 rolls off at 3:50 p.m.

NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series

CROWN ROYAL PRESENTS THE JEFF KYLE 400 AT THE BRICKYARD
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
July 24, 2015

PRACTICE RESULTS

P	CAR	DRIVER	MFTR	GAP	LAPS	BTIME	BSPEED	BLAP
1	41	Kurt Busch	C	Leader	26	49.454	181.987	26
2	4	Kevin Harvick	C	0.061	35	49.515	181.763	35
3	42	Kyle Larson	C	0.111	45	49.626	181.357	1
4	48	Jimmie Johnson	C	0.181	38	49.807	180.697	38
5	78	Martin Truex Jr.	C	0.007	24	49.814	180.672	24
6	18	Kyle Busch	T	0.014	9	49.828	180.621	5
7	19	Carl Edwards	T	0.036	19	49.864	180.491	7
8	5	Kasey Kahne	C	0.107	28	49.971	180.104	3
9	3	Austin Dillon	C	0.001	8	49.972	180.101	8
10	14	Tony Stewart	C	0.024	25	49.996	180.014	5
11	31	Ryan Newman	C	0.200	22	50.196	179.297	22
12	27	Paul Menard	C	0.090	19	50.286	178.976	17
13	33	Brian Scott(i)	C	0.017	14	50.303	178.916	14
14	22	Joey Logano	F	0.009	20	50.312	178.884	18
15	16	Greg Biffle	F	0.098	14	50.410	178.536	6
16	13	Casey Mears	C	0.105	31	50.515	178.165	27
17	25	Chase Elliott(i)	C	0.019	27	50.534	178.098	27
18	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	F	0.005	19	50.539	178.080	19
19	10	Danica Patrick	C	0.022	23	50.561	178.003	23
20	47	AJ Allmendinger	C	0.021	26	50.582	177.929	26
21	95	Michael McDowell	F	0.036	10	50.618	177.802	10
22	9	Sam Hornish Jr.	F	0.006	28	50.624	177.781	26
23	24	Jeff Gordon	C	0.032	34	50.656	177.669	1
24	1	Jamie McMurray	C	0.016	25	50.672	177.613	13
25	51	Justin Allgaier	C	0.007	25	50.679	177.588	25
26	6	Trevor Bayne	F	0.013	16	50.692	177.543	16
27	20	Matt Kenseth	T	0.007	42	50.699	177.518	30
28	40	Landon Cassill(i)	C	0.064	23	50.763	177.294	23
29	2	Brad Keselowski	F	0.020	55	50.783	177.225	1
30	21	Ryan Blaney(i)	F	0.013	23	50.796	177.179	13
31	11	Denny Hamlin	T	0.018	51	50.814	177.117	1
32	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	C	0.041	55	50.855	176.974	46
33	46	Michael Annett	C	0.191	19	51.046	176.312	17
34	55	David Ragan	T	0.060	46	51.106	176.105	1
35	43	Aric Almirola	F	0.003	19	51.109	176.094	18
36	15	Clint Bowyer	T	0.074	32	51.183	175.840	2
37	34	Brett Moffitt #	F	0.089	16	51.272	175.534	16
38	7	Alex Bowman	C	0.005	15	51.277	175.517	15
39	32	Josh Wise	C	0.201	9	51.478	174.832	9
40	23	JJ Yeley(i)	T	0.099	8	51.577	174.496	4
41	35	Cole Whitt	F	0.090	14	51.667	174.192	1
42	38	David Gilliland	F	0.073	17	51.740	173.947	1
43	26	Jeb Burton #	T	0.122	13	51.862	173.537	5
44	83	Matt DiBenedetto #	T	0.241	20	52.103	172.735	13
45	62	Reed Sorenson	C	1.193	3	53.296	168.868	3
46	98	Timmy Hill(i)	C	--	0	0.000	0.000	0

Tom Beeler

Tom has been a contributor to RIS since 1992. He was invited to join the staff as a full-time reporter/editor in 1995, and has covered IndyCar, Formula 1, NASCAR, Grand-Am, ALMS and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. In addition to his RIS work, Tom has been a contributor for General Motors, Nissan, Toyota and the ACO.