LAT PHOTOGRAPHICHendrick Motorsports fielded a fuel-injected car during Thursday's NASCAR practice sessions at Kentucky.
By AL PEARCE on 7/07/2011
Five-time and defending series champion Jimmie Johnson led the first practice session and Kyle Busch led the second on Thursday afternoon as NASCAR prepared for its first-ever Sprint Cup race at Kentucky Speedway. Cup teams had four- and two-hour practice sessions, with five cars equipped with electronic fuel injection taking part in the sessions. Thursday marked the first public on-track testing of fuel injection, which will replace carburetors in the Cup series next year.
Johnson's best lap in the first session was 175.879 mph in a Chevrolet. Chevy driver Paul Menard was second at 175.593 mph, Ford driver Travis Kvapil third at 175.296 mph, Toyota driver Kyle Busch fourth at 175.171 mph and Ford driver Greg Biffle was fifth at 175.165 mph.
Recent Coke 400 winner David Ragan (Ford), Jeff Gordon (Chevy), David Reutimann (Toyota) and Chevy drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin completed the top 10.
At 174.149 mph, Ford driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest of the five drivers testing electronic fuel injection. Mike Skinner ran 173.317 mph in a Toyota, Aric Almirola 172.227 mph in a Chevy, Austin Dillon 172.645 mph in a Chevy and Sam Hornish Jr. ran 173.071 mph in a Dodge.
Kyle Busch and his brother, Kurt, were 1-2 in the second practice session. Kyle Busch ran 178.849 mph in his Toyota and Kurt Busch had a fast lap of 177.936 mph in his Dodge. The Ford of Carl Edwards (177.930 mph) and the Chevys of Menard (177.912 mph) and Ryan Newman (177.830 mph) rounded out the top five. The rest of the top 10 were Johnson, Martin, Gordon, Jeff Burton and Joey Logano.
Stenhouse's best lap of 176.171 mph led the fuel-injected cars in the second practice session. Hornish reached 175.256 mph, Skinner 174.537 mph, Dillon 173.433 mph and Almirola 170.138 mph.
Cup teams will get two more practice sessions on Friday, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and from 1:30 to 3 p.m., and will qualify at 5 p.m. They'll run the 267-lap, 400-mile Quaker State 400 at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
NOTES
-- Bickmeier replaces Fritz at Virginia track: Dennis Bickmeier has replaced Doug Fritz as president of Richmond International Raceway. Bickmeier, who comes from Michigan International Speedway, also has marketing and PR experience at Auto Club Speedway at Fontana, Calif. Shortly after his arrival the ¾-mile track in Virginia, it will add 900 feet of SAFER barrier along the inside backstretch wall. The upgrade comes three months after Jeff Gordon survived a horrific crash into what was then an unprotected concrete wall.
--Last NASCAR race for Canada? The Quebec government has turned down developer Francois Dumontier's request for $1 million in government assistance to help offset a $1.6 million deficit expected from the upcoming NASCAR Nationwide Series race. He asked that Quebec and Ottawa each provide $500,000 to help him stage the fifth-annual race.
According to Isabelle Lord, spokeswoman for Tourism Minister Nicole Menard, “The developer has not satisfactorily proven to the Department of Tourism that it would be profitable for them to invest in the event.”
The ruling likely means that the Aug. 20 NAPA 200 at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Montreal's Ile Notre-Dame will be the country's last major NASCAR event. The Nationwide Series has visited the 2.709-mile road course four times. Kevin Harvick won in 2007, Ron Fellows in 2008, Carl Edwards in 2009 and Boris Said last year.
No comments:
Post a Comment