Kyle Busch Rebounds To Lead Final Cup Practice At Watkins Glen
Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett, MRD/CIA
Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17
August 11, 2012
Kyle Busch led the final Sprint Cup Series practice on Saturday morning for the Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen International.
The early Saturday morning practice was added to the schedule by NASCAR after rain wiped out Friday’s first practice session that was scheduled for noon.
Busch spun in Friday’s practice but ran the fastest lap of the field at a blistering 127.458 mph. Busch and 15 other drivers actually beat Busch’s own track record of 126.421 mph set in 2011.
Juan Pablo Montoya was a close second at 127.446 mph behind Busch. Rounding out the top-five were Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose and Martin Truex Jr.
Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Greg Biffle were the remaining drivers for your top-10.
Denny Hamlin was able to make his first laps of the weekend in his backup car and finished 14th.
Qualifying is scheduled for 11:40 a.m. Saturday under ideal weather conditions.
| Rank | No | Driver | Team | BestLapTime | BestSpeed | BestLap | Laps |
| 1 | 18 | Kyle Busch | M&M’s Toyota | 69.199 | 127.458 | 22 | 22 |
| 2 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Target Chevrolet | 69.206 | 127.446 | 15 | 15 |
| 3 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Fastenal Ford | 69.224 | 127.412 | 20 | 20 |
| 4 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Stanley Ford | 69.360 | 127.163 | 14 | 14 |
| 5 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | NAPA Auto Parts Toyota | 69.397 | 127.095 | 21 | 21 |
| 6 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet | 69.527 | 126.857 | 20 | 20 |
| 7 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Lowe’s Cortez Silver Chevrolet | 69.541 | 126.832 | 19 | 19 |
| 8 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Miller Lite Dodge | 69.652 | 126.63 | 17 | 19 |
| 9 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Budweiser Chevrolet | 69.654 | 126.626 | 17 | 17 |
| 10 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 3M Ford | 69.677 | 126.584 | 16 | 16 |
| 11 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet | 69.706 | 126.531 | 22 | 22 |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Farmers Insurance Chevrolet | 69.711 | 126.522 | 20 | 20 |
| 13 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet | 69.741 | 126.468 | 23 | 23 |
| 14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | FedEx Freight Toyota | 69.745 | 126.461 | 26 | 28 |
| 15 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 5-hour Energy Toyota | 69.746 | 126.459 | 20 | 20 |
| 16 | 20 | Joey Logano | The Home Depot Toyota | 69.780 | 126.397 | 16 | 16 |
| 17 | 22 | Sam Hornish Jr.(i) | Shell Pennzoil Dodge | 69.791 | 126.377 | 25 | 25 |
| 18 | 78 | Regan Smith | Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet | 69.905 | 126.171 | 15 | 17 |
| 19 | 39 | Ryan Newman | U.S. ARMY Chevrolet | 70.006 | 125.989 | 24 | 24 |
| 20 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Phoenix Construction Services Inc. Chevrolet | 70.074 | 125.867 | 20 | 20 |
| 21 | *98 | Michael McDowell | TRAQM Ford | 70.117 | 125.79 | 8 | 8 |
| 22 | 27 | Paul Menard | Menards/Rheem Chevrolet | 70.139 | 125.75 | 15 | 24 |
| 23 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Caterpillar Chevrolet | 70.230 | 125.587 | 23 | 23 |
| 24 | 55 | Brian Vickers | MyClassicGarage.com Toyota | 70.235 | 125.578 | 11 | 14 |
| 25 | *95 | Scott Speed | TWD Ford | 70.246 | 125.559 | 13 | 13 |
| 26 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | McDonald’s Chevrolet | 70.334 | 125.402 | 16 | 16 |
| 27 | 32 | Boris Said | Hendrickcars.com Ford | 70.476 | 125.149 | 10 | 10 |
| 28 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Smithfield Ford | 70.499 | 125.108 | 22 | 22 |
| 29 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Miller Welders/Freightliner Toyota | 70.502 | 125.103 | 12 | 12 |
| 30 | 38 | David Gilliland | Mod Space Ford | 70.620 | 124.894 | 19 | 19 |
| 31 | 13 | Casey Mears | GEICO Ford | 70.893 | 124.413 | 3 | 12 |
| 32 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet | 71.195 | 123.885 | 14 | 14 |
| 33 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota | 71.214 | 123.852 | 12 | 14 |
| 34 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford EcoBoost Ford | 71.217 | 123.847 | 5 | 15 |
| 35 | 34 | David Ragan | Scorpion Coatings/Al’s Liners Ford | 71.290 | 123.72 | 21 | 21 |
| 36 | *87 | Joe Nemechek(i) | Genny Light/AM/FM Energy Toyota | 71.322 | 123.665 | 12 | 12 |
| 37 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota | 71.719 | 122.98 | 13 | 13 |
| 38 | 10 | JJ Yeley | Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet | 71.909 | 122.655 | 3 | 3 |
| 39 | *33 | Stephen Leicht # | LittleJoesAuto.com Chevrolet | 72.302 | 121.988 | 5 | 14 |
| 40 | *26 | Josh Wise # | MDS Transport Ford | 72.954 | 120.898 | 2 | 4 |
| 41 | *19 | Chris Cook | Plinker Tactical Toyota | 75.124 | 117.406 | 1 | 1 |
Posted: August 11th, 2012
Categories: Featured, Nascar Sprint Cup Series.
Tags: Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, marcos ambrose, Martin Truex Jr., Watkins Glen International
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