CONCORD, N.C. – Kyle Larson led the way during Saturday’s race day practice session for the Monster Energy Open and All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, a hectic one-hour jaunt that more resembled a five o’clock traffic jam than a test of racing conditions.

Larson clocked a best time of 31.159 seconds (173.305 mph) around the 1.5-mile quad-oval on his second of 62 laps during the hour-long practice round. His No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet was one of four Bowties in the top 10 on Saturday morning.

NASCAR officials added the extra block of on-track time due to the unique package being raced during this year’s All-Star Race and the large amount of rain that washed out most of yesterday’s scheduled practice activity.

Three Stewart Haas Racing Fords trailed Larson on the speed charts, led by Clint Bowyer, who was second in the No. 14 Mobil 1/SHR Fan Club Ford at 31.168 seconds (173.255 mph) after running just 39 laps in practice.

Kevin Harvick, the 2007 All-Star Race winner, was third (31.205/173.049) ahead of Aric Almirola (21.218/172.977), who ended the session fourth overall.

Daniel Suarez was the fastest Toyota driver in Happy Hour, going fifth-quick for Joe Gibbs Racing (31.276/172.656).

Darrell Wallace Jr., Kurt Busch, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliott completed the top-10.

All-Star Race polesitter Matt Kenseth was 20th-fastest in the No. 6 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing.

Following practice, Almirola and Joey Logano spoke to the media about the package and the differences they felt racing around other cars in the draft.

Logano called this style of Charlotte racing a “hybrid” of regular intermediate-track racing and the draft style that fans are accustomed to seeing at Daytona (Fla.) Int’l Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Brad Keselowski (2) leads Joey Logano during NASCAR All-Star Race final practice. (Devin Mayo photo)

“It is a hybrid because handling comes into play,” noted Logano. “At Talladega and Daytona, there is some handling, but the cars are pretty trimmed out and you are wide open all the way around the race track. If you lift, it is just a little bit and the corners are so long that you can make different moves in the corners. Here, you are a mile shorter, so your corners are sharper and you may not be going as fast … but the corners are sharper and the drag ducts change the draft completely.

“Those drag ducts have made a huge change in the way these things have been drafting today and the way we (have to) side draft to get around each other. That has changed it a lot. When you add all that up, it does look different, but it’s still not Daytona or Talladega no matter what. You are still at Charlotte. It’s still going to be different, and it is.”

Almirola will start on the pole for the Monster Energy Open and agreed with Logano’s assessment, adding that he’s looking forward to having clean track ahead of him at the start of his attempt to transfer into the All-Star Race.

“The track is so much smaller and the radius of the corners is so much tighter that you can’t run wide open here as easily,” Almirola explained. “You don’t really bog your car down with a lot of steering input at Daytona or Talladega because the corners are so wide and so sweeping, but here at his track isn’t like it is there. It’s a lot more challenging, as you get further back in the pack, to run wide open.

“With less downforce and less air on the car when you get into traffic, it makes it very difficult when you get back in traffic to make as many moves as easily. While we are drafting and we’re closer together and suck up, the straightaways are smaller and there’s less time to get a big run,” Almirola added. “It has to happen quick and you need to make sure your car is handling at that point.”

Jacob Seelman

Jacob Seelman, 24, is the founder and managing editor of 77 Sports Media and a major contributing writer for SPEED SPORT Magazine. He is studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C. and also serves as the full-time tour announcer for the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.

View all posts by Jacob Seelman
error: Content is protected !!