NASCAR: Biffle fastest in Talladega Friday Cup practice
Greg Biffle was the fastest man on track on Friday as the NASCAR Sprintꦚ Cup drivers ran two practice sessions ahead of this weekend's CampingWorld.com 500.
The Roush Fenway Racing driver set the benchmark time of 47.597s (201.189mph) e♌arly in the first 55-minute session in the early afternoon on the 2.666-mile Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, pipping Stewart-Haas Racing's Danica Patrick to the top spot on the timing screens by 0.134s
Meanwhile Penske's Brad Keselowski was fꦐastest in the later practice when he posᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚted a best time of 48.752s (196.423mph) to put himself ahead of fellow Ford contender Ryan Blaney in the Wood Brothers #21 part-time entry, which has a technical affiliation with the Penske team.
168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:CLI𒆙CK: Full Friday practice times from Talladega.
Much of the early session was spent testing the aerodynamics and practicing drafting. HScott Motorsports' Justin Allgaier was third fastest ahead of Michael Waltrip Racing's Clint Bowyer in a surpr🃏ising result that saw the entire 12-strong Chase field end up outside ꦅthe top ten.
Of the championship co꧙ntenders, the highest pla✤ced were Joe Gibbs Racing trio Matt Kenseth (13th), Denny Hamlin (15th), Carl Edwards (16th). The lowest were Furniture Row Racing's Martin Truex Jr. (31st) and Richard Childress Racing's Ryan Newman (32nd).
The later session saw participation from only two-thirds of the 45 cars entered in this weekend's race. Keselowski's time was set early in the session with a boost from stablemate Blaney. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (He🧸ndrick Motorsports) was third fastest ahead of two more non-Chase names, SHR's Tony Stewart and Hendrick's Kasey Kahne.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick was sixth, just ahead of SHR team mates Kurt Bus🦩ch and Danica Patrick, with Hendrick pair Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon rounding out the top ten. With only 30 cars taking part, speeds were slower as drivers worked more on single-car qualifying la𝔉ps without the aerodynamic boost that they had enjoyed from running in numbers earlier in the day.
This weekend's race is the final restrictor plate event of the 2015 season. It's also the last race be🌼fore a further four drivers are cut from Chase contention, leaving just eight remaining in the running for this year's championship.
Currently at risk o🍌f failing to make the cut for the Eliminator Round are Kyle Busch (JGR), Newman, Earnhardt and Kenseth.
Busch and Newman🅺 still have a chance of getting out of the drop zone with solid performances at Ta🎐lladega - providing that one or more of the drivers above them have a bad day on Sunday afternoon.
Truex Jr. is on the bubble on 3070 points, just six points ahead of Busch. But there are three drivers tied jꩵust one point further ahead, with Harvick, Gordon and Keselowski all sitting on 3071 points and very much at risk if they get involved in an early accident or suffer a technical failure at Talladega.
Any of those at rick of being eliminated can claim a 'Get Out Of Jail Free' card if they win this we🍸ekend's race, which guarantees automatic progression.
Currently in thi꧒s round of the Chase there has been only one race winner with Keselowski's team mate Joey Logano clinching victory at both Charlotte Motor Speedway and Kansas Speedway in the last two weeks.
Logano took the Kansas win in controversial circumstances when he spun long-time race leader Matt Kenseth out while t♛he pair were battling for the lead in the final laps of the race.
Kenseth ended up finishing in 20th place after the incident which is what has put him bottom on the points standings and at risk of failing to make the cu👍t - and it was clear on Friday that he was still seething at Logano's actions.
"Someday he might♋ mature a little bit," said Kenseth, adding that the 25-year-old needed to "stop running 🌺his mouth" about the incident.
"He's lying⛄ when he said he didn't do it🌌 on purpose. He lifted the tyres off the ground, and he's too good a race car driver to do that by accident," Kenseth complained. "I did everything I could do to win the race. He drove himself into the wall twice.
"I wouldn't do anything different because I didn't do anything wrong," 🌠Kenseth added. "I did ev🔯erything I was supposed to do."
However, Logano wasn't backing down in the row.
"I've had time to look at it, and truly I stay true to how I feel," Logano told FOX Sports at Talladega on Friday. "I don't think either one of us is sorry about how it happened. We were both racing hard. He was doing what he had to do. I don't blame him. I don't look badꦫ at him for blocking.
"If I was in hi♏s shoes I'd probably do the same thing. If he was in my shoes, he'd probably do the same 🤡thing as well."
The prospect of an off-track feud leading to on-track reprisals looms large over this weekend's event. Talladega is a notorious 'crap shoot' with the possibility of one of the circuits infamous 'big ones' lurkin🥃g around every lap with the potential to catch out literally anyone and everyone, and in the process ruin more than a few dreams of title glory.
Qualifying for this weekend's race is due to take place at 3.15pm local time (9.15pm BST) on Sa🎃turday following the Camping World Truck Series event, with the 188-lap, 500-mile Cup race itself due to get the green flag shortly after 1.30pm local time (5.30pm GMT) on Sunday afternoon.
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