Hendrick teammates lead NASCAR Cup practice at Sonoma

Larson, last season’s race winner at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, topped the Group B practice Saturday with an average lap speed of 90.423 mph.

Elliott – the current active Cup driver with the most road course wins – came in second in the same session at 90.194 mph.

The top six drivers in Group B all posted speeds faster than the fastest driver in Group A (A.J. Allmendinger).

Ross Chastain was third-fastest overall, Kyle Busch fourth and Daniel Suarez completed the top-five.

After two races utilizing the “Carousel” part of the course (Turns 4-7), NASCAR has returned to a previous version this season which is 1.99 miles long and contains a longer straightway.

Among those drivers who ran five or more consecutive laps, Elliott had the fastest average speed followed by Larson and Kyle Busch.

Group B

Track conditions clearly were better during the second 20-minute session as speeds picked up greatly.

Larson topped the session with an average lap of 90.423 mph with teammate Elliott close behind at 90.194 mph.

Chastain was third, Kyle Busch fourth and Suarez completed the top-five.

Group A

Allmendinger led the way in the first 20-minute session with an average lap speed of 89.898 mph.

“Being good for one lap and being good for a race is completely different,” he said. “I haven’t been here in four years so I’m trying to get used to the place again.”

Buescher was second-fastest (89.713 mph) and Harvick was third (89.685).

William Byron and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top-five in what ended up to be an uneventful session.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	5	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	7	1'19.227			90.424
2	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	12	1'19.428	0.201	0.201	90.195
3	1	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	11	1'19.490	0.263	0.062	90.125
4	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	10	1'19.519	0.292	0.029	90.092
5	99	Daniel Suarez		Chevrolet	12	1'19.600	0.373	0.081	90.000
6	45	Kurt Busch		Toyota	14	1'19.675	0.448	0.075	89.915
7	16	A.J. Allmendinger		Chevrolet	8	1'19.690	0.463	0.015	89.898
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	14	1'19.772	0.545	0.082	89.806
9	6	Brad Keselowski		Ford	14	1'19.775	0.548	0.003	89.803
10	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	12	1'19.854	0.627	0.079	89.714
11	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	12	1'19.879	0.652	0.025	89.686
12	43	Erik Jones		Chevrolet	8	1'19.886	0.659	0.007	89.678
13	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	9	1'19.984	0.757	0.098	89.568
14	23	Bubba Wallace		Toyota	10	1'20.013	0.786	0.029	89.535
15	14	Chase Briscoe		Ford	9	1'20.041	0.814	0.028	89.504
16	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	11	1'20.045	0.818	0.004	89.500
17	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	13	1'20.075	0.848	0.030	89.466
18	22	Joey Logano		Ford	10	1'20.078	0.851	0.003	89.463
19	15	Joey Hand		Ford	10	1'20.094	0.867	0.016	89.445
20	21	Harrison Burton		Ford	14	1'20.127	0.900	0.033	89.408
21	38	Todd Gilliland		Ford	9	1'20.187	0.960	0.060	89.341
22	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	12	1'20.188	0.961	0.001	89.340
23	48	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	10	1'20.221	0.994	0.033	89.303
24	2	Austin Cindric		Ford	7	1'20.314	1.087	0.093	89.200
25	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	13	1'20.370	1.143	0.056	89.138
26	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	10	1'20.370	1.143	0.000	89.138
27	31	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	9	1'20.436	1.209	0.066	89.065
28	20	Christopher Bell		Toyota	8	1'20.458	1.231	0.022	89.040
29	41	Cole Custer		Ford	12	1'20.485	1.258	0.027	89.010
30	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	9	1'20.646	1.419	0.161	88.833
31	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	11	1'20.679	1.452	0.033	88.796
32	77	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	10	1'20.851	1.624	0.172	88.607
33	7	Corey Lajoie		Chevrolet	11	1'20.952	1.725	0.101	88.497
34	42	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	10	1'21.542	2.315	0.590	87.857
35	78	Scott Heckert		Ford	5	1'22.216	2.989	0.674	87.136