2014 Food City 500 Practice 1 Recap

Top 5 Fastest Laps:;
Kurt Busch – 129.79mph;
Jeff Gordon – 129.42mph;
Denny Hamlin – 129.35mph;
Carl Edwards – 129.32mph;
Marcos Ambrose – 129.29mph;

Who says practice is boring? Just 3 minutes into the first practice session for the Food City 500, Danica Patrick lost control of her car coming off turn number 2 and slammed into the right side of #30 Parker Kligerman. Patrick’s team was able to unload their backup car and get back out on the track. Patrick finished the session way down the leader board with the 34th fastest lap of 45 drivers. Evidently, Patrick set the stage for a number of incidents highlighting the early hours of action at Bristol Motor Speedway. Several drivers would run into trouble during the first practice session including the overall favorite for the Food City 500 in Kyle Busch.

Busch, Justin Allgaier, and Greg Biffle will all move to backup cars after suffering damage from making contact with the outside concrete walls of Bristol. Allgaier was the only driver that failed to make a complete lap in practice as his struggles continue. Matt Kenseth and Ricky Stenhouse Jr also made slight contact with the outside wall but will not have to move to backup machines. After winning the Bristol night race last year and running well in the spring, Kenseth only managed to post the 30th fastest time with a lap of 127.04mph.

Some of the positives coming out of the first session surrounding the #41 car of Kurt Busch. The newest member of Stewart-Haas Racing posted the fastest lap of the day with a speed of 129.79mph. Outside of Kevin Harvick, no other Stewart-Haas Racing driver has cracked the top 10 this season. Tony Stewart struggled again today and it is growing fairly obvious that he is still suffering from lingering effects from last year’s leg injury from a Sprint Car accident that ended his season prematurely. The entire SHR organization has been disappointing dating back to last season outside of Kevin Harvick who won just two weeks ago in Phoenix. Harvick posted the 11th best time of the day and has a pretty solid track record at Thunder Valley.

Other drivers to keep an eye on this weekend include Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin. Both drivers posted the 2nd and 3rd fastest taps of the first practice. Gordon has led the most laps of any active driver at Bristol and Hamlin appears to be the class of the Joe Gibbs Racing stable thus far in 2014. Statistically, neither driver has been strong in recent races posting average finished of 18th (Hamlin) and 19.75 (Gordon). However it is worth noting, that Hamlin’s entire 2013 season was a setback after suffering a broken vertebra in a wreck at California last March. Hamlin has bounced back this season with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 and has an impressive history at short tracks. Gordon has actually posted the 2nd best average driver rating over the last 4 races but has just been extremely unlucky with finishes. Gordon cut a tire leading the Food City 500 last year and knows how to get around the high banks of Bristol better than anyone with 5 career wins. Therefore expect both Hamlin and Gordon to have strong runs this Sunday.

Other drivers to note include points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. After a Daytona 500 wins and two straight runner-up finishes, Junior posted the 14th fastest time of the day. Last week’s winner Brad Keselowski was strong in practice with the 6th best time. Ryan Newman, Casey Mears, Martin Truex Jr, and Joey Logano rounded out positions 7-10. Reigning Sprint Cup Series Champion Jimmie Johnson was towards the bottom of the charts in the 27th position. Johnson has not performed extremely well at Bristol in past races but you can never count out the #48 team at any circuit. Qualifying will take place at 4:40pm eastern today and final practice is slated for 12:00pm tomorrow. Check back later for our final recap and race picks before the green flag this Sunday.