Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s second practice session was cut short Friday afternoon when the No. 88 Chevrolet had vibration problems. Or, as he noted on his radio, “There was a little bloop or something.”
His shifter broke during last month’s race at Martinsville because of vibration and a promising run at Charlotte last fall spoiled by the same malady.
Earnhardt owned the fastest time in the practice session (192.204 mph) up until his problems.
Greg Biffle hit 197.929 mph to top all drivers in the final session, followed by Tony Stewart (197.859), Aric Almirola (197.686), Jimmie Johnson (197.175) and Austin Dillon (197.122).
Biffle’s fellow Roush Fenway Racing driver Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was one of three drivers to eclipse the 200-mph mark in the day’s initial practice session. Stenhouse (200.780), Michael Waltrip (200.742) and Chris Buescher (200.268) all topped 200 mph while David Ragan had the best 10-consecutive lap average, at 196.969.
The afternoon speeds tended to be slower as fewer drivers risked close-quarter drafting. Because cars were impounded immediately after practice, teams couldn’t afford situations where significant repair work might be necessitated. Only 38 of the 45 entered drivers ventured out for the final practice.
Any drafting was, as Johnson put it, was “being smart, calculating risk to the best of our ability.”
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