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Jim Utter

Michael McDowell surprises at the top of NASCAR Cup practice

With finishes of seventh at the Chicago Street Race and fourth at Atlanta, McDowell is now 15th in the series standings.

He followed that up by posting the fastest average single lap speed (126.416 mph) to lead all competitors in Saturday’s practice.

“For a guy that normally sucks at New Hampshire, that was a good practice,” McDowell said. “We got to go out there and do it in qualifying now.”

Martin Truex Jr. ended up second-fastest (126.408 mph) and Ross Chastain was third (126.077 mph). All three came from Group A.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Truex had the best average speed (125.495 mph). He was followed by McDowell and Christopher Bell, respectively, in that category.

Group A

McDowell, who ran the most laps in the first 20-minute sessions (26), also ended up with the fastest average lap speed (126.416 mph).

Truex was second-fastest (124.408 mph) and Chastain was third (126.077 mph).

23XI Racing teammates Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five.

About 12 minutes into the session, Kyle Busch made some hard contact with the wall, doing some right-side damage to his No. 8 Chevrolet. He immediately hit pit road for repairs.

Over his team radio, Busch had claimed the car was “wrecking loose” prior to the impact.

Group B

Bell, who won this race a year ago, ended up fastest in the second 20-minute session (125.256 mph) but no one could match the speeds from Group A.

Daniel Suarez ended up second-fastest (125.248 mph) and Joey Logano was third (124.997 mph).

Kyle Larson was fourth and Ryan Preece, a former NASCAR Modified champion with a lot of experience at New Hampshire, rounded out the top five.

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 26 30.129     126.416
2 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 19 30.131 0.002 0.002 126.408
3 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 21 30.210 0.081 0.079 126.077
4 45 United States Tyler Reddick Toyota 15 30.251 0.122 0.041 125.907
5 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 16 30.273 0.144 0.022 125.815
6 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 16 30.306 0.177 0.033 125.678
7 8 United States Kyle Busch Chevrolet 6 30.325 0.196 0.019 125.599
8 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 11 30.328 0.199 0.003 125.587
9 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 24 30.395 0.266 0.067 125.310
10 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 27 30.408 0.279 0.013 125.257
11 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 24 30.410 0.281 0.002 125.248
12 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 22 30.447 0.318 0.037 125.096
13 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 20 30.476 0.347 0.029 124.977
14 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 22 30.503 0.374 0.027 124.866
15 41 United States Ryan Preece Ford 26 30.509 0.380 0.006 124.842
16 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 13 30.529 0.400 0.020 124.760
17 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 24 30.549 0.420 0.020 124.678
18 16 United States A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 21 30.577 0.448 0.028 124.564
19 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 24 30.594 0.465 0.017 124.495
20 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 24 30.603 0.474 0.009 124.458
21 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 10 30.627 0.498 0.024 124.361
22 38 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 21 30.632 0.503 0.005 124.341
23 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 25 30.648 0.519 0.016 124.276
24 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 21 30.660 0.531 0.012 124.227
25 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 21 30.672 0.543 0.012 124.178
26 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 21 30.732 0.603 0.060 123.936
27 51 United States Cole Custer Ford 20 30.754 0.625 0.022 123.847
28 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 17 30.774 0.645 0.020 123.767
29 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 17 30.785 0.656 0.011 123.723
30 42 United States Noah Gragson Chevrolet 23 30.810 0.681 0.025 123.622
31 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 21 30.827 0.698 0.017 123.554
32 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 23 30.861 0.732 0.034 123.418
33 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 15 30.970 0.841 0.109 122.984
34 15 United States Ryan Newman Ford 24 31.028 0.899 0.058 122.754
35 78 United States B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 11 31.037 0.908 0.009 122.718
36 77 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 14 31.141 1.012 0.104 122.308
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