[media-credit name=”Credit: Jonathan Ferrey/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”248″]
[/media-credit]There were some surprises in Happy Hour today in preparation for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500, but it had nothing to do with the winner of Happy Hour. Kyle Busch once again displayed his dominance of the entire weekend by winning Happy Hour as well. He was followed by Kasey Kahne (last years winner), Joey Logano, Aric Almirola, and Jeff Gordon.
I was most surprised by the performance pulled by Gordon. Gordon has not shown us quite yet that he has a handle on this new pavement. He did terrible during the first race with the new pavement back in the fall of 2011 primarily due to brake failure, and managed to get an 8th place finish here in the spring. Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, and Kurt Busch rounded out the Top 10.
Brad Keselowski was 9th quickest and Jimmie Johnson was 11th. They both will need to pick it up if they want to contend for a win tomorrow. Keselowski has an advantage to start the race as he starts 14th, and Johnson starts in 24th.
With a new chassis, Jeff Burton was 22nd quickest. Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth both struggled with loose race cars and were 23rd and 27th quickest, respectively.
This race could potentially just be a race between non-contenders while the two championship chasers will be racing each other in the middle of the pack. Who is going to end up on top? We shall see!
FIN CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 135.252 26.617 Leader
2 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet Farmers Insurance 135.166 26.634 -0.017
3 20 Joey Logano Toyota Dollar General 135.003 26.666 -0.049
4 43 Aric Almirola Ford Farmland 134.958 26.675 -0.058
5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 134.912 26.684 -0.067
6 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 134.796 26.707 -0.090
7 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 5-hour Energy 134.791 26.708 -0.091
8 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 134.766 26.713 -0.096
9 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge Miller Lite 134.549 26.756 -0.139
10 78 Kurt Busch Chevrolet Furniture Row 134.519 26.762 -0.145
11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 134.459 26.774 -0.157
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Diet Mountain Dew / National Guard 134.404 26.785 -0.168
13 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Quicken Loans 134.404 26.785 -0.168
14 83 Landon Cassill Toyota Burger King 134.374 26.791 -0.174
15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Mobil 1 / Office Depot 134.328 26.800 -0.183
16 16 Greg Biffle Ford Filtrete 134.228 26.820 -0.203
17 55 Mark Martin Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 134.198 26.826 -0.209
18 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota Burger King 134.133 26.839 -0.222
19 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet Menards / Rheem 134.123 26.841 -0.224
20 99 Carl Edwards Ford Fastenal 134.123 26.841 -0.224
21 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 134.023 26.861 -0.244
22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 133.993 26.867 -0.250
23 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Budweiser 133.964 26.873 -0.256
24 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Shell / Pennzoil 133.943 26.877 -0.260
25 51 Regan Smith Chevrolet Phoenix Construction 133.784 26.909 -0.292
26 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford Black & Decker 133.615 26.943 -0.326
27 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Ford EcoBoost 133.591 26.948 -0.331
28 13 Casey Mears Ford GEICO 133.531 26.960 -0.343
29 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 133.230 27.021 -0.404
30 38 David Gilliland Ford Loan Mart 133.220 27.023 -0.406
31 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Allstate 133.210 27.025 -0.408
32 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota Vektor Vodka 133.121 27.043 -0.426
33 30 David Stremme Toyota Inception Motorsports 132.988 27.070 -0.453
34 34 David Ragan Ford CertainTeed / 31-W Insulation 132.939 27.080 -0.463
35 191 Jason Leffler Toyota Plinker Tactical / Value Place 132.582 27.153 -0.536
36 98 Michael McDowell Ford Phil Parsons Racing 132.504 27.169 -0.552
37 119 Mike Bliss Toyota Plinker Tactical / Value Place 132.265 27.218 -0.601
38 26 Josh Wise* Ford MDS Transport 132.149 27.242 -0.625
39 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet Accell Construction 132.096 27.253 -0.636
40 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota AM-FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves / aloft hotel tempe 132.008 27.271 -0.654
41 33 Stephen Leicht* Chevrolet Little Joes Autos.com 131.608 27.354 -0.737
42 144 David Reutimann Ford No Label Watcher 131.569 27.362 -0.745
43 32 Timmy Hill Ford U.S. Chrome / TMone 130.757 27.532 -0.915
* Denotes Rookie
