Kevin Harvick was the fastest in Saturday morning’s first practice session at Michigan International Speedway with a lap of 194.784 mph.
Pole-sitter Matt Kenseth was next at 194.411 mph, followed by Kyle Larson (194.013 mph). They were the only drivers to top 194 mph.
The focus of the session, though, was how well the cars ran close together with the high-drag package.
Overnight rain cleaned the track and teams spent the early part of the session putting rubber on it. Later in the session, teams started working more in packs. At one time, nine cars ran single-file in a group, testing how the cars reacted together. Later, Joe Gibbs Racing’s four cars ran together, passing and running two-wide.
Drivers faced challenges of being loose when behind another car.
They’ll have one more practice to get it right. That session begins at 11 a.m. ET and airs on CNBC.
