Sunoco rookies and JR Motorsports teammates Carson Kvapil and Connor Zilisch paced Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series practice in preparation for Saturday’s North Carolina Education Lottery 250 Presented by Black’s Tire at Rockingham Speedway.
On his 26th and final lap of the session, Kvapil covered the 0.94-mile distance in 22.899 seconds to top the speed chart at 147.779 mph. Zilisch was second fastest at 146.799 mph (23.052 seconds).
The temperatures during final Xfinity practice differed widely from those during an organizational test in January, when drivers got their bearings on the repaved track, which will host its first Xfinity race since 2004.
“Obviously, it’s 30 to 40 degrees hotter than it was at the test, so it’s going to be a lot slower,” Zilisch said. “But very similar—just less grip, and we’re slipping around a little bit and moving around a little bit more than we were at the test when it was 30 or 40 degrees, and we were all stuck to the race track.”
Throughout the session, drivers ran the bottom lane of the track. Kvapil hopes that won’t be the case exclusively on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of rubber laid down,” said Kvapil, fresh from a second-place finish last Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. “Even before we got on the track, I thought there was a lot of rubber (from NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series practice and qualifying).
“That changed some stuff. It definitely drove different. It was pretty hard to pass. I got behind a few cars that were a little bit slower than us, and it seemed like when I got to them, I kind of stalled out… Hopefully, it does open up.”
Led by Kvapil and Zilisch, Chevrolet drivers occupied eight of the top nine positions on the speed chart. The exception was Ford driver Sheldon Creed, who was third fastest at 146.741 mph.
Taylor Gray (145.912 mph) was 10th in the fastest Toyota.
-NASCAR Wire