CUP: Kyle Busch Tops Again

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kyle Busch Tops Again

Kyle Busch was fastest in both Saturday practices...

Tom Jensen | Posted November 06, 2010 Fort Worth, TX

Kyle Busch drives the #18 M&M's Toyota through the garage area during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

Kyle Busch continued to show the way Saturday, as his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota paced the final Happy Hour practice for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Busch, who was also fastest in the first session earlier in the morning, led Happy Hour with a lap of 188.180 miles per hour around the 1.5-mile Texas oval. That put him ahead of David Ragan, who went 187.728 mph in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Martin Truex Jr. was third, running 186.955 in the No, 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. Kurt Busch and Regan Smith completed the top five.

Then it was Sam Hornish Jr. in sixth, pole-sitter Elliott Sadler, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon and NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson’s chief title rivals continued to struggle, however, as second-place points man Denny Hamlin was just 24th in practice, four spots behind Kevin Harvick. Johnson comes into Sunday’s race, the 36th of 38 on the 2010 season, leading Hamlin by 14 points and Harvick by 38 points.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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Tom Jensen

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