NASCAR Cup Series

Sprint Cup Happy Hour results for Quaker State 400 at Kentucky

Published Jul. 8, 2016 7:00 p.m. ET

foxsports

Happy Hour proved to be anything but for Kurt Busch on Friday at Kentucky Speedway, when Busch wrecked and his team was forced to go to a backup car for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the 1.5-mile track.

Friday’s final practice the Quaker State 400 was a relatively uneventful session until Busch lost the back end of his No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing and hit the outside wall hard in Turn 4 with about 15 minutes left.

The damage to the car’s right-rear quarter panel was bad enough that Stewart-Haas Racing eventually decided to go to a backup car for Saturday night's race instead of attempting to repair to primary car.

With qualifying having been rained out on Friday, the starting grid was set by owners’ points -- making it a big decision for the SHR team to make. By going to the backup car, Busch must start from the rear of the field instead of where he was slated to start initially, in the third position on the inside of the second row.

Earlier in practice, Denny Hamlin also scraped the wall in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. But his damage was minor compared to what Busch’s car suffered and his team was able to pursue repairs without going to a backup car.

Carl Edwards (187.448 miles per hour) and Martin Truex Jr. (186.528 mph) logged the fastest lap times in the final practice. It was the third time in four Kentucky practices in which Edwards was fastest in his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, with Denny Hamlin, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, leading the other.

Rounding out the top five on the speed chart for the final practice were Kyle Larson (186.387 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (186.091 mph) and Kyle Busch (185.989 mph). Larson had the fastest 10-lap consecutive average of 183.629 mph.

For complete Happy Hour practice results, see below.