Almirola tops SHR 1-2 in opening Las Vegas Cup practice
LAS VEGAS — Seeking redemption from a good Daytona 500 run cut short, Aric Almirola topped first practice with a lap speed of 178.654 MPH with his no. 10 Smithfield Ford. Almirola was followed by teammate Clint Bowyer who posted a lap speed of 178.383 MPH in his no. 14 BlueDEF Ford.
Almirola and Bowyer were among the five Fords to be amongst the top 10 fastest in Cup practice. Chevrolet drivers made up the rest of the top 10 with Ty Dillon posting the third-fastest lap speed of 178.071 MPH with his no. 13 GEICO Chevrolet.
Toyota teams were shut out from being the top 10 fastest teams but not the top 15. Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch posted the 14th and 15th fastest lap speeds of 176.448 MPH and 176.378 MPH, respectively in their no. 19 Bass Pro Shops and no. 18 Snickers White Toyotas.
Ross Chastain posted the 18th fastest lap speed of 176.022 MPH in the no. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, in a fill-in effort for Ryan Newman.
Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin posted the 25th fastest lap speed of 175.120 MPH in his no. 11 FedEx Toyota.
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com