Practice report

NASCAR Cup Dover

Aric Almirola tops final NASCAR Cup practice at Dover

Aric Almirola was fastest in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.

Jim Utter

Edited: May 5, 2018, 5:48 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Aric Almirola, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Smithfield

Almirola went out early in the final session and posted an average lap speed of 158.277 mph, which ended up faster than the pole-winning lap put down by Kyle Larson during Friday’s qualifying.

Temperatures were significantly cooler on Saturday and the sky was overcast as there is a threat of rain later in the day.

“The track changes so much as the rubber is laid down. We built some adjustability into the car as the track changes throughout the race. I’m going to go back and debrief and check on my teammates and see what they say” Almirola said after the session.

“Overall, our car is really fast, feels really good. I’m just having a blast.”

Chase Elliott was second-fastest (158.054 mph) and Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, was third (157.916 mph). Larson was fourth and SHR’s Kevin Harvick completed the top-five.

Asked if he had a race-winning car, Larson said, “I don’t know. You always struggle with your balance here at Dover. I didn’t feel very good in (final practice). We started off really loose and tightened it up. Then that last run we tightened it up too much and actually got really loose there in the run.

“I’m a little frustrated I guess.”

Rounding out the Top 10 were Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, rookie William Byron, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch.

Bowyer had the fastest average speed of the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (155.880 mph). Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney were second and third-fastest, respectively, in that category.

Harvick and Kurt Busch were forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of Saturday’s final practice session because both of their respective cars failed qualifying inspection on Friday two times.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 10 united_states Aric Almirola Ford 57 22.745 158.277 2 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 53 22.777 0.032 0.032 158.054 3 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 65 22.797 0.052 0.020 157.916 4 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 46 22.824 0.079 0.027 157.729 5 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 23 22.853 0.108 0.029 157.529 6 20 united_states Erik Jones Toyota 54 22.897 0.152 0.044 157.226 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 57 22.937 0.192 0.040 156.952 8 24 William Byron Chevrolet 46 22.969 0.224 0.032 156.733 9 21 Paul Menard Ford 61 22.978 0.233 0.009 156.672 10 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 51 22.985 0.240 0.007 156.624 11 2 united_states Brad Keselowski Ford 55 23.015 0.270 0.030 156.420 12 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 56 23.016 0.271 0.001 156.413 13 22 Joey Logano Ford 60 23.026 0.281 0.010 156.345 14 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 43 23.040 0.295 0.014 156.250 15 41 Kurt Busch Ford 41 23.041 0.296 0.001 156.243 16 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 59 23.045 0.300 0.004 156.216 17 11 united_states Denny Hamlin Toyota 57 23.070 0.325 0.025 156.047 18 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 59 23.092 0.347 0.022 155.898 19 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 34 23.151 0.406 0.059 155.501 20 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 42 23.176 0.431 0.025 155.333 21 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 46 23.193 0.448 0.017 155.219 22 38 united_states David Ragan Ford 43 23.205 0.460 0.012 155.139 23 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 47 23.220 0.475 0.015 155.039 24 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 44 23.270 0.525 0.050 154.706 25 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 38 23.304 0.559 0.034 154.480 26 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 39 23.314 0.569 0.010 154.414 27 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 25 23.327 0.582 0.013 154.328 28 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 39 23.353 0.608 0.026 154.156 29 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 41 23.464 0.719 0.111 153.427 30 34 Michael McDowell Ford 43 23.489 0.744 0.025 153.263 31 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 42 23.552 0.807 0.063 152.853 32 00 united_states Landon Cassill Chevrolet 46 23.756 1.011 0.204 151.541 33 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 34 23.846 1.101 0.090 150.969 34 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 23 23.985 1.240 0.139 150.094 35 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 20 24.053 1.308 0.068 149.669 36 55 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 16 24.191 1.446 0.138 148.816 37 51 united_states Cody Ware Ford 13 24.401 1.656 0.210 147.535 38 99 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 22 24.654 1.909 0.253 146.021

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Team Penske fastest in Saturday's first Cup practice at Dover

Next article Kevin Harvick takes Stage 1 at Dover as several run out of fuel

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

19 min

Why the anticlimactic WEC title showdown was the worst-case scenario

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Turkish GP

1 h

How Istanbul is revamping its F1 circuit to clinch long-term future

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup 18 h

The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1 18 h

‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts