Austin Dillon fastest in Friday's Cup practice at Michigan

Late in the 50-minute session Friday, Dillon rocketed to the top of the speed chart, leading practice at Michigan International Speedway with an average lap speed of 189.969 mph.

“Those first couple runs weren’t very comfortable. We’re still a little free,” Dillon said. “I’m really proud of ECR power and we have a rocket ship today.”

Dillon has won poles this season at Fontana, Calif., Talladega, Ala., and Chicagoland. He’s still looking for his first win of the 2019 season.

In 14 career starts at Michigan, Dillon’s best performance is a pair of fourth-place finishes in 2018 and 2015.

Brad Keselowski ended up second (189.929 mph) and Jimmie Johnson was third (189.603 mph). Alex Bowman and Daniel Hemric completed the top-five.

Rounding the top-10 speeds were Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, the June Michigan race winner Joey Logano and Paul Menard.

Bowyer had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session as his No. 14 Ford was late out of the garage last weekend for qualifying.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	6	37.901			189.969
2	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	8	37.909	0.008	0.008	189.929
3	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	7	37.974	0.073	0.065	189.603
4	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	5	38.104	0.203	0.130	188.957
5	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	5	38.104	0.203	0.000	188.957
6	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	5	38.106	0.205	0.002	188.947
7	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	5	38.149	0.248	0.043	188.734
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	4	38.178	0.277	0.029	188.590
9	22	Joey Logano		Ford	4	38.192	0.291	0.014	188.521
10	21	Paul Menard		Ford	7	38.228	0.327	0.036	188.344
11	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	7	38.270	0.369	0.042	188.137
12	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	7	38.289	0.388	0.019	188.044
13	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	7	38.296	0.395	0.007	188.009
14	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	5	38.325	0.424	0.029	187.867
15	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	5	38.357	0.456	0.032	187.710
16	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	5	38.358	0.457	0.001	187.705
17	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	7	38.382	0.481	0.024	187.588
18	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	4	38.388	0.487	0.006	187.559
19	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	5	38.455	0.554	0.067	187.232
20	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	7	38.485	0.584	0.030	187.086
21	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	5	38.497	0.596	0.012	187.028
22	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	6	38.514	0.613	0.017	186.945
23	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	7	38.559	0.658	0.045	186.727
24	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	7	38.615	0.714	0.056	186.456
25	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	7	38.676	0.775	0.061	186.162
26	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	7	38.842	0.941	0.166	185.366
27	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	5	38.894	0.993	0.052	185.119
28	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	7	38.894	0.993	0.000	185.119
29	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	5	38.965	1.064	0.071	184.781
30	38	David Ragan		Ford	4	39.100	1.199	0.135	184.143
31	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	5	39.262	1.361	0.162	183.383
32	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	1	39.608	1.707	0.346	181.781
33	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	3	39.609	1.708	0.001	181.777
34	51	Cody Ware		Ford	3	39.995	2.094	0.386	180.023
35	52	Austin Theriault		Ford	9	40.176	2.275	0.181	179.211
36	27	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	1	40.327	2.426	0.151	178.540
37	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	2	40.706	2.805	0.379	176.878
38	53	Spencer Boyd		Ford	13	42.791	4.890	2.085	168.260