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Practice report

Alex Bowman tops final Cup practice; Kyle Busch tags wall

Alex Bowman completed a sweep of both NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions Friday at Auto Club Speedway in California.

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Cincinnati

Alex Bowman, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Cincinnati

Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Ryan Blaney led most of the final 50-minute session but Bowman rocketed to the top of the speed chart in the final 15 minutes with an average lap speed of 176.626 mph.

Blaney ended up second (176.185 mph) and Bubba Wallace was third (176.176 mph). Kurt Busch and Christopher Bell completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 single-lap speeds were Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Matt DiBenedetto and Kyle Busch.

About 16 minutes into the session, Kyle Busch tagged the Turn 3 wall and did some right-side damage to his No. 18 Toyota.

 

Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing team quickly went to work on making repairs and he was able to return to the track with about 15 minutes remaining.

Bowman also had the fastest average speed (175.278 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Kurt Busch and Cole Custer were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Chase Elliott sat out the final 15 minutes of practice for failing inspection twice last weekend; Michael McDowell and J.J. Yeley both sat out the final 15 minutes for being late to inspection. Garrett Smithley missed the last 30 minutes of practice for failing inspection three times.

Read Also:

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 88 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 32 40.764     176.626
2 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 41 40.866 0.102 0.102 176.186
3 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 22 40.868 0.104 0.002 176.177
4 1 United States Kurt Busch Chevrolet 47 40.952 0.188 0.084 175.816
5 95 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 30 40.980 0.216 0.028 175.695
6 14 United States Clint Bowyer Ford 25 40.984 0.220 0.004 175.678
7 2 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 44 41.005 0.241 0.021 175.588
8 42 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 39 41.043 0.279 0.038 175.426
9 21 United States Matt DiBenedetto Ford 37 41.050 0.286 0.007 175.396
10 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 37 41.066 0.302 0.016 175.328
11 6 United States Ross Chastain Ford 32 41.067 0.303 0.001 175.323
12 17 United States Chris Buescher Ford 29 41.071 0.307 0.004 175.306
13 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 30 41.072 0.308 0.001 175.302
14 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 34 41.102 0.338 0.030 175.174
15 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 26 41.110 0.346 0.008 175.140
16 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 37 41.112 0.348 0.002 175.131
17 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 28 41.124 0.360 0.012 175.080
18 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 35 41.181 0.417 0.057 174.838
19 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 39 41.196 0.432 0.015 174.774
20 41 United States Cole Custer Ford 40 41.230 0.466 0.034 174.630
21 48 United States Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 33 41.249 0.485 0.019 174.550
22 20 United States Erik Jones Toyota 35 41.252 0.488 0.003 174.537
23 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 23 41.281 0.517 0.029 174.414
24 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 26 41.281 0.517 0.000 174.414
25 37 United States Ryan Preece Chevrolet 29 41.347 0.583 0.066 174.136
26 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 39 41.376 0.612 0.029 174.014
27 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 40 41.402 0.638 0.026 173.905
28 13 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 32 41.424 0.660 0.022 173.812
29 32 United States Corey Lajoie Ford 25 41.647 0.883 0.223 172.882
30 38 United States John Hunter Nemechek Ford 28 41.661 0.897 0.014 172.824
31 96 Mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 26 42.142 1.378 0.481 170.851
32 52 United States J.J. Yeley Ford 12 42.579 1.815 0.437 169.097
33 00 United States Quin Houff Chevrolet 16 43.255 2.491 0.676 166.455

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