Clint Bowyer leads final Cup practice, Kyle Busch wrecks
Clint Bowyer continued to show his No. 14 Ford’s speed in Saturday’s final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Atlanta.
Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Bowyer, who was fastest in Friday’s practice and was fastest in two of three rounds of qualifying, led the way Saturday with an average lap speed of 179.104 mph.
Kyle Busch ended up second (178.873 mph) and Austin Dillon was third (178.712 mph). Michael McDowell was fourth and Corey LaJoie completed the top-five.
“Just got loose. We were trying to run a run and the car was pretty good with fire off there," Busch said. "We ran some really good times and then just kept getting a little bit looser, a little bit looser. I tried to go back to the bottom and run the bottom to see how slow I had to be to go around the bottom and just snapped.”
Rounding out the Top 10 were Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.
Shortly into the start of Saturday’s session – which got underway with fog and mist in the air – Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. His team immediately began bringing out his backup car and begin preparations.
Since he moved to a backup car, Busch will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.
With about 42 minutes left in the session, smoke began billowing out of the No. 20 Toyota of Erik Jones and he immediately took his car to the garage, where it was reported he was suffering a power steering problem.
Keselowski, who sat out the start of practice suffering from flu-like symptoms, suited up and got in his No. 2 Ford with about 20 minutes left in the session and ran about two laps on the track.
Kyle Busch had the fastest average speed among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (177.302 mph). Kyle Larson and Truex were second and third, respectively, in that category.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 35 | 30.954 | 179.104 | ||
2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 12 | 30.994 | 0.040 | 0.040 | 178.873 |
3 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 52 | 31.022 | 0.068 | 0.028 | 178.712 |
4 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 29 | 31.029 | 0.075 | 0.007 | 178.672 |
5 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 32 | 31.070 | 0.116 | 0.041 | 178.436 |
6 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 58 | 31.143 | 0.189 | 0.073 | 178.018 |
7 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 52 | 31.183 | 0.229 | 0.040 | 177.789 |
8 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 49 | 31.184 | 0.230 | 0.001 | 177.783 |
9 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 39 | 31.229 | 0.275 | 0.045 | 177.527 |
10 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 54 | 31.237 | 0.283 | 0.008 | 177.482 |
11 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 55 | 31.242 | 0.288 | 0.005 | 177.453 |
12 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 43 | 31.242 | 0.288 | 0.000 | 177.453 |
13 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 57 | 31.248 | 0.294 | 0.006 | 177.419 |
14 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 34 | 31.264 | 0.310 | 0.016 | 177.329 |
15 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 49 | 31.267 | 0.313 | 0.003 | 177.312 |
16 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 55 | 31.270 | 0.316 | 0.003 | 177.295 |
17 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 51 | 31.273 | 0.319 | 0.003 | 177.278 |
18 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 56 | 31.317 | 0.363 | 0.044 | 177.028 |
19 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 43 | 31.322 | 0.368 | 0.005 | 177.000 |
20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 52 | 31.327 | 0.373 | 0.005 | 176.972 |
21 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 75 | 31.334 | 0.380 | 0.007 | 176.932 |
22 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 55 | 31.334 | 0.380 | 0.000 | 176.932 |
23 | 96 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | 38 | 31.335 | 0.381 | 0.001 | 176.927 |
24 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 20 | 31.343 | 0.389 | 0.008 | 176.882 |
25 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 62 | 31.351 | 0.397 | 0.008 | 176.836 |
26 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 44 | 31.393 | 0.439 | 0.042 | 176.600 |
27 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 54 | 31.416 | 0.462 | 0.023 | 176.471 |
28 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 36 | 31.427 | 0.473 | 0.011 | 176.409 |
29 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 68 | 31.430 | 0.476 | 0.003 | 176.392 |
30 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 43 | 31.465 | 0.511 | 0.035 | 176.196 |
31 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 35 | 31.513 | 0.559 | 0.048 | 175.927 |
32 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 15 | 31.645 | 0.691 | 0.132 | 175.194 |
33 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 23 | 31.889 | 0.935 | 0.244 | 173.853 |
34 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 35 | 31.889 | 0.935 | 0.000 | 173.853 |
35 | 77 | Garrett Smithley | Chevrolet | 10 | 32.273 | 1.319 | 0.384 | 171.784 |
36 | 52 | B.J. McLeod | Chevrolet | 7 | 32.293 | 1.339 | 0.020 | 171.678 |
37 | 51 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 11 | 33.315 | 2.361 | 1.022 | 166.412 |
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