Brad Keselowski leads wave of Fords in final Cup practice
Talk about role reversal. Ford teams were nowhere to be found in Friday’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice but dominated Saturday’s final practice.
Photo by: Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
Brad Keselowski led the way in final practice Saturday at Auto Club Speedway as seven Fords ended up in the Top 10 of single-car speeds.
That’s a far cry from Friday’s practice, in which only one Ford managed to show in the Top-10
Keselowski’s session-best average lap speed of 176.648 mph came late in the session while he was drafting. Daniel Hemric (176.548 mph) was second and Daniel Suarez (176.293 mph) was third.
Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 was Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
Dillon’s top speed also came late in the session.
Newman had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session as part of his penalty for twice failing pre-qualifying inspection on Friday.
“We got quite a bit too tight on the last run. We’ve been on both sides of the fence so we’ve got to decide where we want the balance of our car to be,” said Kevin Harvick, who ended up 17th-fastest.
Hemric had the fastest average lap speed (174.940 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. He was followed by Blaney, Keselowski, Bowman and Erik Jones in that category.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 47 | 40.759 | 176.648 | |||
2 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 38 | 40.782 | 0.023 | 0.023 | 176.548 | |
3 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 48 | 40.841 | 0.082 | 0.059 | 176.293 | |
4 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 43 | 40.870 | 0.111 | 0.029 | 176.168 | |
5 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 43 | 40.879 | 0.120 | 0.009 | 176.130 | |
6 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 47 | 40.890 | 0.131 | 0.011 | 176.082 | |
7 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 20 | 40.897 | 0.138 | 0.007 | 176.052 | |
8 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 40 | 40.923 | 0.164 | 0.026 | 175.940 | |
9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 36 | 40.923 | 0.164 | 0.000 | 175.940 | |
10 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 31 | 40.931 | 0.172 | 0.008 | 175.906 | |
11 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 40 | 40.951 | 0.192 | 0.020 | 175.820 | |
12 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 39 | 40.979 | 0.220 | 0.028 | 175.700 | |
13 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 42 | 40.990 | 0.231 | 0.011 | 175.653 | |
14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 45 | 40.997 | 0.238 | 0.007 | 175.623 | |
15 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 38 | 41.006 | 0.247 | 0.009 | 175.584 | |
16 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 35 | 41.011 | 0.252 | 0.005 | 175.563 | |
17 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 42 | 41.030 | 0.271 | 0.019 | 175.481 | |
18 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 52 | 41.041 | 0.282 | 0.011 | 175.434 | |
19 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 39 | 41.069 | 0.310 | 0.028 | 175.315 | |
20 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 37 | 41.113 | 0.354 | 0.044 | 175.127 | |
21 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 31 | 41.136 | 0.377 | 0.023 | 175.029 | |
22 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 45 | 41.150 | 0.391 | 0.014 | 174.970 | |
23 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 32 | 41.187 | 0.428 | 0.037 | 174.812 | |
24 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 25 | 41.189 | 0.430 | 0.002 | 174.804 | |
25 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 19 | 41.190 | 0.431 | 0.001 | 174.800 | |
26 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 19 | 41.241 | 0.482 | 0.051 | 174.584 | |
27 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 34 | 41.258 | 0.499 | 0.017 | 174.512 | |
28 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 31 | 41.304 | 0.545 | 0.046 | 174.317 | |
29 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 20 | 41.322 | 0.563 | 0.018 | 174.241 | |
30 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 22 | 41.366 | 0.607 | 0.044 | 174.056 | |
31 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 18 | 41.683 | 0.924 | 0.317 | 172.732 | |
32 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 16 | 41.827 | 1.068 | 0.144 | 172.138 | |
33 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 18 | 42.215 | 1.456 | 0.388 | 170.555 | |
34 | 52 | B.J. McLeod | Ford | 4 | 43.852 | 3.093 | 1.637 | 164.189 | |
35 | 27 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 7 | 43.900 | 3.141 | 0.048 | 164.009 | |
36 | 66 | Joey Gase | Toyota | 6 | 45.414 | 4.655 | 1.514 | 158.541 |
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