Practice report

NASCAR Cup Charlotte II

Brad Keselowski goes fastest in final Roval practice, then wrecks

Brad Keselowski topped the final practice session on the Roval course at Charlotte Motor Speedway but it will likely do him little good.

Jim Utter

Edited: Sep 29, 2018, 6:35 PM

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Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Alliance Truck Parts

William Byron, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro Unifirst

Keselowski topped the final 50-minute NASCAR Cup Series practice session Saturday with an average lap speed of 105.596 mph.

However, about 40 minutes into the session, Keselowski jumped the curb on the exit of the frontstretch chicane and he slammed head-on into the oval track wall in the area, doing extensive damage to his No. 2 Ford.

Keselowski will move to a backup car and have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

“Sorry man, hit the ‘turtle’ (curbs),” Keselowski said over his team radio. “Really sorry man.”

After leaving the care center, Keselowski said, “Just got in too hot. Didnt want to hit those dumb turtles (curbs). I should have skipped the corner and been more cool but I wanted to see what we had (in the car).”

Rookie William Byron ended up second (105.072 mph) and Kyle Larson was third (104.995 mph). Paul Menard was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were pole-winner Kurt Busch, A.J. Allmendinger, Michael McDowell, Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney.

Before the start of practice, NASCAR adjusted the angle of the backstretch chicane tire barrier wall to allow more room for cars to exit. Before the change the barrier jutted out from the oval Turn 3 wall in a perpendicular angle past the blue curbing.

The exact position for barrier in Sunday’s race will be determined following practice.

There were no incidents with cars hitting the tire barrier during the session.

Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 2 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 10 1'17.730 105.596 2 24 William Byron Chevrolet 19 1'18.118 0.388 0.388 105.072 3 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 13 1'18.175 0.445 0.057 104.995 4 21 Paul Menard Ford 16 1'18.185 0.455 0.010 104.982 5 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 15 1'18.264 0.534 0.079 104.876 6 41 United States Kurt Busch Ford 18 1'18.331 0.601 0.067 104.786 7 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 14 1'18.357 0.627 0.026 104.751 8 34 Michael McDowell Ford 19 1'18.409 0.679 0.052 104.682 9 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 10 1'18.531 0.801 0.122 104.519 10 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 14 1'18.535 0.805 0.004 104.514 11 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 13 1'18.634 0.904 0.099 104.382 12 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 12 1'18.696 0.966 0.062 104.300 13 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 14 1'18.737 1.007 0.041 104.246 14 22 Joey Logano Ford 16 1'18.778 1.048 0.041 104.192 15 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 10 1'18.883 1.153 0.105 104.053 16 6 United States Trevor Bayne Ford 13 1'18.959 1.229 0.076 103.953 17 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 17 1'18.961 1.231 0.002 103.950 18 19 Mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 14 1'18.963 1.233 0.002 103.947 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 4 1'19.087 1.357 0.124 103.784 20 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 15 1'19.147 1.417 0.060 103.706 21 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 13 1'19.209 1.479 0.062 103.625 22 8 Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 12 1'19.233 1.503 0.024 103.593 23 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 17 1'19.239 1.509 0.006 103.585 24 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 15 1'19.441 1.711 0.202 103.322 25 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 12 1'19.461 1.731 0.020 103.296 26 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 19 1'19.481 1.751 0.020 103.270 27 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 16 1'19.599 1.869 0.118 103.117 28 38 David Ragan Ford 16 1'19.656 1.926 0.057 103.043 29 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 21 1'20.015 2.285 0.359 102.581 30 15 Justin Marks Chevrolet 10 1'20.095 2.365 0.080 102.478 31 72 United States Cole Whitt Chevrolet 9 1'20.558 2.828 0.463 101.889 32 23 J.J. Yeley Toyota 5 1'20.970 3.240 0.412 101.371 33 96 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 9 1'21.186 3.456 0.216 101.101 34 95 Regan Smith Chevrolet 3 1'21.990 4.260 0.804 100.110 35 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 1 1'26.190 8.460 4.200 95.231

Take a virtual lap around the Charlotte Roval with the No. 78 Toyota Camry of Martin Truex Jr., courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3, which you can order now:

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