Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports top final Cup practice
Hendrick Motorsports set the pace early in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro NAPA AUTO PARTS
Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images
Running in qualifying trim – time trials were scheduled for later in the day – Chase Elliott topped the final 50-minute session Saturday with an average lap speed of 97.542 mph.
His Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman (96.627 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (96.612 mph) weren’t far behind. Austin Dillon was fourth and Paul Menard completed the top-five.
All of the top-five set their marks early in the session before moving to race set-up.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones.
In the final moments of practice, Cody Ware got loose during a qualifying run and slammed the wall off Turn 2. He will have to go to a backup car and start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.
Martin Truex Jr. ended up with the fastest average lap speed (95.445 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Clint Bowyer was second, Kyle Busch third, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola completed the top-five in that category.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 68 | 19.413 | 97.543 | |||
2 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 72 | 19.597 | 0.184 | 0.184 | 96.627 | |
3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 44 | 19.600 | 0.187 | 0.003 | 96.612 | |
4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 64 | 19.613 | 0.200 | 0.013 | 96.548 | |
5 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 50 | 19.615 | 0.202 | 0.002 | 96.538 | |
6 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 79 | 19.629 | 0.216 | 0.014 | 96.470 | |
7 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 61 | 19.630 | 0.217 | 0.001 | 96.465 | |
8 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 58 | 19.649 | 0.236 | 0.019 | 96.371 | |
9 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 61 | 19.712 | 0.299 | 0.063 | 96.063 | |
10 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 73 | 19.758 | 0.345 | 0.046 | 95.840 | |
11 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 69 | 19.761 | 0.348 | 0.003 | 95.825 | |
12 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 72 | 19.769 | 0.356 | 0.008 | 95.786 | |
13 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 58 | 19.769 | 0.356 | 0.000 | 95.786 | |
14 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 82 | 19.790 | 0.377 | 0.021 | 95.685 | |
15 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 93 | 19.803 | 0.390 | 0.013 | 95.622 | |
16 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 92 | 19.814 | 0.401 | 0.011 | 95.569 | |
17 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 47 | 19.818 | 0.405 | 0.004 | 95.550 | |
18 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 62 | 19.819 | 0.406 | 0.001 | 95.545 | |
19 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 78 | 19.825 | 0.412 | 0.006 | 95.516 | |
20 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 39 | 19.826 | 0.413 | 0.001 | 95.511 | |
21 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 67 | 19.864 | 0.451 | 0.038 | 95.328 | |
22 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 81 | 19.867 | 0.454 | 0.003 | 95.314 | |
23 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 66 | 19.902 | 0.489 | 0.035 | 95.146 | |
24 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 81 | 19.937 | 0.524 | 0.035 | 94.979 | |
25 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 66 | 19.944 | 0.531 | 0.007 | 94.946 | |
26 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 64 | 19.971 | 0.558 | 0.027 | 94.817 | |
27 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 73 | 20.003 | 0.590 | 0.032 | 94.666 | |
28 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 39 | 20.017 | 0.604 | 0.014 | 94.600 | |
29 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 37 | 20.058 | 0.645 | 0.041 | 94.406 | |
30 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 57 | 20.077 | 0.664 | 0.019 | 94.317 | |
31 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 43 | 20.101 | 0.688 | 0.024 | 94.204 | |
32 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 34 | 20.341 | 0.928 | 0.240 | 93.093 | |
33 | 52 | Jeb Burton | Chevrolet | 27 | 20.418 | 1.005 | 0.077 | 92.742 | |
34 | 51 | Cody Ware | Chevrolet | 34 | 20.511 | 1.098 | 0.093 | 92.321 | |
35 | 77 | D.J. Kennington | Chevrolet | 37 | 20.612 | 1.199 | 0.101 | 91.869 |
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