Elliott leads first Phoenix practice as he faces must-win situation

On his fifth and final run, Elliott posted the quick lap of session—137.368mph. 

With one race to decide the Championship 4, Elliott finds himself in a must-win situation in Sunday's Can-Am 500.

“You want to try to win the race,” Elliott said. “The guy who wins that race is probably going to go on, we saw that last year. We weren’t really in the hunt there last year to win the race. We weren’t in the playoffs anymore at that point, so all those guys, you try to respect them as much as you can when you are not involved in it, but at the same time you want to win. 

“Fine line you have to walk there, but just try to get the victory if you can to punch your ticket.”

Martin Truex Jr., was second-quick followed by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson. Brad Keselowski, who is currently fourth in the Monster Energy Cup Series standings was 17th (135.839mph).

Kenseth was the first the car on the track for practice and set the pace with a lap of 135.609mph on his second circuit. 

NASCAR waved the red flag at the three-minute mark for a piece of debris in the dog leg. Eleven cars had posted initial runs with Kenseth on top of the speed chart followed by Kahne (133.521), Blaney (132.964), McMurray (132.807), Keselowski (132.920), Almirola , Earnhardt, Menard, Bowyer and Patrick. 

Johnson jumped up to second on his first run (133.640mph). Harvick was third quick (143.238) on his first run but was bumped by Erik Jones (134.494) and then Daniel Suarez (134.857).  

Ten minutes in, 26 cars posted times. Kenseth maintained P1 followed by Johnson, Suarez, Jones, Harvick, Elliott, Keselowski, Hamlin, Logano, Blaney and Kahne. Kyle Larson, Bowyer, Earnhardt, McMurray, David Ragan, Paul Menard, Michael McDowell, Almirola, Allmendinger and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 20 speeds. 

Martin Truex Jr., vaulted to third on his first run (135.364mph), Kyle Busch (134.559mph) to sixth, Chase Elliott to eighth (134.338) and Ryan Newman to ninth (134.228mph). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. broke into the top 10 with a lap of 134.363mph for ninth-quick.

Thirty minutes into the 85-minute session, Johnson remained second-quick in a sea of Toyotas. Harvick was sixth followed by McMurray, Stenhouse, Elliott, Newman, Keselowski, Larson, Austin Dillon, Hamlin, Logano, Blaney, Kahne, Bowyer and Earnhardt. Moments later, Kyle Busch moved up to fourth with a lap of 135.303mph. He took over the top spot with a speed of 136.235mph 50 minutes into the session.

With 30-minutes remaining, Busch held P1 followed by Kenseth, Johnson, Truex, Jones, Blaney, Menard, Kurt Busch and Suarez. As more drivers switched to qualifying trim, Larson posted the fastest lap (136.452mph). Blaney cruised up to second (136.245), followed by Kyle Busch, Kenseth, Johnson, Truex, Kahne, Jones, Menard and Kurt Busch. 

After the first hour, Harvick (136.358) bumped Blaney to third. Then Elliott took over P1.

“I’m pretty please with the balance,” Elliott said. “I think I could have hit 3 and 4 better.”

McMurray passed Elliott with a lap of 136.612mph, but his time at the top was short-lived. Kyle Busch surpassed him with a lap of 136.877mph followed by Hamlin’s single-lap speed of 136.945mph. With 15-minutes to go, Logano moved up to fourth (136.498mph).

Elliott bounced back to the top spot with eight minutes remaining in the session. Truex vaulted to second with a speed of 137.242mph after 15 laps. 

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	26	26.207			137.368
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	15	26.231	0.024	0.024	137.242
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	27	26.288	0.081	0.057	136.945
4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	10	26.301	0.094	0.013	136.877
5	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	25	26.303	0.096	0.002	136.867
6	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	13	26.319	0.112	0.016	136.783
7	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	17	26.352	0.145	0.033	136.612
8	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	15	26.365	0.158	0.013	136.545
9	22	Joey Logano	Ford	33	26.374	0.167	0.009	136.498
10	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	22	26.379	0.172	0.005	136.472
11	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	21	26.401	0.194	0.022	136.358
12	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	22	26.410	0.203	0.009	136.312
13	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	12	26.437	0.230	0.027	136.173
14	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	30	26.455	0.248	0.018	136.080
15	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	26	26.463	0.256	0.008	136.039
16	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	18	26.492	0.285	0.029	135.890
17	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	17	26.502	0.295	0.010	135.839
18	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	24	26.529	0.322	0.027	135.701
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	13	26.531	0.324	0.002	135.690
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	14	26.550	0.343	0.019	135.593
21	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	13	26.556	0.349	0.006	135.563
22	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	18	26.565	0.358	0.009	135.517
23	38	David Ragan	Ford	22	26.617	0.410	0.052	135.252
24	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	26	26.622	0.415	0.005	135.227
25	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	20	26.633	0.426	0.011	135.171
26	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	24	26.649	0.442	0.016	135.089
27	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	25	26.651	0.444	0.002	135.079
28	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	25	26.687	0.480	0.036	134.897
29	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	14	26.742	0.535	0.055	134.620
30	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	15	26.841	0.634	0.099	134.123
31	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	33	26.843	0.636	0.002	134.113
32	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	21	26.928	0.721	0.085	133.690
33	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	16	27.199	0.992	0.271	132.358
34	15	D.J. Kennington	Chevrolet	23	27.586	1.379	0.387	130.501
35	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	14	27.608	1.401	0.022	130.397
36	7	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	16	27.649	1.442	0.041	130.204
37	66	David Starr	Chevrolet	16	27.869	1.662	0.220	129.176
38	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	16	28.044	1.837	0.175	128.370
39	00	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	2	28.308	2.101	0.264	127.173