David Ragan tops final practice at Bristol; Kurt Busch crashes

Team driver David Ragan paced Saturday’s final practice with an average lap speed of 127.487 mph, which he sent early in the session.

Ragan’s FRR teammate, Michael McDowell, who qualified ninth on Friday, ended the final session fifth-fastest (126.295 mph).

Chase Elliott was second-fastest (127.073 mph), Denny Hamlin (126.997 mph) was third and Kurt Busch fourth (126.537 mph).

“Our Front Row Motorsports Fords have a little bit of speed in them. I think the track is going to change a tremendous amount between Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so we’ve got to be really methodical on how we adjust our race car and our balance,” Ragan said Saturday.

“Not only is the grip level changing a lot, I think the groove is going to change some. It’s good to know that our cars do have some speed and if we can get the balance close, so we just have to stay on top of the track conditions.”

In the final three minutes of practice, Kurt Busch spun off Turn 2 and slammed into the inside wall, doing extensive damage to his No. 41 Ford.

Busch had qualified second for Sunday’s race. His Stewart-Haas Racing team will have to move to a backup car, which will mean he will have to start the race from the rear of the field.

"I had 45 laps on the tires and was trying to get to 50," said Busch. "The setup changes dramatically with air-pressure builds and the VHT changing, so I was just trying to do as much research as I could," Busch said after the incident. "The lap times were really good in the car and then, boom, there’s just no forgiveness right now with how many variables there are.”

Busch will join SHR Kevin Harvick starting from the rear of the field on Sunday. Harvick wrecked in Friday’s practice and also had to move to a backup car.

Two drivers – Austin Dillon and Landon Cassill – were forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session because their cars both failed pre-qualifying inspection twice on Friday.

la	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	38	David Ragan	Ford	71	15.051			126.769
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	75	15.100	0.049	0.049	126.358
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	63	15.109	0.058	0.009	126.282
4	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	69	15.164	0.113	0.055	125.824
5	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	17	15.193	0.142	0.029	125.584
6	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	61	15.204	0.153	0.011	125.493
7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	70	15.213	0.162	0.009	125.419
8	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	56	15.215	0.164	0.002	125.403
9	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	56	15.219	0.168	0.004	125.370
10	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	95	15.226	0.175	0.007	125.312
11	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	65	15.228	0.177	0.002	125.296
12	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	58	15.255	0.204	0.027	125.074
13	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	55	15.256	0.205	0.001	125.066
14	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	46	15.259	0.208	0.003	125.041
15	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	61	15.260	0.209	0.001	125.033
16	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	48	15.269	0.218	0.009	124.959
17	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	63	15.278	0.227	0.009	124.885
18	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	63	15.291	0.240	0.013	124.779
19	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	65	15.294	0.243	0.003	124.755
20	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	80	15.303	0.252	0.009	124.681
21	22	Joey Logano	Ford	58	15.305	0.254	0.002	124.665
22	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	68	15.310	0.259	0.005	124.624
23	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	33	15.318	0.267	0.008	124.559
24	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	47	15.321	0.270	0.003	124.535
25	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	34	15.334	0.283	0.013	124.429
26	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	63	15.358	0.307	0.024	124.235
27	21	Paul Menard	Ford	55	15.367	0.316	0.009	124.162
28	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	93	15.375	0.324	0.008	124.098
29	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	52	15.379	0.328	0.004	124.065
30	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	40	15.386	0.335	0.007	124.009
31	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	6	15.402	0.351	0.016	123.880
32	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	11	15.515	0.464	0.113	122.978
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	43	15.523	0.472	0.008	122.914
34	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	25	15.586	0.535	0.063	122.418
35	96	D.J. Kennington	Toyota	44	15.721	0.670	0.135	121.366
36	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	31	15.744	0.693	0.023	121.189
37	51	Harrison Rhodes	Chevrolet	45	15.757	0.706	0.013	121.089
38	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	30	15.870	0.819	0.113	120.227