Practice report

NASCAR Cup Charlotte

Erik Jones fastest in final NASCAR Cup practice before Coke 600

Erik Jones led the way in the final practice before Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Jim Utter

Edited: May 26, 2018, 4:19 PM

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Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry Circle K

Jones’ No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota topped the speed chart with an average lap speed of 187.045 mph in the 50-minute session on Saturday.

Saturday morning’s first practice was rained out.

Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chevrolet was second (186.664 mph) while Ryan Blaney’s Ford was third (186.104 mph). Joey Logano was fourth and Jones’ JGR teammate, Denny Hamlin, completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray.

Logano ran the most laps (55) during the session.

As the session ended, NASCAR officials asked to notify Hamlin’s spotter to tell his driver to slow down as he entered and traveled through the garage area.

About 18 minutes into the session, Parker Kligerman spun off Turn 2 with a big plume of smoke but didn’t hit anything and the track remained green.

The teams of Kevin Harvick and J.J. Yeley both had to sit out the final 30 minutes of the 50-minute session because of NASCAR penalties. Yeley’s team was late to qualifying inspection on Friday and failed inspection twice.

Harvick’s No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford failed qualifying inspection three times on Friday. His car chief, Robert Smith, was also ejected for the weekend. He ended up 17-fastest with only 20 minutes on the track Saturday.

The teams of Aric Almirola, Kahne and Kligerman all had to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice for failing inspection twice on Friday.

Jones also had the fastest average lap speed of those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps 9184.579 mph). Larson was second and Hamlin third in that category.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 20 united_states Erik Jones Toyota 50 28.870 187.045 2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 43 28.929 0.059 0.059 186.664 3 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 35 29.016 0.146 0.087 186.104 4 22 Joey Logano Ford 55 29.025 0.155 0.009 186.047 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 49 29.042 0.172 0.017 185.938 6 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 45 29.081 0.211 0.039 185.688 7 41 united_states Kurt Busch Ford 45 29.085 0.215 0.004 185.663 8 21 Paul Menard Ford 35 29.117 0.247 0.032 185.459 9 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 26 29.167 0.297 0.050 185.141 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 40 29.178 0.308 0.011 185.071 11 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 46 29.185 0.315 0.007 185.027 12 9 united_states Chase Elliott Chevrolet 43 29.188 0.318 0.003 185.008 13 24 William Byron Chevrolet 49 29.205 0.335 0.017 184.900 14 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 42 29.211 0.341 0.006 184.862 15 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 30 29.219 0.349 0.008 184.811 16 10 Aric Almirola Ford 33 29.219 0.349 0.000 184.811 17 4 united_states Kevin Harvick Ford 21 29.228 0.358 0.009 184.754 18 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 39 29.238 0.368 0.010 184.691 19 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 37 29.272 0.402 0.034 184.477 20 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 51 29.281 0.411 0.009 184.420 21 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 43 29.282 0.412 0.001 184.414 22 2 united_states Brad Keselowski Ford 43 29.293 0.423 0.011 184.344 23 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 30 29.294 0.424 0.001 184.338 24 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 41 29.366 0.496 0.072 183.886 25 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 32 29.425 0.555 0.059 183.517 26 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 32 29.426 0.556 0.001 183.511 27 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto Ford 24 29.457 0.587 0.031 183.318 28 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 33 29.460 0.590 0.003 183.299 29 38 David Ragan Ford 30 29.546 0.676 0.086 182.766 30 6 Matt Kenseth Ford 20 29.596 0.726 0.050 182.457 31 34 Michael McDowell Ford 34 29.662 0.792 0.066 182.051 32 15 united_states Ross Chastain Chevrolet 22 29.740 0.870 0.078 181.574 33 96 Parker Kligerman Toyota 16 29.846 0.976 0.106 180.929 34 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 22 30.008 1.138 0.162 179.952 35 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 21 30.039 1.169 0.031 179.766 36 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 21 30.055 1.185 0.016 179.671 37 51 united_states B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 4 30.271 1.401 0.216 178.389 38 7 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 8 30.352 1.482 0.081 177.912 39 55 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 17 30.528 1.658 0.176 176.887 40 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 4 30.661 1.791 0.133 176.120

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