Erik Jones leads final Cup practice at Pocono
Erik Jones topped Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Pocono Raceway.
Photo by: Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
Jones’ average lap speed of 172.117 mph came in ahead of Kurt Busch (172.051 mph), who posted his speed in the final minutes of the 55-minute session. Matt DiBenedetto ended up third (171.373 mph).
William Byron was fourth and Kyle Busch – who has won three of the last four races at Pocono – completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top 10 speeds were Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Preece, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell.
Byron ended up with the fastest average lap speed (169.766 mph) among those who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Hamlin and Kyle Busch were second and third-fastest, respectively, in that category.
Just as final practice was scheduled to get underway, Richard Petty Motorsports elected to change engines in Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Chevrolet.
The move means Wallace will start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are also starting from the back after moving to backup cars.
About 39 mins into final practice, Larson was able to get his backup car on track for a couple laps. Elliott got on track with his backup shortly afterward.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 28 | 52.290 | 172.117 | |||
2 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 19 | 52.310 | 0.020 | 0.020 | 172.051 | |
3 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 20 | 52.517 | 0.227 | 0.207 | 171.373 | |
4 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 33 | 52.556 | 0.266 | 0.039 | 171.246 | |
5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 34 | 52.562 | 0.272 | 0.006 | 171.226 | |
6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 26 | 52.703 | 0.413 | 0.141 | 170.768 | |
7 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 27 | 52.733 | 0.443 | 0.030 | 170.671 | |
8 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 23 | 52.765 | 0.475 | 0.032 | 170.568 | |
9 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 38 | 52.784 | 0.494 | 0.019 | 170.506 | |
10 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 16 | 52.789 | 0.499 | 0.005 | 170.490 | |
11 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 42 | 52.795 | 0.505 | 0.006 | 170.471 | |
12 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 18 | 52.825 | 0.535 | 0.030 | 170.374 | |
13 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 30 | 52.977 | 0.687 | 0.152 | 169.885 | |
14 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 31 | 52.983 | 0.693 | 0.006 | 169.866 | |
15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 24 | 52.989 | 0.699 | 0.006 | 169.847 | |
16 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 26 | 53.004 | 0.714 | 0.015 | 169.799 | |
17 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 22 | 53.006 | 0.716 | 0.002 | 169.792 | |
18 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 21 | 53.067 | 0.777 | 0.061 | 169.597 | |
19 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 25 | 53.069 | 0.779 | 0.002 | 169.591 | |
20 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 30 | 53.182 | 0.892 | 0.113 | 169.230 | |
21 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 24 | 53.196 | 0.906 | 0.014 | 169.186 | |
22 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 21 | 53.236 | 0.946 | 0.040 | 169.059 | |
23 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 21 | 53.273 | 0.983 | 0.037 | 168.941 | |
24 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 10 | 53.377 | 1.087 | 0.104 | 168.612 | |
25 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 18 | 53.382 | 1.092 | 0.005 | 168.596 | |
26 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 9 | 53.426 | 1.136 | 0.044 | 168.457 | |
27 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 28 | 53.525 | 1.235 | 0.099 | 168.146 | |
28 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 24 | 53.543 | 1.253 | 0.018 | 168.089 | |
29 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 9 | 54.078 | 1.788 | 0.535 | 166.426 | |
30 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 14 | 54.120 | 1.830 | 0.042 | 166.297 | |
31 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 2 | 54.533 | 2.243 | 0.413 | 165.038 | |
32 | 51 | B.J. McLeod | Ford | 11 | 55.165 | 2.875 | 0.632 | 163.147 | |
33 | 77 | Quin Houff | Chevrolet | 5 | 55.800 | 3.510 | 0.635 | 161.290 | |
34 | 27 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | 16 | 55.952 | 3.662 | 0.152 | 160.852 | |
35 | 52 | Austin Theriault | Ford | 15 | 56.400 | 4.110 | 0.448 | 159.574 |
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