Joey Logano tops Kyle Busch in final Cup practice at Michigan

Logano’s average lap speed of 197.580 mph just edged Kyle Busch (197.520 mph). Alex Bowman was third (197.320 mph). Kevin Harvick was fourth and Kyle Larson completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Ryan Blaney, pole winner Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer – who won the spring race at Michigan, Erik Jones and rookie William Byron.

“That just seemed to have more security compared to that last run,” Bowman said of his last run over his team radio. “Still really just limited by that tight spot at max load right in the center, getting it rotated and pointed.

“Entry, stayed really good there, no complaints.”

Hamlin was fastest in practice Friday and won the pole for Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 but was having difficulty replicating that speed on Saturday.

“It’s still making me really slow during the first couple of laps,” Hamlin said over his team radio. He was having issues with his splitter.

Jones ended up with the fastest average lap speed among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (196.078 mph). Blaney and Larson were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Just minutes into the session, last week’s race winner, Chase Elliott, got loose and spun exiting Turn 4. He didn’t appear to hit anything with his No. 9 Chevrolet and only briefly ran into the infield grass.

Elliott made it back out on the track after repairs about 45 minutes into the session. He ended up 18th-fastest.

Michael McDowell was forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice on Friday at Michigan.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	22	Joey Logano	Ford	34	36.441			197.580
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	44	36.452	0.011	0.011	197.520
3	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	41	36.489	0.048	0.037	197.320
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	41	36.509	0.068	0.020	197.212
5	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	38	36.515	0.074	0.006	197.179
6	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	35	36.521	0.080	0.006	197.147
7	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	37	36.564	0.123	0.043	196.915
8	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	43	36.572	0.131	0.008	196.872
9	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	33	36.573	0.132	0.001	196.867
10	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	39	36.587	0.146	0.014	196.791
11	21	Paul Menard	Ford	40	36.610	0.169	0.023	196.668
12	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	27	36.630	0.189	0.020	196.560
13	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	42	36.641	0.200	0.011	196.501
14	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	28	36.652	0.211	0.011	196.442
15	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	50	36.655	0.214	0.003	196.426
16	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	40	36.671	0.230	0.016	196.340
17	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	26	36.686	0.245	0.015	196.260
18	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	29	36.697	0.256	0.011	196.201
19	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	26	36.739	0.298	0.042	195.977
20	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	31	36.750	0.309	0.011	195.918
21	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	32	36.775	0.334	0.025	195.785
22	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	28	36.879	0.438	0.104	195.233
23	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	24	36.903	0.462	0.024	195.106
24	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	31	36.906	0.465	0.003	195.090
25	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	20	36.913	0.472	0.007	195.053
26	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	31	37.062	0.621	0.149	194.269
27	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	23	37.133	0.692	0.071	193.898
28	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	27	37.148	0.707	0.015	193.819
29	38	David Ragan	Ford	23	37.228	0.787	0.080	193.403
30	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	24	37.239	0.798	0.011	193.346
31	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	11	37.430	0.989	0.191	192.359
32	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	22	37.524	1.083	0.094	191.877
33	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	24	37.884	1.443	0.360	190.054
34	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	24	37.895	1.454	0.011	189.999
35	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	10	37.939	1.498	0.044	189.778
36	23	Jones Blake	Toyota	28	39.372	2.931	1.433	182.871