Larson tops final Sonoma practice; Elliott and Jones crash

His run of 94.389mph held up throughout the 85-minute session at Sonoma Raceway on Friday.

Kyle Busch was second followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., AJ Allmendinger, Jamie McMurray, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Clint Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr.

Earnhardt, whose average finish of seventh in the last three races tops the tour, says his car was quick when the No. 88 team unloaded earlier this morning.

“The last couple of trips here our car has been really good off the truck,” Earnhardt said. “That makes things a lot easier in the garage and trying to make the car better and make changes. It gives you a lot of confidence that whatever doesn’t work you can always go back and still have that speed.”

Click on image to watch Larson talk about his day at Sonoma.

Jones finds the tire barrier

Two minutes into the session, Cole Whitt spun in his own oil coming up Turn 2 to bring out the first caution. Moments later, Erik Jones hit the tire wall in the carousel before completing his first lap.

“I just got some wheel hop and then got loose and hit the fence,” Jones said after he was evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center. “I just got some wheel hop and then got loose and hit the fence. I’ve been frustrated all day and this just compounds that. We have to get the backup out and try to learn more and try to get some speed out of the 5-hour ENERGY Camry.”

The No. 77 Furniture Row team pulled out the backup for Jones.

“I don’t have a lot of road course experience anyways and then to get thrown into the fire,” Jones added. “I wish we could do any kind of testing anywhere. It’s hard to show up and get out there to do it. Just one of those things trying to learn and you make a mistake.”

Only two drivers — Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch — had completed laps prior to the caution. Larson’s circuit of 94.389mph placed him at the top of the speed chart.

Cars returned to the track with 70 minutes remaining in the 85-minute session. After the first five minutes, 15 drivers had completed laps with Larson retaining the top spot followed by Kurt Busch (93.851mph), Joey Logano (92.765mph), Michael McDowell (92.485mph), Ryan Newman (92.393mph), Ryan Blaney (92.253mph), David Ragan (91.881mph) and Chris Buescher (91.541mph).

With an hour remaining, Kevin Harvick jumped up to third (93.849mph) followed by Chase Elliott (93.640mph), Martin Truex Jr. (92.997mph) and Kyle Busch (92.852mph). Logano, Trevor Bayne, Danica Patrick and McDowell rounded out the top 10.

Jamie McMurray joined his Ganassi teammate at the top of the speed chart with a lap of 94.017mph with 40 minutes to go. Dale Earnhardt Jr. vaulted to eighth-quick with a la of 92.913mph.

Half-way through Happy Hour, Larson led followed by McMurray, Kurt Busch, Harvick, Clint Bowyer (93.802mph), Elliott, Trevor Bayne (93.166mph), Truex, Earnhardt and Kyle Busch.

Patrick posted the seventh fastest lap (93.631mph) at the 35-minute mark. McDowell’s 16 laps were the most completed at that juncture.

Jones returned to the track for the first time in his back-up car with 25-minutes to go. Earnhardt bumped up to second (94.242mph) with 20 minutes left in the session.

Elliott in trouble at Turn 10

Chase Elliott destroyed the No. 24 Chevy in Turn 10 with 15 minutes remaining to bring out the yellow flag.

“Sorry guys,” said Elliott, who was running his ninth lap of the session. Elliott was seventh on the speed chart with a quick-lap of 93.640mph.

The track returned to green with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Kyle Busch vaulted to P2 with a lap of 93.344mph on his 18th lap. Truex also returned to the top 10 with a lap of 93.679mph. Moments later, Brad Keselowski bumped Truex to 10th with a lap of 93.729mph.

In the final minute, AJ Allmendinger vaulted to fourth with a single-lap speed of 94.221mph.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	30	75.899			94.389
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	18	75.935	0.036	0.036	94.344
3	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	16	76.017	0.118	0.082	94.242
4	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	19	76.034	0.135	0.017	94.221
5	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	21	76.199	0.300	0.165	94.017
6	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	18	76.334	0.435	0.135	93.851
7	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	18	76.335	0.436	0.001	93.849
8	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	12	76.374	0.475	0.039	93.802
9	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	21	76.433	0.534	0.059	93.729
10	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	19	76.474	0.575	0.041	93.679
11	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	8	76.506	0.607	0.032	93.640
12	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	15	76.513	0.614	0.007	93.631
13	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	15	76.541	0.642	0.028	93.597
14	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	14	76.549	0.650	0.008	93.587
15	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	20	76.610	0.711	0.061	93.513
16	22	Joey Logano	Ford	11	76.639	0.740	0.029	93.477
17	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	12	76.684	0.785	0.045	93.422
18	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	9	76.740	0.841	0.056	93.354
19	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	17	76.792	0.893	0.052	93.291
20	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	13	76.792	0.893	0.000	93.291
21	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	15	76.858	0.959	0.066	93.211
22	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	17	76.895	0.996	0.037	93.166
23	23	Alon Day	Toyota	12	76.934	1.035	0.039	93.119
24	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	20	76.935	1.036	0.001	93.118
25	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	13	76.953	1.054	0.018	93.096
26	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	5	77.333	1.434	0.380	92.638
27	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	27	77.357	1.458	0.024	92.610
28	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	18	77.446	1.547	0.089	92.503
29	43	Billy Johnson	Ford	27	77.708	1.809	0.262	92.191
30	38	David Ragan	Ford	16	77.970	2.071	0.262	91.881
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	24	78.277	2.378	0.307	91.521
32	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	18	78.333	2.434	0.056	91.456
33	33	Boris Said	Chevrolet	22	78.557	2.658	0.224	91.195
34	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	7	78.619	2.720	0.062	91.123
35	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	1	78.636	2.737	0.017	91.103
36	51	Josh Bilicki	Chevrolet	2	79.025	3.126	0.389	90.655
37	15	Kevin O'Connell	Chevrolet	12	80.160	4.261	1.135	89.371
38	55	Tommy Regan	Chevrolet	2	81.836	5.937	1.676	87.541