Kahne and Earnhardt lead final practice at Talladega

Kahne led the way with a lap of 191.222mph followed by Earnhardt, Kurt Busch, Trevor Bayne, Elliott, Paul Menard, Brad Keselowski, Landon Cassill, Kevin Harvick and Chris Buescher.

“I think we can do well at Talladega,” said Kahne, who completed 13 laps. “Unfortunately, you can’t control everything at Talladega, though. Sometimes you are unlucky and that’s just part of what happens there. We had a strong finish there earlier this year and all we can do is focus on everything we can control.”

With 23 drivers in time out due to practice holds in Happy Hour, only six cars attempted to complete laps in the first 10 minutes of the session.

Kurt Busch led the way with a lap of 189.898mph followed by Menard, Ty Dillon, Cassill, David Ragan and Jeffrey Earnhardt.

Brad Keselowski completed three laps with a top circuit of 187.949mph moved up to fifth.

NASCAR released the first group of drivers with 15-minute practice holds including Austin Dillon, Danica Patrick, Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Kyle Busch, Daniel Suarez, Matt Kenseth, DJ Kennington, Chris Buescher, Jimmie Johnson and Michael McDowell. Martin Truex Jr. and AJ Allmendinger.

Truex, Allmendinger, Bowyer and Stenhouse returned to the garage.

Seventeen cars took laps before the 25-minute mark. Kurt Busch retained the top spot, followed by Keselowski (188.645mph), Cassill, Buescher, Logano, Menard, Ty Dillon, Ragan, Austin Dillon, Johnson, Jeffrey Earnhardt, Cole Whitt, Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick, McDowell, and Suarez.

“We’re all good, we’ve been released,” the No. 77 team told Erik Jones, who was one of eight drivers with 30-minute practice holds which also included Jamie McMurray, Harvick, Kahne, Trevor Bayne, Chase Elliott, Matt DiBenedetto and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

“You can release the 6,” said NASCAR radio channel to Bayne. NASCAR released DiBenedetto next.

The Hendrick Motorsports duo of Kahne (191.222mph) and Earnhardt (191.069mph) vaulted to the top of the speed chart in the draft. Kurt Busch dropped to third followed by Elliott, Bayne, Keselowski, Cassill, Harvick, Buescher, Logano, McMurray, Paul Menard, Ty Dillon, Johnson, Kenseth, Suarez, Dillon, Ragan, Jeffrey Earnhardt and Cole Whitt.

“It felt really good,” Kahne said. “Good back to start-finish.”

With 15 minutes remaining, 23 cars had made laps. Kurt Busch’s 15-laps were the most completed. He finished the session with 21 laps on the board.

“Thanks everybody, the car feels sporty,” said Kurt Busch, who remained third of the speed chart. “Thank you.”

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	13	50.078			191.222
2	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	13	50.118	0.040	0.040	191.069
3	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	21	50.332	0.254	0.214	190.257
4	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	5	50.373	0.295	0.041	190.102
5	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	15	50.472	0.394	0.099	189.729
6	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	14	50.532	0.454	0.060	189.504
7	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	9	50.762	0.684	0.230	188.645
8	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	7	50.766	0.688	0.004	188.630
9	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	6	50.787	0.709	0.021	188.552
10	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	4	50.792	0.714	0.005	188.534
11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	11	50.830	0.752	0.038	188.393
12	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	2	50.832	0.754	0.002	188.385
13	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	5	50.871	0.793	0.039	188.241
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	15	50.944	0.866	0.073	187.971
15	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	9	51.081	1.003	0.137	187.467
16	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	9	51.104	1.026	0.023	187.383
17	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	15	51.116	1.038	0.012	187.339
18	38	David Ragan	Ford	10	51.130	1.052	0.014	187.287
19	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	12	51.880	1.802	0.750	184.580
20	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	13	52.300	2.222	0.420	183.098
21	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	3	59.164	9.086	6.864	161.855
22	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	2	59.296	9.218	0.132	161.495
23	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	3	59.712	9.634	0.416	160.370