Ryan Blaney fastest in Saturday morning practice at Roval

Blaney’s average lap speed of 101.882 mph topped the 50-minute session and was set early. Ryan Preece was second (101.445 mph) and Joey Logano was third (101.387 mph).

Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five.

“We’re in a better spot this year (in the playoffs) than what we were last year. I think we were only four points about the cutoff line last year and I thought we executed the day really well from getting stage points in the first stage and then winning the second one,” Blaney said.

“That was kind of our goal. Every team around the cutoff line are going to have their certain goals and how they’re going to play the race out, and we kind of have our slight idea and plan of what we’ve talked about this week.

“You just try to have a solid day.”

Rounding out the top-10 single-lap speeds were pole-winner William Byron, Kyle Larson, Chase Elliott, Chris Buescher and Matt DiBenedetto.

Larson had the best average speed (100.358 mph) among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. DiBenedetto and Kurt Busch were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Early in the session, Kyle Busch spun in Turn 4 and hit the tire barrier but was able to drive off under power. His No. 18 Toyota did not appear to suffer any significant damage.

Daniel Suarez wheel-hopped and missed the final turn of the frontstretch chicane but was able to continue on without further incident.

Matt Tifft spun in Turn 4 late in the session but didn’t hit anything and was able to continue on.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	21	1'21.977			101.882
2	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	17	1'22.330	0.353	0.353	101.445
3	22	Joey Logano		Ford	20	1'22.377	0.40	0.047	101.388
4	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	19	1'22.456	0.479	0.079	101.290
5	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	17	1'22.507	0.530	0.051	101.228
6	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	22	1'22.520	0.543	0.013	101.212
7	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	21	1'22.618	0.641	0.098	101.092
8	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	20	1'22.696	0.719	0.078	100.996
9	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	15	1'22.728	0.751	0.032	100.957
10	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	22	1'22.783	0.806	0.055	100.890
11	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	15	1'22.920	0.943	0.137	100.724
12	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	21	1'22.945	0.968	0.025	100.693
13	21	Paul Menard		Ford	14	1'22.976	0.999	0.031	100.656
14	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	21	1'22.989	1.012	0.013	100.640
15	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	23	1'23.035	1.058	0.046	100.584
16	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	16	1'23.060	1.083	0.025	100.554
17	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	20	1'23.081	1.104	0.021	100.528
18	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	19	1'23.108	1.131	0.027	100.496
19	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	22	1'23.133	1.156	0.025	100.466
20	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	16	1'23.211	1.234	0.078	100.371
21	38	David Ragan		Ford	20	1'23.226	1.249	0.015	100.353
22	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	19	1'23.249	1.272	0.023	100.326
23	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	21	1'23.269	1.292	0.020	100.301
24	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	19	1'23.297	1.320	0.028	100.268
25	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	20	1'23.380	1.403	0.083	100.168
26	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	17	1'23.562	1.585	0.182	99.950
27	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	21	1'23.581	1.604	0.019	99.927
28	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	20	1'23.590	1.613	0.009	99.916
29	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	21	1'23.674	1.697	0.084	99.816
30	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	28	1'23.946	1.969	0.272	99.493
31	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	17	1'24.212	2.235	0.266	99.178
32	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	16	1'24.743	2.766	0.531	98.557
33	53	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	6	1'25.207	3.230	0.464	98.020
34	51	Cody Ware		Chevrolet	6	1'25.210	3.233	0.003	98.017
35	52	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	8	1'25.299	3.322	0.089	97.914
36	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	18	1'25.638	3.661	0.339	97.527
37	66	Timmy Hill		Toyota	3	1'26.790	4.813	1.152	96.232
38	27	Joe Nemechek		Chevrolet	4	1'27.543	5.566	0.753	95.405
39	96	Parker Kligerman		Toyota	10	1'27.853	5.876	0.310	95.068
40	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	5	1'29.414	7.437	1.561	93.408