Ryan Newman tops Chase Elliott in final Darlington practice


Ryan Newman ended up fastest in Friday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
Newman’s posted a best average lap speed of 171.698 mph very early in the 50-minute session. Chase Elliott ended up second (171.512 mph) and Jimmie Johnson third (171.023 mph). They were the only driver to cross eclipse the 171 mph mark.
Kyle Busch was fourth fastest and Kurt Busch completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney and Alex Bowman.
Newman is still looking for his first win of the season in the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. His best finish this year was sixth at New Hampshire last month.
“Really good balance-wise, end-to-end on the race track,” Newman said of his car over the radio during his last run on the track.
About 20 minutes into the session, Denny Hamlin – who was fastest in Friday’s first practice – scraped the outside wall but the damage didn’t appear to be very serious.
Shortly afterwards, Aric Almirola also made contact with the wall, but his damage on the No. 10 Ford seemed more substantial.
“Got the right side, bad,” Almirola said over his team radio. “I got it bad, I’m telling you.”
Cla | # | Driver | 4506 | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 31 | Chevrolet | 43 | 28.641 | 171.698 | |||
2 | 9 | Chevrolet | 38 | 28.672 | 0.031 | 0.031 | 171.512 | |
3 | 48 | Chevrolet | 35 | 28.754 | 0.113 | 0.082 | 171.023 | |
4 | 18 | Toyota | 46 | 28.771 | 0.130 | 0.017 | 170.922 | |
5 | 41 | Ford | 33 | 28.865 | 0.224 | 0.094 | 170.365 | |
6 | 6 | Ford | 26 | 28.920 | 0.279 | 0.055 | 170.041 | |
7 | 95 | Chevrolet | 32 | 28.949 | 0.308 | 0.029 | 169.871 | |
8 | 14 | Ford | 35 | 28.961 | 0.320 | 0.012 | 169.801 | |
9 | 12 | Ford | 43 | 28.967 | 0.326 | 0.006 | 169.766 | |
10 | 88 | Chevrolet | 42 | 29.014 | 0.373 | 0.047 | 169.491 | |
11 | 10 | Ford | 24 | 29.066 | 0.425 | 0.052 | 169.187 | |
12 | 22 | Ford | 62 | 29.103 | 0.462 | 0.037 | 168.972 | |
13 | 4 | Ford | 49 | 29.110 | 0.469 | 0.007 | 168.932 | |
14 | 20 | Toyota | 45 | 29.136 | 0.495 | 0.026 | 168.781 | |
15 | 11 | Toyota | 52 | 29.172 | 0.531 | 0.036 | 168.573 | |
16 | 2 | Ford | 42 | 29.174 | 0.533 | 0.002 | 168.561 | |
17 | 17 | Ford | 23 | 29.244 | 0.603 | 0.070 | 168.158 | |
18 | 21 | Ford | 43 | 29.298 | 0.657 | 0.054 | 167.848 | |
19 | 3 | Chevrolet | 34 | 29.300 | 0.659 | 0.002 | 167.836 | |
20 | 24 | Chevrolet | 43 | 29.310 | 0.669 | 0.010 | 167.779 | |
21 | 42 | Chevrolet | 29 | 29.321 | 0.680 | 0.011 | 167.716 | |
22 | 19 | Toyota | 32 | 29.332 | 0.691 | 0.011 | 167.653 | |
23 | 34 | Ford | 26 | 29.356 | 0.715 | 0.024 | 167.516 | |
24 | 78 | Toyota | 28 | 29.361 | 0.720 | 0.005 | 167.487 | |
25 | 32 | Ford | 30 | 29.376 | 0.735 | 0.015 | 167.402 | |
26 | 47 | Chevrolet | 27 | 29.470 | 0.829 | 0.094 | 166.868 | |
27 | 13 | Chevrolet | 23 | 29.478 | 0.837 | 0.008 | 166.823 | |
28 | 37 | Chevrolet | 26 | 29.529 | 0.888 | 0.051 | 166.535 | |
29 | 43 | Chevrolet | 25 | 29.531 | 0.890 | 0.002 | 166.523 | |
30 | 38 | Ford | 7 | 29.599 | 0.958 | 0.068 | 166.141 | |
31 | 1 | Chevrolet | 13 | 29.638 | 0.997 | 0.039 | 165.922 | |
32 | 72 | Chevrolet | 18 | 29.875 | 1.234 | 0.237 | 164.606 | |
33 | 96 | Toyota | 24 | 30.054 | 1.413 | 0.179 | 163.625 | |
34 | 00 | Chevrolet | 23 | 30.291 | 1.650 | 0.237 | 162.345 | |
35 | 15 | Chevrolet | 13 | 30.646 | 2.005 | 0.355 | 160.465 | |
36 | 99 | Chevrolet | 14 | 30.655 | 2.014 | 0.009 | 160.418 | |
37 | 66 | Toyota | 12 | 30.696 | 2.055 | 0.041 | 160.203 | |
38 | 52 | Chevrolet | 12 | 30.712 | 2.071 | 0.016 | 160.120 | |
39 | 51 | Chevrolet | 2 | 31.269 | 2.628 | 0.557 | 157.268 | |
40 | 23 | Toyota | 4 | 31.889 | 3.248 | 0.620 | 154.210 |

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About this article
Series | NASCAR Cup |
Event | Darlington |
Drivers | Ryan Newman , Chase Elliott |
Author | Jim Utter |