Aric Almirola fastest in final Cup practice at Texas

In Friday’s final 50-minute session, SHR driver Aric Almirola topped the speed chart with an average lap speed of 188.561 mph. Denny Hamlin was second (188.350 mph) and SHR teammate Clint Bowyer was third (188.258 mph).

Bowyer also was fastest in Friday’s first practice. SHR teammate Kevin Harvick ended up fourth and Kurt completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 single-car speeds were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., William Byron, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and Martin Truex Jr.

About 20 minutes into the session, a caution was displayed as Timmy Hill’s No. 66 Toyota stalled on pit road. Practice resumed a few minutes later.

Bowyer had the fastest average speed (187.267 mph) among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Harvick and Hamlin were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	50	28.638			188.561
2	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	36	28.670	00.032	00.032	188.350
3	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	48	28.684	00.046	00.014	188.258
4	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	51	28.738	00.100	00.054	187.905
5	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	46	28.760	00.122	00.022	187.761
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	36	28.769	00.131	00.009	187.702
7	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	36	28.775	00.137	00.006	187.663
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	32	28.777	00.139	00.002	187.650
9	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	35	28.792	00.154	00.015	187.552
10	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	41	28.808	00.170	00.016	187.448
11	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	39	28.813	00.175	00.005	187.415
12	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	30	28.828	00.190	00.015	187.318
13	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	54	28.837	00.199	00.009	187.259
14	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	27	28.856	00.218	00.019	187.136
15	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	42	28.871	00.233	00.015	187.039
16	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	62	28.879	00.241	00.008	186.987
17	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	38	28.880	00.242	00.001	186.981
18	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	28	28.886	00.248	00.006	186.942
19	21	Paul Menard		Ford	35	28.888	00.250	00.002	186.929
20	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	41	28.903	00.265	00.015	186.832
21	22	Joey Logano		Ford	40	28.919	00.281	00.016	186.728
22	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	52	28.919	00.281	00.000	186.728
23	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	34	28.932	00.294	00.013	186.645
24	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	39	28.938	00.300	00.006	186.606
25	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	33	28.946	00.308	00.008	186.554
26	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	53	29.036	00.398	00.090	185.976
27	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	28	29.036	00.398	00.000	185.976
28	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	24	29.089	00.451	00.053	185.637
29	38	David Ragan		Ford	34	29.194	00.556	00.105	184.970
30	96	Parker Kligerman		Toyota	20	29.201	00.563	00.007	184.925
31	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	33	29.221	00.583	00.020	184.799
32	36	John Hunter Nemechek		Ford	40	29.410	00.772	00.189	183.611
33	53	J.J. Yeley		Ford	14	29.446	00.808	00.036	183.387
34	51	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	3	29.970	01.332	00.524	180.180
35	66	Timmy Hill		Toyota	2	31.567	02.929	01.597	171.065