Chase Elliott tops Kyle Busch in final Cup practice

Elliott posted his session-best average lap speed of 134.213 mph early-on and an HMS driver has now led the last five Cup Series practice sessions dating back to Las Vegas two weeks ago.

Kyle Busch ended up second (134.203 mph) and Aric Almirola was third (133.655 mph). Last week’s winner, Alex Bowman, ended up fourth and Ty Dillon completed the top-five.

“Just a little tight right there,” Bowman said of his final practice run, “but not bad. Bowman’s crew chief, Greg Ives, responded, “I think we’ve got a pretty good car right there.”

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Completing the top-10 speeds were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Joey Logano, William Byron, Erik Jones and Brad Keselowski. Byron was fastest in Friday’s first practice.

Kevin Harvick ended up with the best average lap speed (131.645 mph) among the drivers who ran 10 consecutive laps. Keselowski and Logano were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Three drivers had to serve penalties in final practice.

J.J. Yeley had to sit out the final 15 minutes for being late out of the garage to inspection. Kurt Busch missed the final 15 minutes for his car failing inspection twice last weekend. Martin Truex Jr. had to sit out the final 30 minutes for his car failing inspection three times last weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	48	26.823			134.213
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	33	26.825	0.002	0.002	134.203
3	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	50	26.935	0.112	0.110	133.655
4	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	34	26.986	0.163	0.051	133.403
5	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	51	27.013	0.190	0.027	133.269
6	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	34	27.112	0.289	0.099	132.783
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	59	27.135	0.312	0.023	132.670
8	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	48	27.140	0.317	0.005	132.646
9	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	50	27.146	0.323	0.006	132.616
10	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	67	27.166	0.343	0.020	132.519
11	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	65	27.168	0.345	0.002	132.509
12	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	48	27.173	0.350	0.005	132.484
13	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	53	27.176	0.353	0.003	132.470
14	95	Christopher Bell	Toyota	36	27.193	0.370	0.017	132.387
15	37	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	33	27.227	0.404	0.034	132.222
16	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	46	27.241	0.418	0.014	132.154
17	41	Cole Custer	Ford	63	27.254	0.431	0.013	132.091
18	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	39	27.269	0.446	0.015	132.018
19	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	51	27.276	0.453	0.007	131.984
20	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	51	27.276	0.453	0.000	131.984
21	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	32	27.314	0.491	0.038	131.801
22	8	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	52	27.320	0.497	0.006	131.772
23	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	45	27.342	0.519	0.022	131.666
24	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	39	27.400	0.577	0.058	131.387
25	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	25	27.422	0.599	0.022	131.281
26	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	26	27.423	0.600	0.001	131.277
27	6	Ross Chastain	Ford	34	27.462	0.639	0.039	131.090
28	38	John Hunter Nemechek	Ford	38	27.488	0.665	0.026	130.966
29	17	Chris Buescher	Ford	31	27.490	0.667	0.002	130.957
30	32	Corey Lajoie	Ford	14	27.551	0.728	0.061	130.667
31	52	J.J. Yeley	Ford	12	27.899	1.076	0.348	129.037
32	15	Brennan Poole	Chevrolet	31	27.947	1.124	0.048	128.815
33	96	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	47	27.950	1.127	0.003	128.801
34	00	Quin Houff	Chevrolet	26	28.304	1.481	0.354	127.191
35	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	17	28.423	1.600	0.119	126.658
36	51	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	7	28.438	1.615	0.015	126.591
37	77	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	8	28.660	1.837	0.222	125.611
38	53	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	4	28.742	1.919	0.082	125.252