Chase Elliott tops Kyle Busch in final Cup practice
Chase Elliott continued Hendrick Motorsports’ recent performance upsurge, topping Friday’s final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix Raceway.

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 | Chevrolet | 48 | 26.823 | 134.213 | ||||
2 | 18 | Toyota | 33 | 26.825 | 0.002 | 0.002 | 134.203 | ||
3 | 10 | Ford | 50 | 26.935 | 0.112 | 0.110 | 133.655 | ||
4 | 88 | Chevrolet | 34 | 26.986 | 0.163 | 0.051 | 133.403 | ||
5 | 13 | Chevrolet | 51 | 27.013 | 0.190 | 0.027 | 133.269 | ||
6 | 47 | Chevrolet | 34 | 27.112 | 0.289 | 0.099 | 132.783 | ||
7 | 22 | Ford | 59 | 27.135 | 0.312 | 0.023 | 132.670 | ||
8 | 24 | Chevrolet | 48 | 27.140 | 0.317 | 0.005 | 132.646 | ||
9 | 20 | Toyota | 50 | 27.146 | 0.323 | 0.006 | 132.616 | ||
10 | 2 | Ford | 67 | 27.166 | 0.343 | 0.020 | 132.519 | ||
11 | 12 | Ford | 65 | 27.168 | 0.345 | 0.002 | 132.509 | ||
12 | 1 | Chevrolet | 48 | 27.173 | 0.350 | 0.005 | 132.484 | ||
13 | 4 | Ford | 53 | 27.176 | 0.353 | 0.003 | 132.470 | ||
14 | 95 | Toyota | 36 | 27.193 | 0.370 | 0.017 | 132.387 | ||
15 | 37 | Chevrolet | 33 | 27.227 | 0.404 | 0.034 | 132.222 | ||
16 | 11 | Toyota | 46 | 27.241 | 0.418 | 0.014 | 132.154 | ||
17 | 41 | Ford | 63 | 27.254 | 0.431 | 0.013 | 132.091 | ||
18 | 14 | Ford | 39 | 27.269 | 0.446 | 0.015 | 132.018 | ||
19 | 48 | Chevrolet | 51 | 27.276 | 0.453 | 0.007 | 131.984 | ||
20 | 21 | Ford | 51 | 27.276 | 0.453 | 0.000 | 131.984 | ||
21 | 42 | Chevrolet | 32 | 27.314 | 0.491 | 0.038 | 131.801 | ||
22 | 8 | Chevrolet | 52 | 27.320 | 0.497 | 0.006 | 131.772 | ||
23 | 3 | Chevrolet | 45 | 27.342 | 0.519 | 0.022 | 131.666 | ||
24 | 34 | Ford | 39 | 27.400 | 0.577 | 0.058 | 131.387 | ||
25 | 19 | Toyota | 25 | 27.422 | 0.599 | 0.022 | 131.281 | ||
26 | 43 | Chevrolet | 26 | 27.423 | 0.600 | 0.001 | 131.277 | ||
27 | 6 | Ford | 34 | 27.462 | 0.639 | 0.039 | 131.090 | ||
28 | 38 | Ford | 38 | 27.488 | 0.665 | 0.026 | 130.966 | ||
29 | 17 | Ford | 31 | 27.490 | 0.667 | 0.002 | 130.957 | ||
30 | 32 | Ford | 14 | 27.551 | 0.728 | 0.061 | 130.667 | ||
31 | 52 | Ford | 12 | 27.899 | 1.076 | 0.348 | 129.037 | ||
32 | 15 | Chevrolet | 31 | 27.947 | 1.124 | 0.048 | 128.815 | ||
33 | 96 | Toyota | 47 | 27.950 | 1.127 | 0.003 | 128.801 | ||
34 | 00 | Chevrolet | 26 | 28.304 | 1.481 | 0.354 | 127.191 | ||
35 | 66 | Toyota | 17 | 28.423 | 1.600 | 0.119 | 126.658 | ||
36 | 51 | Chevrolet | 7 | 28.438 | 1.615 | 0.015 | 126.591 | ||
37 | 77 | Chevrolet | 8 | 28.660 | 1.837 | 0.222 | 125.611 | ||
38 | 53 | Chevrolet | 4 | 28.742 | 1.919 | 0.082 | 125.252 |

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About this article
Series | NASCAR Cup |
Event | Phoenix |
Author | Jim Utter |
Chase Elliott tops Kyle Busch in final Cup practice
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