Practice report
NASCAR Cup Martinsville
Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports top final Cup practice
Hendrick Motorsports set the pace early in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Jim Utter
Published: Mar 23, 2019, 5:35 PM
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Running in qualifying trim – time trials were scheduled for later in the day – Chase Elliott topped the final 50-minute session Saturday with an average lap speed of 97.542 mph.
His Hendrick Motorsports teammates Alex Bowman (96.627 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (96.612 mph) weren’t far behind. Austin Dillon was fourth and Paul Menard completed the top-five.
All of the top-five set their marks early in the session before moving to race set-up.
Rounding out the Top 10 were Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones.
In the final moments of practice, Cody Ware got loose during a qualifying run and slammed the wall off Turn 2. He will have to go to a backup car and start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.
Martin Truex Jr. ended up with the fastest average lap speed (95.445 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Clint Bowyer was second, Kyle Busch third, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola completed the top-five in that category.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 9 
Chase Elliott Chevrolet 68 19.413 97.543 2 88 
Alex Bowman Chevrolet 72 19.597 0.184 0.184 96.627 3 48 
Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 44 19.600 0.187 0.003 96.612 4 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 64 19.613 0.200 0.013 96.548 5 21 
Paul Menard Ford 50 19.615 0.202 0.002 96.538 6 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 79 19.629 0.216 0.014 96.470 7 8 
Daniel Hemric Chevrolet 61 19.630 0.217 0.001 96.465 8 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 58 19.649 0.236 0.019 96.371 9 17 
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 61 19.712 0.299 0.063 96.063 10 20 Erik Jones Toyota 73 19.758 0.345 0.046 95.840 11 19 
Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 69 19.761 0.348 0.003 95.825 12 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 72 19.769 0.356 0.008 95.786 13 95 Matt DiBenedetto Toyota 58 19.769 0.356 0.000 95.786 14 10 Aric Almirola Ford 82 19.790 0.377 0.021 95.685 15 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 93 19.803 0.390 0.013 95.622 16 12 
Ryan Blaney Ford 92 19.814 0.401 0.011 95.569 17 38 David Ragan Ford 47 19.818 0.405 0.004 95.550 18 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 62 19.819 0.406 0.001 95.545 19 41 
Daniel Suarez Ford 78 19.825 0.412 0.006 95.516 20 47 
Ryan Preece Chevrolet 39 19.826 0.413 0.001 95.511 21 22 Joey Logano Ford 67 19.864 0.451 0.038 95.328 22 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 81 19.867 0.454 0.003 95.314 23 24 William Byron Chevrolet 66 19.902 0.489 0.035 95.146 24 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 81 19.937 0.524 0.035 94.979 25 6 Ryan Newman Ford 66 19.944 0.531 0.007 94.946 26 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 64 19.971 0.558 0.027 94.817 27 1 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 73 20.003 0.590 0.032 94.666 28 34 Michael McDowell Ford 39 20.017 0.604 0.014 94.600 29 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 37 20.058 0.645 0.041 94.406 30 36 Matt Tifft Ford 57 20.077 0.664 0.019 94.317 31 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 43 20.101 0.688 0.024 94.204 32 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 34 20.341 0.928 0.240 93.093 33 52 Jeb Burton Chevrolet 27 20.418 1.005 0.077 92.742 34 51 Cody Ware Chevrolet 34 20.511 1.098 0.093 92.321 35 77 
D.J. Kennington Chevrolet 37 20.612 1.199 0.101 91.869
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