Denny Hamlin fastest in race-like final practice at Texas

For the final 15 minutes or so of the session, drivers appeared far more comfortable running in a pack, which looked much more like a race than a typical practice session.

Hamlin’s average lap speed of 186.987 mph came later in the session and he topped Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch (186.342 mph) and Ryan Blaney (186.278 mph). Kurt Busch and pole winner Jimmie Johnson completed the top-five.

“I got to thank Matt McCall and everyone on this No. 1 car – every Saturday is better than our Fridays,” Kurt Busch said. “The track compound is coming in as more cars run in it and (Turns) 3 and 4 are just wide-open. I think the race will be run in Turns 1 and 2.”

Rounding out the Top 10 were Daniel Hemric, Kyle Larson, Paul Menard, Kevin Harvick and Bubba Wallace.

Johnson had the fastest average lap speed (184.366) among those driver who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Kurt Busch and Larson were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Three minutes into the session a caution was displayed for fluid on the backstretch. The fluid may have been from the power steering from Alex Bowman’s No. 88 Chevrolet.

Erik Jones had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the session after his No. 20 Toyota failed pre-qualifying inspection twice on Friday.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	42	28.879			186.987
2	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	31	28.979	0.100	0.100	186.342
3	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	32	28.989	0.110	0.010	186.278
4	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	41	29.018	0.139	0.029	186.091
5	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	40	29.025	0.146	0.007	186.047
6	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	39	29.059	0.180	0.034	185.829
7	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	47	29.070	0.191	0.011	185.759
8	21	Paul Menard		Ford	45	29.074	0.195	0.004	185.733
9	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	54	29.093	0.214	0.019	185.612
10	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	52	29.100	0.221	0.007	185.567
11	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	32	29.134	0.255	0.034	185.350
12	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	48	29.137	0.258	0.003	185.331
13	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	42	29.154	0.275	0.017	185.223
14	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	36	29.170	0.291	0.016	185.122
15	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	55	29.182	0.303	0.012	185.046
16	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	40	29.190	0.311	0.008	184.995
17	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	49	29.191	0.312	0.001	184.989
18	22	Joey Logano		Ford	47	29.220	0.341	0.029	184.805
19	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	43	29.248	0.369	0.028	184.628
20	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	37	29.256	0.377	0.008	184.578
21	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	41	29.260	0.381	0.004	184.552
22	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	30	29.260	0.381	0.000	184.552
23	96	Parker Kligerman		Toyota	34	29.271	0.392	0.011	184.483
24	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	37	29.272	0.393	0.001	184.477
25	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	49	29.273	0.394	0.001	184.470
26	38	David Ragan		Ford	43	29.277	0.398	0.004	184.445
27	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	31	29.323	0.444	0.046	184.156
28	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	42	29.326	0.447	0.003	184.137
29	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	41	29.336	0.457	0.010	184.074
30	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	38	29.391	0.512	0.055	183.730
31	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	54	29.394	0.515	0.003	183.711
32	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	26	29.406	0.527	0.012	183.636
33	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	28	29.754	0.875	0.348	181.488
34	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	19	29.862	0.983	0.108	180.832
35	52	Bayley Currey		Chevrolet	13	29.933	1.054	0.071	180.403
36	51	B.J. McLeod		Ford	9	30.064	1.185	0.131	179.617
37	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	9	30.112	1.233	0.048	179.330
38	77	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	5	30.525	1.646	0.413	176.904
39	66	Timmy Hill		Toyota	10	31.028	2.149	0.503	174.036