Erik Jones leads final Cup practice at Pocono

Jones’ average lap speed of 172.117 mph came in ahead of Kurt Busch (172.051 mph), who posted his speed in the final minutes of the 55-minute session. Matt DiBenedetto ended up third (171.373 mph).

William Byron was fourth and Kyle Busch – who has won three of the last four races at Pocono – completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top 10 speeds were Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Preece, Ryan Blaney, Denny Hamlin and Michael McDowell.

Byron ended up with the fastest average lap speed (169.766 mph) among those who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Hamlin and Kyle Busch were second and third-fastest, respectively, in that category.

Just as final practice was scheduled to get underway, Richard Petty Motorsports elected to change engines in Bubba Wallace’s No. 43 Chevrolet.

The move means Wallace will start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field. Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott are also starting from the back after moving to backup cars.

About 39 mins into final practice, Larson was able to get his backup car on track for a couple laps. Elliott got on track with his backup shortly afterward.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	28	52.290			172.117
2	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	19	52.310	0.020	0.020	172.051
3	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	20	52.517	0.227	0.207	171.373
4	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	33	52.556	0.266	0.039	171.246
5	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	34	52.562	0.272	0.006	171.226
6	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	26	52.703	0.413	0.141	170.768
7	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	27	52.733	0.443	0.030	170.671
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	23	52.765	0.475	0.032	170.568
9	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	38	52.784	0.494	0.019	170.506
10	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	16	52.789	0.499	0.005	170.490
11	22	Joey Logano		Ford	42	52.795	0.505	0.006	170.471
12	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	18	52.825	0.535	0.030	170.374
13	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	30	52.977	0.687	0.152	169.885
14	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	31	52.983	0.693	0.006	169.866
15	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	24	52.989	0.699	0.006	169.847
16	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	26	53.004	0.714	0.015	169.799
17	21	Paul Menard		Ford	22	53.006	0.716	0.002	169.792
18	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	21	53.067	0.777	0.061	169.597
19	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	25	53.069	0.779	0.002	169.591
20	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	30	53.182	0.892	0.113	169.230
21	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	24	53.196	0.906	0.014	169.186
22	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	21	53.236	0.946	0.040	169.059
23	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	21	53.273	0.983	0.037	168.941
24	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	10	53.377	1.087	0.104	168.612
25	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	18	53.382	1.092	0.005	168.596
26	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	9	53.426	1.136	0.044	168.457
27	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	28	53.525	1.235	0.099	168.146
28	38	David Ragan		Ford	24	53.543	1.253	0.018	168.089
29	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	9	54.078	1.788	0.535	166.426
30	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	14	54.120	1.830	0.042	166.297
31	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	2	54.533	2.243	0.413	165.038
32	51	B.J. McLeod		Ford	11	55.165	2.875	0.632	163.147
33	77	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	5	55.800	3.510	0.635	161.290
34	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	16	55.952	3.662	0.152	160.852
35	52	Austin Theriault		Ford	15	56.400	4.110	0.448	159.574