Erik Jones leads final Cup practice; Suarez tags wall
Michigan native Erik Jones ended up fastest in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session.
Erik Jones, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry DeWalt
Logan Whitton / NKP / Motorsport Images
Jones, who is still looking for his first win of the 2019 season, topped the final 50-minute practice with an average lap speed of 189.843 mph.
Alex Bowman was second (188.763 mph) and Kevin Harvick was third 9188.640 mph). Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez completed the top-five.
Rounding out the top-10 speeds were Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson.
Jones also had the fastest average lap speed (188.146 mph) among all the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Bowyer, Harvick, Bowman and Larson rounded out the top-five in that category.
With about 16 minutes remaining in the session, Suarez tagged the wall exiting the Turn 2 wall after suffering a flat left-rear tire to bring out a caution.
Suarez’s No. 41 Ford sustained some damage to the right-rear quarter panel but the team hoped to repair it so he would not need to move to a backup car.
“My car was free but when I got loose between (Turns) 1 and 2, I could tell it was something more,” Suarez. “Hopefully, we get a little bit of a break and we can fix it.”
Three drivers – Michael McDowell, Austin Theriault and Spencer Boyd – had to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice because they were late out of the garage Friday for inspection.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 37 | 37.926 | 189.843 | |||
2 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 33 | 38.143 | 0.217 | 0.217 | 188.763 | |
3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 32 | 38.168 | 0.242 | 0.025 | 188.640 | |
4 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 28 | 38.199 | 0.273 | 0.031 | 188.487 | |
5 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 27 | 38.218 | 0.292 | 0.019 | 188.393 | |
6 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 35 | 38.218 | 0.292 | 0.000 | 188.393 | |
7 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 46 | 38.219 | 0.293 | 0.001 | 188.388 | |
8 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 29 | 38.225 | 0.299 | 0.006 | 188.358 | |
9 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 31 | 38.249 | 0.323 | 0.024 | 188.240 | |
10 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 39 | 38.261 | 0.335 | 0.012 | 188.181 | |
11 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 37 | 38.267 | 0.341 | 0.006 | 188.152 | |
12 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 37 | 38.279 | 0.353 | 0.012 | 188.093 | |
13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 44 | 38.282 | 0.356 | 0.003 | 188.078 | |
14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 36 | 38.306 | 0.380 | 0.024 | 187.960 | |
15 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 38 | 38.316 | 0.390 | 0.010 | 187.911 | |
16 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 41 | 38.326 | 0.400 | 0.010 | 187.862 | |
17 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 34 | 38.332 | 0.406 | 0.006 | 187.833 | |
18 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 32 | 38.355 | 0.429 | 0.023 | 187.720 | |
19 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 34 | 38.389 | 0.463 | 0.034 | 187.554 | |
20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 30 | 38.425 | 0.499 | 0.036 | 187.378 | |
21 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 26 | 38.440 | 0.514 | 0.015 | 187.305 | |
22 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 22 | 38.446 | 0.520 | 0.006 | 187.276 | |
23 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 37 | 38.465 | 0.539 | 0.019 | 187.183 | |
24 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 27 | 38.466 | 0.540 | 0.001 | 187.178 | |
25 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 40 | 38.564 | 0.638 | 0.098 | 186.703 | |
26 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 30 | 38.575 | 0.649 | 0.011 | 186.649 | |
27 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 29 | 38.603 | 0.677 | 0.028 | 186.514 | |
28 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 21 | 38.718 | 0.792 | 0.115 | 185.960 | |
29 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 30 | 38.745 | 0.819 | 0.027 | 185.830 | |
30 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 20 | 38.848 | 0.922 | 0.103 | 185.338 | |
31 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 24 | 39.096 | 1.170 | 0.248 | 184.162 | |
32 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 23 | 39.140 | 1.214 | 0.044 | 183.955 | |
33 | 52 | Austin Theriault | Ford | 16 | 39.560 | 1.634 | 0.420 | 182.002 |
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