Practice report

NASCAR Cup Phoenix

Harvick and Elliott lead second Cup practice at Phoenix

Kevin Harvick and Chase Elliott ran identical lap times in the first of two practice sessions on Saturday.

Nick DeGroot

Edited: Mar 10, 2018, 8:38 PM

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Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing, Ford Fusion Jimmy John's

Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro NAPA Auto Parts

Harvick went to the top of the charts early in practice with a 134.806mph lap, but he was not alone. Elliott ran an identical lap time, down to the thousandths.

Elliott was among just a handful of drivers to make a 20 consecutive lap run and led the way in that category. Kyle Busch spent some laps late in the session following eight-time Phoenix winner Harvick and clocked in third. Brad Keselowski and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top five. Hamlin also led both the best ten and 15 consecutive lap averages.

Pole-sitter Martin Truex Jr. ended up seventh on the speed charts.

Erik Jones, who timed in 11th, complained of power steering issues during the session.

The 50-minute practice went incident-free and every driver with the exception of Jeffrey Earnhardt put down a time. Earnhardt went to a backup car after his crash during the first round of qualifying on Friday.

Due to being late to pre-qualifying inspection, four teams lost the final 15 minutes of practice time. They were Kurt Busch, Michael McDowell, Gray Gaulding and Timmy Hill.

Rookie William Byron ran the most laps at 48.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 4 united_states Kevin Harvick Ford 44 26.705 134.806 2 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 32 26.705 0.000 0.000 134.806 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 40 26.735 0.030 0.030 134.655 4 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 40 26.754 0.049 0.019 134.559 5 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 38 26.781 0.076 0.027 134.424 6 31 united_states Ryan Newman Chevrolet 46 26.788 0.083 0.007 134.389 7 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 35 26.801 0.096 0.013 134.323 8 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 35 26.818 0.113 0.017 134.238 9 22 Joey Logano Ford 27 26.822 0.117 0.004 134.218 10 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 44 26.828 0.123 0.006 134.188 11 20 united_states Erik Jones Toyota 28 26.860 0.155 0.032 134.028 12 10 Aric Almirola Ford 36 26.882 0.177 0.022 133.919 13 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 42 26.898 0.193 0.016 133.839 14 24 William Byron Chevrolet 48 26.903 0.198 0.005 133.814 15 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 29 26.939 0.234 0.036 133.635 16 21 united_states Paul Menard Ford 36 26.948 0.243 0.009 133.591 17 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 27 26.948 0.243 0.000 133.591 18 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 34 26.954 0.249 0.006 133.561 19 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 45 26.973 0.268 0.019 133.467 20 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 30 26.984 0.279 0.011 133.412 21 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto Ford 26 26.985 0.280 0.001 133.407 22 41 Kurt Busch Ford 22 27.010 0.305 0.025 133.284 23 38 David Ragan Ford 42 27.020 0.315 0.010 133.235 24 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 29 27.028 0.323 0.008 133.195 25 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 33 27.034 0.329 0.006 133.166 26 95 united_states Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 29 27.050 0.345 0.016 133.087 27 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 38 27.062 0.357 0.012 133.028 28 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 34 27.096 0.391 0.034 132.861 29 34 Michael McDowell Ford 32 27.108 0.403 0.012 132.802 30 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 35 27.184 0.479 0.076 132.431 31 13 united_states Ty Dillon Chevrolet 38 27.196 0.491 0.012 132.372 32 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 30 27.491 0.786 0.295 130.952 33 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 22 27.550 0.845 0.059 130.672 34 96 canada D.J. Kennington Toyota 23 27.607 0.902 0.057 130.402 35 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 17 27.689 0.984 0.082 130.016 36 51 united_states Timmy Hill Chevrolet 18 28.058 1.353 0.369 128.306

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