Kurt Busch fastest in Friday's final Cup practice at Las Vegas

Busch’s average lap speed of 177.276 mph topped the Team Penske duo of Joey Logano (176.783 mph) and Brad Keselowski (176.321 mph).

In 19 career starts at his hometown track, Busch has never won but has two top-five and five top-10 finishes and has won two poles.

“When we raced here in March, the high groove in (Turns) 3 and 4 was the first ever time that I’ve seen the Cup guys up there. So, I believe that will be a factor in Sunday’s race. We’ll see,” Busch said. 

“We have nightfall as well and that will be the first time we’ve raced under the lights here at Las Vegas. I think that’s a great look for everything and everybody thinks of Vegas as the Strip and the skyline at night.”

Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney were fourth and fifth as playoff contenders swept the top-five.

Rounding the out the top-10 in practice were Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman.

Kyle Busch had the best average lap speed among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (175.106 mph). Elliott and Logano were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	27	30.461			177.276
2	22	Joey Logano		Ford	53	30.546	0.085	0.085	176.783
3	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	46	30.626	0.165	0.080	176.321
4	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	44	30.643	0.182	0.017	176.223
5	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	47	30.662	0.201	0.019	176.114
6	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	34	30.682	0.221	0.020	175.999
7	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	43	30.686	0.225	0.004	175.976
8	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	38	30.699	0.238	0.013	175.901
9	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	30	30.710	0.249	0.011	175.838
10	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	35	30.717	0.256	0.007	175.798
11	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	43	30.722	0.261	0.005	175.770
12	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	35	30.725	0.264	0.003	175.753
13	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	50	30.726	0.265	0.001	175.747
14	21	Paul Menard		Ford	38	30.736	0.275	0.010	175.690
15	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	48	30.749	0.288	0.013	175.615
16	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	25	30.775	0.314	0.026	175.467
17	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	32	30.778	0.317	0.003	175.450
18	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	50	30.782	0.321	0.004	175.427
19	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	28	30.813	0.352	0.031	175.251
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	48	30.815	0.354	0.002	175.239
21	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	37	30.825	0.364	0.010	175.182
22	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	40	30.860	0.399	0.035	174.984
23	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	48	30.896	0.435	0.036	174.780
24	38	David Ragan		Ford	25	30.918	0.457	0.022	174.656
25	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	34	31.015	0.554	0.097	174.109
26	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	25	31.038	0.577	0.023	173.980
27	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	35	31.103	0.642	0.065	173.617
28	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	33	31.109	0.648	0.006	173.583
29	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	24	31.159	0.698	0.050	173.305
30	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	13	31.207	0.746	0.048	173.038
31	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	26	31.508	1.047	0.301	171.385
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	13	31.604	1.143	0.096	170.864
33	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	11	31.633	1.172	0.029	170.708
34	52	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	5	32.694	2.233	1.061	165.168
35	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	4	32.819	2.358	0.125	164.539
36	66	Joey Gase		Toyota	9	33.179	2.718	0.360	162.754
37	27	Joe Nemechek		Chevrolet	5	33.457	2.996	0.278	161.401