Three-time Pocono winner Kurt Busch fastest in final practice
Kurt Busch, who has three career Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series wins at Pocono Raceway, topped Friday’s final practice.
Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Busch and Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Kyle Larson took two of the top three positions on the leaderboard as both rocketed to the top in the final minutes of the 50-minute session.
Busch’s average lap speed of 171.798 mph topped Brad Keselowski (171.798 mph) and Larson (171.612 mph). Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch completed the top-five.
In 35 career starts at Pocono, Kurt Busch has three wins (the most recent in 2016), 14 top-five and 20 top-10 finishes and has won two poles.
Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones, William Byron and last weekend’s race winner at Charlotte, Martin Truex Jr.
Kyle Busch posted the fastest average lap speed among drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (170.042 mph). Keselowski and Chase Elliott, were second and third respectively, in that category.
Daniel Suarez topped Friday’s first practice session. He ended up 17th-fastest in the final session.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 18 | 52.110 | 172.712 | |||
2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 30 | 52.387 | 0.277 | 0.277 | 171.798 | |
3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 25 | 52.444 | 0.334 | 0.057 | 171.612 | |
4 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 21 | 52.626 | 0.516 | 0.182 | 171.018 | |
5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 34 | 52.678 | 0.568 | 0.052 | 170.849 | |
6 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 27 | 52.699 | 0.589 | 0.021 | 170.781 | |
7 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 37 | 52.721 | 0.611 | 0.022 | 170.710 | |
8 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 29 | 52.728 | 0.618 | 0.007 | 170.687 | |
9 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 33 | 52.743 | 0.633 | 0.015 | 170.639 | |
10 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 25 | 52.754 | 0.644 | 0.011 | 170.603 | |
11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 26 | 52.772 | 0.662 | 0.018 | 170.545 | |
12 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 33 | 52.830 | 0.720 | 0.058 | 170.358 | |
13 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 43 | 52.895 | 0.785 | 0.065 | 170.148 | |
14 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 34 | 52.905 | 0.795 | 0.010 | 170.116 | |
15 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 29 | 52.952 | 0.842 | 0.047 | 169.965 | |
16 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 24 | 52.996 | 0.886 | 0.044 | 169.824 | |
17 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 37 | 53.006 | 0.896 | 0.010 | 169.792 | |
18 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 22 | 53.017 | 0.907 | 0.011 | 169.757 | |
19 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 22 | 53.052 | 0.942 | 0.035 | 169.645 | |
20 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 21 | 53.081 | 0.971 | 0.029 | 169.552 | |
21 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 29 | 53.113 | 1.003 | 0.032 | 169.450 | |
22 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 23 | 53.155 | 1.045 | 0.042 | 169.316 | |
23 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 21 | 53.167 | 1.057 | 0.012 | 169.278 | |
24 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 18 | 53.174 | 1.064 | 0.007 | 169.256 | |
25 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 21 | 53.478 | 1.368 | 0.304 | 168.294 | |
26 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 26 | 53.528 | 1.418 | 0.050 | 168.136 | |
27 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 27 | 53.614 | 1.504 | 0.086 | 167.867 | |
28 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 19 | 53.856 | 1.746 | 0.242 | 167.112 | |
29 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 22 | 53.900 | 1.790 | 0.044 | 166.976 | |
30 | 51 | Bayley Currey | Ford | 12 | 53.986 | 1.876 | 0.086 | 166.710 | |
31 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 25 | 54.056 | 1.946 | 0.070 | 166.494 | |
32 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 18 | 54.915 | 2.805 | 0.859 | 163.890 | |
33 | 52 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | 16 | 55.109 | 2.999 | 0.194 | 163.313 |
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