Kurt Busch leads final practice at Kansas; Larson spins

Late in the 50-minute session, Busch rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 177.731 mph, topping Alex Bowman (177.328 mph) and Clint Bowyer (177.288 mph) in the process.

Kevin Harvick, who spent most of the session with the top speed, ended up fourth and Denny Hamlin completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 were Chase Elliott, Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola (who topped the first practice session) and Jimmie Johnson.

Harvick again posted the fastest average lap speed (177.731 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Almirola and Bowyer were second and third, respectively.

About 26 minutes into the session, Ty Dillon reported some possible engine problems. “We got a motor problem or something,” he said over his team radio. He ended up 32nd-fastest.

Bowman tagged the wall after setting his best lap of the session and had to return to the garage for some minor repairs.

About 43 minutes into the session, Kyle Larson spun off of Turn 2 and just missed contact with Martin Truex Jr.

Truex’s No. 19 team put new tires on his car and had him return to the session. Larson’s No. 42 didn’t seem to suffer any significant damage.

The session returned to green about four minutes later.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	38	30.383			177.731
2	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	54	30.452	0.069	0.069	177.328
3	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	37	30.459	0.076	0.007	177.288
4	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	34	30.460	0.077	0.001	177.282
5	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	37	30.467	0.084	0.007	177.241
6	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	40	30.558	0.175	0.091	176.713
7	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	55	30.558	0.175	0.000	176.713
8	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	50	30.560	0.177	0.002	176.702
9	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	54	30.565	0.182	0.005	176.673
10	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	41	30.596	0.213	0.031	176.494
11	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	42	30.637	0.254	0.041	176.257
12	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	43	30.643	0.260	0.006	176.223
13	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	24	30.643	0.260	0.000	176.223
14	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	49	30.645	0.262	0.002	176.211
15	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	40	30.650	0.267	0.005	176.183
16	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	40	30.650	0.267	0.000	176.183
17	31	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	52	30.661	0.278	0.011	176.120
18	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	45	30.668	0.285	0.007	176.079
19	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	42	30.689	0.306	0.021	175.959
20	22	Joey Logano		Ford	52	30.697	0.314	0.008	175.913
21	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	42	30.700	0.317	0.003	175.896
22	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	31	30.731	0.348	0.031	175.718
23	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	25	30.733	0.350	0.002	175.707
24	21	Paul Menard		Ford	37	30.745	0.362	0.012	175.638
25	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	38	30.746	0.363	0.001	175.633
26	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	46	30.748	0.365	0.002	175.621
27	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	29	30.822	0.439	0.074	175.200
28	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	33	30.831	0.448	0.009	175.148
29	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	27	30.849	0.466	0.018	175.046
30	38	David Ragan		Ford	31	30.970	0.587	0.121	174.362
31	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	34	31.090	0.707	0.120	173.689
32	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	41	31.139	0.756	0.049	173.416
33	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	31	31.150	0.767	0.011	173.355
34	51	Cody Ware		Chevrolet	10	31.463	1.080	0.313	171.630
35	77	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	13	31.853	1.470	0.390	169.529
36	52	Bayley Currey		Ford	13	31.875	1.492	0.022	169.412
37	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	11	31.893	1.510	0.018	169.316
38	46	Joey Gase		Toyota	28	32.249	1.866	0.356	167.447
39	66	Timmy Hill		Toyota	24	32.629	2.246	0.380	165.497