Matt DiBenedetto tops final Cup practice at Bristol

DiBenedetto, who learned this week he will be out at Leavine Family Racing at the conclusion of the 2019 season, led the way in final practice at 128.848mph.

Ryan Blaney was second on the speed charts but the session did not end the way he would have wanted. While lapping, he suffered a power steering failure and dropped fluid around the track.

"Just blew the power steering pump, blew the guts out of it," he told NBCSN. "Happened right in the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 when you're fully turned left ... it was an instant kind of snap. Not sure what it did to my shoulder but I just needed a second.

"That stinks but at least we didn't hit the wall or nothing."

Blaney also topped the five lap, ten lap and 15 consecutive lap averages.

NASCAR decided to add an extra 12 minutes to the session following the track cleanup. 

Aric Almirola, Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman rounded out the top-five.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	88	14.892			128.848
2	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	53	14.962	0.070	0.070	128.245
3	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	69	14.964	0.072	0.002	128.228
4	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	83	14.965	0.073	0.001	128.219
5	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	53	14.971	0.079	0.006	128.168
6	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	68	14.991	0.099	0.020	127.997
7	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	48	15.009	0.117	0.018	127.843
8	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	71	15.036	0.144	0.027	127.614
9	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	79	15.047	0.155	0.011	127.520
10	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	83	15.048	0.156	0.001	127.512
11	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	53	15.098	0.206	0.050	127.090
12	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	68	15.162	0.270	0.064	126.553
13	22	Joey Logano		Ford	116	15.165	0.273	0.003	126.528
14	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	77	15.176	0.284	0.011	126.436
15	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	92	15.195	0.303	0.019	126.278
16	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	59	15.198	0.306	0.003	126.253
17	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	84	15.198	0.306	0.0	126.253
18	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	99	15.201	0.309	0.003	126.229
19	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	65	15.204	0.312	0.003	126.204
20	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	85	15.230	0.338	0.026	125.988
21	21	Paul Menard		Ford	76	15.254	0.362	0.024	125.790
22	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	84	15.257	0.365	0.003	125.765
23	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	34	15.257	0.365	0.0	125.765
24	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	60	15.284	0.392	0.027	125.543
25	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	105	15.291	0.399	0.007	125.486
26	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	72	15.297	0.405	0.006	125.436
27	38	David Ragan		Ford	62	15.30	0.408	0.003	125.412
28	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	92	15.326	0.434	0.026	125.199
29	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	55	15.336	0.444	0.010	125.117
30	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	85	15.376	0.484	0.040	124.792
31	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	19	15.474	0.582	0.098	124.002
32	53	Josh Bilicki		Chevrolet	9	15.639	0.747	0.165	122.693
33	36	Chase Briscoe		Ford	50	15.649	0.757	0.010	122.615
34	54	J.J. Yeley		Ford	18	15.656	0.764	0.007	122.560
35	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	57	15.682	0.790	0.026	122.357
36	52	Kyle Weatherman		Chevrolet	51	15.881	0.989	0.199	120.824
37	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	36	16.0	1.108	0.119	119.925