Practice report
NASCAR Cup Bristol II
Matt DiBenedetto tops final Cup practice at Bristol
Matt DiBenedetto led the way in final practice at Bristol Motor Speedway in the Leavine Family Racing Toyota Camry.
Nick DeGroot
Edited: Aug 16, 2019, 6:32 PM
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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
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