Keselowski leads final practice; Johnson and Kahne find the wall

The Rochester Hill, Mich. native posted a single-lap speed of 200.865mph after 37 laps at Michigan International Speedway. Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. (200.172mph) were the only drivers to pass the 200-mile-per-hour mark in final practice. 

Keselowski is still looking for his first career win on the two-mile track. In 16 starts, Keselowski has earned five top-five finishes — his best was second in 2012. His eight top 10s were earned over his last 12 starts. 

“Any success you have at your home track is right there with having success in the biggest races of the year like Daytona for the 500 and the championship,” Keselowski said. “It’s a big deal for any driver, not just myself. Of course, this is my home track and to be able to have any kind of success here just really feels so darn good and I just hope we can keep it up this weekend.”

Joey Logano posted the third fastest speed followed by Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suarez and Jamie McMurray. Larson’s 40 laps were the most completed in Happy Hour. 

Kyle Busch was the first car out on the track and set the early pace with a lap of 199.529mph. In the first five minutes, Larson was second (199.022mph) followed by Hamlin (198.988mph), Blaney (109.988mph) Keselowski (198.835mph), Earnhardt Jr. (198.813mph), Suarez (198.703mph), Logano (198.621mph), Truex Jr. (198.599mph) and Kurt Busch (198.533mph).

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. grazed the wall in the opening moments of the session after two laps. He was 32nd-quick.  

Earnhardt bounced up to second on his next run with a lap of 199.463mph. Just before the 10-minute mark, Logano took over the top sport on the speed chart with a lap of 199.734mph. 

Kevin Harvick was released from his 15-minute practice hold for being late to pre-qualifying/pre-race inspection at Watkins Glen. Jimmie Johnson, Reed Sorenson and Erik Jones served their timeouts for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice at Michigan. 

Johnson didn’t complete his first lap before slamming into the wall in Turn 2. While the driver went to the Infield Care Center, the No. 48 crew pulled out the backup car with 30-minutes remaining in practice. 

“As I turned into the corner, the back just turned around and off it went,” Johnson said.

“Just lost it on corner entry getting into Turn 1. The first lap at speed and the thing just rotated around. The effort level is high and you’ve got to run in there committed. I did so and unfortunately the rear grip just wasn’t there in the car and it came around.

 “We’ll get this backup Chevy up and see what we can do with it. It’s going to be tough.”

When the track returned to green at the 23-minute mark, Logano was still atop the leader board. Kyle Busch was second followed by Earnhardt, Keselowski, Larson, Hamlin, Blaney, Kenseth, Suarez and Truex. Larson’s 20 laps completed were the most on the sheet. 

Kasey Kahne also bounced off the wall on his return to the track and crinkled the right rear of the No. 5 Chevy coming out of Turn 1. Kahne was also forced to a backup car. 

“We actually up to that point I had never had any tendencies of loose there at all,” Kahne said. “It was kind of interesting, made a change, came back out and I was coming into (Turn) 1 I basically lost my right-rear and was spinning as I was getting into the corner just sideways.  Saved it, but then I was just going too fast and I got up in the gray and it went up and ended up running into the wall.  

“So, it was kind of out of nowhere.  was a bit surprised that happened. Our Liftmaster Chevrolet has been pretty close this morning and thought it was about the same the first run and then that happened on the second run.”

Thirty-minutes into practice, Keselowski shot to the top of the speed chart with a lap of 200.865mph. Truex was second (200.172mph) followed by Logano, Blaney, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Larson, Hamlin, Suarez and Jamie McMurray. 

Matt DiBenedetto was released from a 30-minute practice hold after failing pre-qualifying inspection four times at Michigan and being late to pre-qualifying inspection at Watkins Glen.

With 10 minutes remaining in the 50-minute practice, Keselowski continued to lead the session with the top 10 in tact. Kenseth was 11th followed by Jones, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Chase Elliott, Clint Bowyer, Kahne, Chris Buescher, Austin Dillon and Trevor Bayne. 

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	37	35.845			200.865
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	30	35.969	0.124	0.124	200.172
3	22	Joey Logano	Ford	20	36.048	0.203	0.079	199.734
4	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	33	36.059	0.214	0.011	199.673
5	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	31	36.085	0.240	0.026	199.529
6	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	29	36.097	0.252	0.012	199.463
7	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	40	36.175	0.330	0.078	199.032
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	31	36.183	0.338	0.008	198.988
9	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	29	36.202	0.357	0.019	198.884
10	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	35	36.209	0.364	0.007	198.846
11	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	29	36.227	0.382	0.018	198.747
12	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	24	36.233	0.388	0.006	198.714
13	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	34	36.266	0.421	0.033	198.533
14	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	18	36.294	0.449	0.028	198.380
15	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	16	36.318	0.473	0.024	198.249
16	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	32	36.321	0.476	0.003	198.232
17	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	15	36.352	0.507	0.031	198.063
18	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	26	36.362	0.517	0.010	198.009
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	27	36.403	0.558	0.041	197.786
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	18	36.408	0.563	0.005	197.759
21	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	19	36.438	0.593	0.030	197.596
22	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	27	36.542	0.697	0.104	197.034
23	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	29	36.564	0.719	0.022	196.915
24	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	25	36.570	0.725	0.006	196.883
25	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	9	36.605	0.760	0.035	196.694
26	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	19	36.619	0.774	0.014	196.619
27	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	23	36.662	0.817	0.043	196.389
28	38	David Ragan	Ford	24	36.984	1.139	0.322	194.679
29	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	12	37.001	1.156	0.017	194.589
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	15	37.029	1.184	0.028	194.442
31	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	21	37.037	1.192	0.008	194.400
32	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	14	37.041	1.196	0.004	194.379
33	83	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	25	37.296	1.451	0.255	193.050
34	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	13	37.327	1.482	0.031	192.890
35	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	19	37.523	1.678	0.196	191.882
36	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	8	38.237	2.392	0.714	188.299