Ryan Newman leads final practice at Atlanta

After barely losing out on the pole, Ryan Newman posted the fastest lap (184.868mph) in Happy hour in the opening moments of final practice.

What’s the secret to his speed at the worn out 1.5-mile track?

“They haven’t changed it for the last 20 years,” said Newman, who completed 49 laps in five runs. “I just enjoy the racetrack. We’ve got a good racecar with our Liberty National Life Insurance Chevrolet. Obviously, the Camaro is strong out of the box, but wish we could have got that pole for them as well as us.

“Just in general look forward to this weekend. I think the drivers fought really hard last year to make sure this place didn’t get repaved and I think we are going to put up the same battle again this year.”

Martin Truex Jr., who failed the Optical Scanning System station during pre-qualifying inspection and missed time trials on Friday, was second-quick with a lap of 184.597mph. Both drivers completed nine laps on their initial runs.

Paul Menard was third-fastest in the first 15-minutes and also held his spot over the course of the one hour, 20-minute session.

“It’s a great surface,” Menard said. “I know they will have to repave it at some point, but I hope I’m retired when they do.”

Denny Hamlin ran fourth followed by Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson, who went on a six-mile run with Ryan Dungey prior to Happy Hour.

“Jimmie’s been a good friend to me throughout my career,” Dungey said during a FOXSports interview. “Just a quality person.”

Chris Buescher was seventh on the board followed by Ryan Blaney, Clint Bowyer and Bubba Wallace.

“It’s been so low key, it’s been great,” Wallace said after his media blitz in Daytona. “I got to look back on last weekend and really enjoy it. This place is so different from Xfinity…We’re just taking it all in.”

The top 10 remained the same after the first 30-minutes. Bowyer’s 40 laps were the most completed. AJ Allmendinger, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Daniel Saurez, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Alex Bowman, Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Aric Almirola rounded out the top 20 speeds.

Halfway through the 80-minute session, all 36 cars had posted laps. Michael McDowell’s 42 laps remained the most completed. Hendrick Motorsports had Byron, Bowman and Elliott work on pit road speeds. 

Logano’s 74 laps were the most completed in final practice.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	49	29.989			184.868
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	38	30.033	0.044	0.044	184.597
3	21	Paul Menard	Ford	66	30.038	0.049	0.005	184.566
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	56	30.202	0.213	0.164	183.564
5	22	Joey Logano	Ford	74	30.245	0.256	0.043	183.303
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	42	30.361	0.372	0.116	182.603
7	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	38	30.421	0.432	0.060	182.243
8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	53	30.453	0.464	0.032	182.051
9	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	62	30.512	0.523	0.059	181.699
10	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	48	30.617	0.628	0.105	181.076
11	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	54	30.623	0.634	0.006	181.040
12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	55	30.661	0.672	0.038	180.816
13	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	56	30.698	0.709	0.037	180.598
14	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	63	30.703	0.714	0.005	180.569
15	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	60	30.737	0.748	0.034	180.369
16	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	39	30.817	0.828	0.080	179.901
17	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	64	30.914	0.925	0.097	179.336
18	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	43	30.950	0.961	0.036	179.128
19	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	71	31.035	1.046	0.085	178.637
20	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	63	31.058	1.069	0.023	178.505
21	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	64	31.068	1.079	0.010	178.447
22	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	64	31.105	1.116	0.037	178.235
23	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	59	31.153	1.164	0.048	177.960
24	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	71	31.213	1.224	0.060	177.618
25	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	54	31.218	1.229	0.005	177.590
26	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	49	31.219	1.230	0.001	177.584
27	38	David Ragan	Ford	56	31.223	1.234	0.004	177.561
28	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	56	31.326	1.337	0.103	176.978
29	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	60	31.407	1.418	0.081	176.521
30	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	46	31.582	1.593	0.175	175.543
31	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	35	31.621	1.632	0.039	175.327
32	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	28	31.715	1.726	0.094	174.807
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	22	31.727	1.738	0.012	174.741
34	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	12	33.120	3.131	1.393	167.391
35	51	Harrison Rhodes	Chevrolet	20	33.208	3.219	0.088	166.948
36	00	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	24	33.263	3.274	0.055	166.672