Practice report
NASCAR Cup Atlanta
Ryan Newman leads final practice at Atlanta
The Rocketman appears to be back at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Feb 24, 2018, 6:39 PM
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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#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 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
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