Practice report

NASCAR Cup Homestead

Truex tops final practice while Edwards leads title contenders

Martin Truex Jr. picked up the pace in the final Happy Hour of 2016 with a lap of 174.289mph.

Lee Spencer

Edited: Nov 19, 2016, 7:33 PM

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Martin Truex Jr., Furniture Row Racing Toyota

Carl Edwards, Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota

Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Kevin Harvick, Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet

Truex, who tailed the four Chasers onto the track, shot up the speed chart in his initial run. He was seventh quick in second practice, but the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing team changed the rear end housing after discovering fluid leaking from the car. The team made four runs during final practice.

Carl Edwards was second quick (174.031mph) in single-lap runs followed by Ryan Newman (172.723mph), AJ Allmendinger (172.502mph)., Chase Elliott 172.408mph), Matt Kenseth (172.265mph), Denny Hamlin (172.254mph), Joey Logano (171.832mph), Tony Stewart (171.603) and Jimmie Johnson (171.587mph).

Five minutes into the session, NASCAR called a caution for debris in the restart zone while Truex led the field after seven laps. Logano was still eighth after his first seven laps, Johnson was 10th and Busch ran 12th.

Crew chief Chad Knaus asked Johnson whether he hit the air hose in Turn 4.

"I just went over it," Johnson said during the caution. "I feel like it touched the splitter, but didn't go under the nose of the car.”

Johnson returned to the track about 15 minutes later and completed an additional nine laps, but wasn’t crazy how the car felt through the ends of the track. Johnson completed 36 laps following three rounds.

Brad Keselowski’s 52 laps were the most completed in Happy Hour.

Polesitter Kevin Harvick posted the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average of 168.286mph, followed by Kyle Larson (167.618mph), rookie Ryan Blaney (167.097mph), Austin Dillon (165.807mph) and Chaser Carl Edwards (165.689mph). Matt DiBenedetto, Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Johnson and Denny Hamlin rounded out the top 10 in the category. Chasers Kyle Busch and Joey Logano were 13th and 21st, respectively.

Logano described his car as "OK", following the session.

"We need to work on our stuff a little bit," Logano said. "I know we've been on both sides of the fence, and we haven't been the fastest yet, so we'll keep working on it."

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 40 30.983 174.289 2 19 Carl Edwards Toyota 44 31.029 0.046 0.046 174.031 3 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 39 31.264 0.281 0.235 172.723 4 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 38 31.304 0.321 0.040 172.502 5 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 41 31.321 0.338 0.017 172.408 6 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 30 31.347 0.364 0.026 172.265 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 37 31.349 0.366 0.002 172.254 8 22 Joey Logano Ford 40 31.426 0.443 0.077 171.832 9 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 41 31.468 0.485 0.042 171.603 10 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 36 31.471 0.488 0.003 171.587

CLICK HERE for complete session results

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