Aric Almirola tops final NASCAR Cup practice at Dover

Almirola went out early in the final session and posted an average lap speed of 158.277 mph, which ended up faster than the pole-winning lap put down by Kyle Larson during Friday’s qualifying.

Temperatures were significantly cooler on Saturday and the sky was overcast as there is a threat of rain later in the day.

“The track changes so much as the rubber is laid down. We built some adjustability into the car as the track changes throughout the race. I’m going to go back and debrief and check on my teammates and see what they say” Almirola said after the session.

“Overall, our car is really fast, feels really good. I’m just having a blast.”

Chase Elliott was second-fastest (158.054 mph) and Almirola’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, Clint Bowyer, was third (157.916 mph). Larson was fourth and SHR’s Kevin Harvick completed the top-five.

Asked if he had a race-winning car, Larson said, “I don’t know. You always struggle with your balance here at Dover. I didn’t feel very good in (final practice). We started off really loose and tightened it up. Then that last run we tightened it up too much and actually got really loose there in the run.

“I’m a little frustrated I guess.”

Rounding out the Top 10 were Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, rookie William Byron, Paul Menard and Kyle Busch.

Bowyer had the fastest average speed of the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (155.880 mph). Kyle Busch and Ryan Blaney were second and third-fastest, respectively, in that category.

Harvick and Kurt Busch were forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of Saturday’s final practice session because both of their respective cars failed qualifying inspection on Friday two times.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	57	22.745			158.277
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	53	22.777	0.032	0.032	158.054
3	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	65	22.797	0.052	0.020	157.916
4	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	46	22.824	0.079	0.027	157.729
5	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	23	22.853	0.108	0.029	157.529
6	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	54	22.897	0.152	0.044	157.226
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	57	22.937	0.192	0.040	156.952
8	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	46	22.969	0.224	0.032	156.733
9	21	Paul Menard	Ford	61	22.978	0.233	0.009	156.672
10	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	51	22.985	0.240	0.007	156.624
11	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	55	23.015	0.270	0.030	156.420
12	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	56	23.016	0.271	0.001	156.413
13	22	Joey Logano	Ford	60	23.026	0.281	0.010	156.345
14	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	43	23.040	0.295	0.014	156.250
15	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	41	23.041	0.296	0.001	156.243
16	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	59	23.045	0.300	0.004	156.216
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	57	23.070	0.325	0.025	156.047
18	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	59	23.092	0.347	0.022	155.898
19	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	34	23.151	0.406	0.059	155.501
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	42	23.176	0.431	0.025	155.333
21	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	46	23.193	0.448	0.017	155.219
22	38	David Ragan	Ford	43	23.205	0.460	0.012	155.139
23	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	47	23.220	0.475	0.015	155.039
24	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	44	23.270	0.525	0.050	154.706
25	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	38	23.304	0.559	0.034	154.480
26	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	39	23.314	0.569	0.010	154.414
27	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	25	23.327	0.582	0.013	154.328
28	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	39	23.353	0.608	0.026	154.156
29	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	41	23.464	0.719	0.111	153.427
30	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	43	23.489	0.744	0.025	153.263
31	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	42	23.552	0.807	0.063	152.853
32	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	46	23.756	1.011	0.204	151.541
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	34	23.846	1.101	0.090	150.969
34	23	Gray Gaulding	Toyota	23	23.985	1.240	0.139	150.094
35	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	20	24.053	1.308	0.068	149.669
36	55	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	16	24.191	1.446	0.138	148.816
37	51	Cody Ware	Ford	13	24.401	1.656	0.210	147.535
38	99	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet	22	24.654	1.909	0.253	146.021