Clint Bowyer leads final Cup practice, Kyle Busch wrecks

Bowyer, who was fastest in Friday’s practice and was fastest in two of three rounds of qualifying, led the way Saturday with an average lap speed of 179.104 mph.

Kyle Busch ended up second (178.873 mph) and Austin Dillon was third (178.712 mph). Michael McDowell was fourth and Corey LaJoie completed the top-five.

“Just got loose. We were trying to run a run and the car was pretty good with fire off there," Busch said. "We ran some really good times and then just kept getting a little bit looser, a little bit looser. I tried to go back to the bottom and run the bottom to see how slow I had to be to go around the bottom and just snapped.”

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, Daniel Hemric, Ryan Newman and Martin Truex Jr.

Shortly into the start of Saturday’s session – which got underway with fog and mist in the air – Kyle Busch got loose in Turn 2 and hit the wall. His team immediately began bringing out his backup car and begin preparations.

Since he moved to a backup car, Busch will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

With about 42 minutes left in the session, smoke began billowing out of the No. 20 Toyota of Erik Jones and he immediately took his car to the garage, where it was reported he was suffering a power steering problem.

Keselowski, who sat out the start of practice suffering from flu-like symptoms, suited up and got in his No. 2 Ford with about 20 minutes left in the session and ran about two laps on the track.

Kyle Busch had the fastest average speed among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (177.302 mph). Kyle Larson and Truex were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	35	30.954			179.104
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	12	30.994	0.040	0.040	178.873
3	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	52	31.022	0.068	0.028	178.712
4	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	29	31.029	0.075	0.007	178.672
5	32	Corey Lajoie	Ford	32	31.070	0.116	0.041	178.436
6	1	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	58	31.143	0.189	0.073	178.018
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	52	31.183	0.229	0.040	177.789
8	8	Daniel Hemric	Chevrolet	49	31.184	0.230	0.001	177.783
9	6	Ryan Newman	Ford	39	31.229	0.275	0.045	177.527
10	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	54	31.237	0.283	0.008	177.482
11	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	55	31.242	0.288	0.005	177.453
12	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	43	31.242	0.288	0.000	177.453
13	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	57	31.248	0.294	0.006	177.419
14	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	34	31.264	0.310	0.016	177.329
15	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	49	31.267	0.313	0.003	177.312
16	21	Paul Menard	Ford	55	31.270	0.316	0.003	177.295
17	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	51	31.273	0.319	0.003	177.278
18	95	Matt DiBenedetto	Toyota	56	31.317	0.363	0.044	177.028
19	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	43	31.322	0.368	0.005	177.000
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	52	31.327	0.373	0.005	176.972
21	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	75	31.334	0.380	0.007	176.932
22	41	Daniel Suarez	Ford	55	31.334	0.380	0.000	176.932
23	96	Parker Kligerman	Toyota	38	31.335	0.381	0.001	176.927
24	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	20	31.343	0.389	0.008	176.882
25	47	Ryan Preece	Chevrolet	62	31.351	0.397	0.008	176.836
26	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	44	31.393	0.439	0.042	176.600
27	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	54	31.416	0.462	0.023	176.471
28	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	36	31.427	0.473	0.011	176.409
29	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	68	31.430	0.476	0.003	176.392
30	38	David Ragan	Ford	43	31.465	0.511	0.035	176.196
31	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	35	31.513	0.559	0.048	175.927
32	36	Matt Tifft	Ford	15	31.645	0.691	0.132	175.194
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	23	31.889	0.935	0.244	173.853
34	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	35	31.889	0.935	0.000	173.853
35	77	Garrett Smithley	Chevrolet	10	32.273	1.319	0.384	171.784
36	52	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	7	32.293	1.339	0.020	171.678
37	51	Cody Ware	Chevrolet	11	33.315	2.361	1.022	166.412