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Practice report

Brad Keselowski leads wave of Fords in final Cup practice

Talk about role reversal. Ford teams were nowhere to be found in Friday’s first NASCAR Cup Series practice but dominated Saturday’s final practice.

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Wurth

Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Wurth

Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Brad Keselowski led the way in final practice Saturday at Auto Club Speedway as seven Fords ended up in the Top 10 of single-car speeds.

That’s a far cry from Friday’s practice, in which only one Ford managed to show in the Top-10

Keselowski’s session-best average lap speed of 176.648 mph came late in the session while he was drafting. Daniel Hemric (176.548 mph) was second and Daniel Suarez (176.293 mph) was third.

Aric Almirola and Ryan Blaney completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 was Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

Dillon’s top speed also came late in the session.

Newman had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session as part of his penalty for twice failing pre-qualifying inspection on Friday.

“We got quite a bit too tight on the last run. We’ve been on both sides of the fence so we’ve got to decide where we want the balance of our car to be,” said Kevin Harvick, who ended up 17th-fastest.

Hemric had the fastest average lap speed (174.940 mph) among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. He was followed by Blaney, Keselowski, Bowman and Erik Jones in that category.

Read Also:

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 47 40.759     176.648
2 8 United States Daniel Hemric  Chevrolet 38 40.782 0.023 0.023 176.548
3 41 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Ford 48 40.841 0.082 0.059 176.293
4 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 43 40.870 0.111 0.029 176.168
5 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 43 40.879 0.120 0.009 176.130
6 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 47 40.890 0.131 0.011 176.082
7 6 United States Ryan Newman  Ford 20 40.897 0.138 0.007 176.052
8 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 40 40.923 0.164 0.026 175.940
9 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 36 40.923 0.164 0.000 175.940
10 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 31 40.931 0.172 0.008 175.906
11 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 40 40.951 0.192 0.020 175.820
12 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 39 40.979 0.220 0.028 175.700
13 1 United States Kurt Busch  Chevrolet 42 40.990 0.231 0.011 175.653
14 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 45 40.997 0.238 0.007 175.623
15 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 38 41.006 0.247 0.009 175.584
16 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 35 41.011 0.252 0.005 175.563
17 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 42 41.030 0.271 0.019 175.481
18 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 52 41.041 0.282 0.011 175.434
19 19 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 39 41.069 0.310 0.028 175.315
20 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 37 41.113 0.354 0.044 175.127
21 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 31 41.136 0.377 0.023 175.029
22 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 45 41.150 0.391 0.014 174.970
23 95 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Toyota 32 41.187 0.428 0.037 174.812
24 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 25 41.189 0.430 0.002 174.804
25 32 United States Corey Lajoie  Ford 19 41.190 0.431 0.001 174.800
26 47 United States Ryan Preece  Chevrolet 19 41.241 0.482 0.051 174.584
27 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 34 41.258 0.499 0.017 174.512
28 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 31 41.304 0.545 0.046 174.317
29 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 20 41.322 0.563 0.018 174.241
30 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 22 41.366 0.607 0.044 174.056
31 36 United States Matt Tifft  Ford 18 41.683 0.924 0.317 172.732
32 00 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 16 41.827 1.068 0.144 172.138
33 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 18 42.215 1.456 0.388 170.555
34 52 United States B.J. McLeod  Ford 4 43.852 3.093 1.637 164.189
35 27 United States Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 7 43.900 3.141 0.048 164.009
36 66 United States Joey Gase  Toyota 6 45.414 4.655 1.514 158.541

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