Chase Elliott tops final NASCAR Cup practice at Atlanta
Georgia native Chase Elliott set the pace in Happy Hour at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday with a lap of 188.015mph.
Photo by: Barry Cantrell / NKP / Motorsport Images
Elliott, who won the pole for the Daytona 500 and led 39 laps before running out of gas last Sunday, will be looking for redemption this weekend at his home track.
“The surface is great, there’s a variety of places where you can run with various techniques,” Elliott said.
Brad Keselowski posted the second-fastest lap (187.602mph) with Daytona 500 race winner Kurt Busch running third (187.576mph) followed by AJ Allmendinger (187.519mph) and Denny Hamlin (187.506mph).
At the 15-minute mark, NASCAR red-flagged the track when the No. 51 car of Cody Ware started smoking. Elliott was atop the leader board with a time of 29.488-seconds following a 22-lap run. Practice resumed five minutes later.
Forty-three minutes into the session, NASCAR red-flagged the track after Kyle Busch skidded onto pit road. Three minutes later, action resumed.
Ryan Newman was sixth-quick with a lap of 186.843mph. Kasey Kahne (186.736mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (186.472mph), Trevor Bayne (186.294mph) and Kyle Larson (186.065mph) rounded out the top-10 speeds in final practice.
Ty Dillon’s 75 laps were the most completed in the 79-minute session.
Newman posted the Best 10 Consecutive Average of 181.429mph followed by Earnhardt Jr. (181.398mph), Jamie McMurray (181.360mph), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (180.661mph) and Hamlin (180.623mph). Ryan Blaney, Keselowski, Austin Dillon, Elliott and Ty Dillon rounded the top 10 speeds.
| Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24 |  Chase Elliott |
Chevrolet | 29.487 | 188.015 | |||
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski |
Ford | 29.552 | 0.065 | 0.065 | 187.602 | |
| 3 | 41 | Kurt Busch |
Ford | 29.556 | 0.069 | 0.004 | 187.576 | |
| 4 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger |
Chevrolet | 29.565 | 0.078 | 0.009 | 187.519 | |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin |
Toyota | 29.567 | 0.080 | 0.002 | 187.506 | |
| 6 | 31 | Ryan Newman |
Chevrolet | 29.672 | 0.185 | 0.105 | 186.843 | |
| 7 | 5 | Kasey Kahne |
Chevrolet | 29.689 | 0.202 | 0.017 | 186.736 | |
| 8 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet | 29.731 | 0.244 | 0.042 | 186.472 | |
| 9 | 6 | Trevor Bayne |
Ford | 29.761 | 0.274 | 0.030 | 186.284 | |
| 10 | 42 | Kyle Larson |
Chevrolet | 29.796 | 0.309 | 0.035 | 186.065 |
Be part of Motorsport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Harvick reflects on career after Atlanta win, honors Dale Earnhardt
Chase Elliott: "We have a lot of work to do" after Atlanta showing
Harvick leads veteran charge at Atlanta Motor Speedway
Elliott "excited about the challenge" to make NASCAR playoffs
Chase Elliott: Return at Martinsville "is going to be tough"
Why NASCAR's latest second-generation champion is just getting started
Larson earns third straight NASCAR Cup pole, beating Gibbs at Texas
Kyle Larson beats Bubba Wallace to Martinsville Cup pole by 0.001s
Why Kyle Larson deserves his second chance in a cancel culture
2024 NASCAR All-Star Race format includes different tire compounds
Brake issues hinder Rosenqvist’s chances for victory in Long Beach
Power “didn't have any defense” against Dixon due to tire strategy
Ayrton Senna's personal Honda NSX on sale for £500,000
The ex-F1 driver taking on NASCAR with a new team
The early benefits and challenges of NASCAR's Next Gen car
How Penske's rookie sensation opened NASCAR's new era in style
Six key themes to follow in the 2022 NASCAR Cup season
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments