Erik Jones leads final Cup practice; Suarez tags wall

Jones, who is still looking for his first win of the 2019 season, topped the final 50-minute practice with an average lap speed of 189.843 mph.

Alex Bowman was second (188.763 mph) and Kevin Harvick was third 9188.640 mph). Austin Dillon and Daniel Suarez completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 speeds were Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Larson.

Jones also had the fastest average lap speed (188.146 mph) among all the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Bowyer, Harvick, Bowman and Larson rounded out the top-five in that category.

With about 16 minutes remaining in the session, Suarez tagged the wall exiting the Turn 2 wall after suffering a flat left-rear tire to bring out a caution. 

Suarez’s No. 41 Ford sustained some damage to the right-rear quarter panel but the team hoped to repair it so he would not need to move to a backup car.

“My car was free but when I got loose between (Turns) 1 and 2, I could tell it was something more,” Suarez. “Hopefully, we get a little bit of a break and we can fix it.”

Three drivers – Michael McDowell, Austin Theriault and Spencer Boyd – had to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice because they were late out of the garage Friday for inspection. 

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	37	37.926			189.843
2	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	33	38.143	0.217	0.217	188.763
3	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	32	38.168	0.242	0.025	188.640
4	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	28	38.199	0.273	0.031	188.487
5	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	27	38.218	0.292	0.019	188.393
6	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	35	38.218	0.292	0.000	188.393
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	46	38.219	0.293	0.001	188.388
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	29	38.225	0.299	0.006	188.358
9	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	31	38.249	0.323	0.024	188.240
10	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	39	38.261	0.335	0.012	188.181
11	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	37	38.267	0.341	0.006	188.152
12	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	37	38.279	0.353	0.012	188.093
13	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	44	38.282	0.356	0.003	188.078
14	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	36	38.306	0.380	0.024	187.960
15	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	38	38.316	0.390	0.010	187.911
16	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	41	38.326	0.400	0.010	187.862
17	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	34	38.332	0.406	0.006	187.833
18	21	Paul Menard		Ford	32	38.355	0.429	0.023	187.720
19	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	34	38.389	0.463	0.034	187.554
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	30	38.425	0.499	0.036	187.378
21	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	26	38.440	0.514	0.015	187.305
22	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	22	38.446	0.520	0.006	187.276
23	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	37	38.465	0.539	0.019	187.183
24	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	27	38.466	0.540	0.001	187.178
25	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	40	38.564	0.638	0.098	186.703
26	22	Joey Logano		Ford	30	38.575	0.649	0.011	186.649
27	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	29	38.603	0.677	0.028	186.514
28	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	21	38.718	0.792	0.115	185.960
29	38	David Ragan		Ford	30	38.745	0.819	0.027	185.830
30	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	20	38.848	0.922	0.103	185.338
31	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	24	39.096	1.170	0.248	184.162
32	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	23	39.140	1.214	0.044	183.955
33	52	Austin Theriault		Ford	16	39.560	1.634	0.420	182.002