Harvick tops final Cup practice at Phoenix
Kevin Harvick led the way in both Saturday practice sessions for the Can-Am 500 at Phoenix Raceway.
Photo by: Matthew T. Thacker / NKP / Motorsport Images
Harvick completed two 20-lap runs in Happy Hour with a top speed of 134.973mph.
“Our car is fast enough,” said Harvick, who leads the tour with eight wins at Phoenix. “It really was just gonna come down to me making all the right moves with the line and decisions and things like that. It’s been a great day and hopefully we can continue that on Sunday.”
Kyle Busch was second in single-lap speeds followed by Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney.
Johnson led the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average category with a speed of 133.549mph. Kyle Busch was second (133.548mph) followed by Hamlin, Truex, Jamie McMurray, Harvick, Kenseth, Kahne, Kyle Larson and Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Kyle Busch established a quick lap of 134.333mph after his first five laps in final practice. Kahne (134.328mph) ran second followed by Truex (134.313mph), Bowyer (134.263mph), Kenseth, Hamlin, Keselowski, Blaney, Earnhardt and McMurray.
Johnson landed fifth (134.208mph) on the speed chart following his first run, but Harvick bumped him to sixth after posting the fastest lap (134.973mph) in the first eight minutes.
After 10 minutes, Harvick led the session followed by Kyle Busch, Kahne, Truex, Bowyer, Johnson, Kenseth, Hamlin, Keselowski and Blaney.
“Everywhere was a better but I was a little tight overall to start the run,” Hamlin said.
Earnhardt, Kyle Larson, Jamie McMurray, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Trevor Bayne, David Ragan, Landon Cassill and Aric Almirola rounded out the top 20.
NASCAR released Joey Logano, Chase Elliott and Chris Buescher, who were penalized 15 minutes for failing race inspection twice last weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie and Matt DiBenedetto were released from timeout after failing qualifying inspection twice at Phoenix on Friday.
Logano was 22nd after his first run. Elliott landed at 17th.
Erik Jones was the final car released from penalty holds. The No. 77 Furniture Row team was docked 30 minutes for failing inspection three times prior to qualifying on Friday. He was 26th after his first run (132.033mph).
Stenhouse’s 44 laps were the most completed at that point.
With 10 minutes to go in Happy Hour, the top 13 remained the same. Logano moved up to 14th followed by Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Elliott, Stenhouse, Bayne and Ragan.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 40 | 26.672 | 134.973 | ||
2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 68 | 26.799 | 0.127 | 0.127 | 134.333 |
3 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | 36 | 26.800 | 0.128 | 0.001 | 134.328 |
4 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 51 | 26.803 | 0.131 | 0.003 | 134.313 |
5 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 52 | 26.813 | 0.141 | 0.010 | 134.263 |
6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 48 | 26.824 | 0.152 | 0.011 | 134.208 |
7 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | 53 | 26.840 | 0.168 | 0.016 | 134.128 |
8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 52 | 26.847 | 0.175 | 0.007 | 134.093 |
9 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 44 | 26.890 | 0.218 | 0.043 | 133.879 |
10 | 21 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 40 | 26.903 | 0.231 | 0.013 | 133.814 |
11 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 47 | 26.904 | 0.232 | 0.001 | 133.809 |
12 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 49 | 26.921 | 0.249 | 0.017 | 133.725 |
13 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | 63 | 26.931 | 0.259 | 0.010 | 133.675 |
14 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 52 | 26.936 | 0.264 | 0.005 | 133.650 |
15 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 51 | 26.957 | 0.285 | 0.021 | 133.546 |
16 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 24 | 26.959 | 0.287 | 0.002 | 133.536 |
17 | 24 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 37 | 27.000 | 0.328 | 0.041 | 133.333 |
18 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 57 | 27.030 | 0.358 | 0.030 | 133.185 |
19 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 46 | 27.161 | 0.489 | 0.131 | 132.543 |
20 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 38 | 27.167 | 0.495 | 0.006 | 132.514 |
21 | 34 | Landon Cassill | Ford | 45 | 27.186 | 0.514 | 0.019 | 132.421 |
22 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 46 | 27.209 | 0.537 | 0.023 | 132.309 |
23 | 47 | A.J. Allmendinger | Chevrolet | 43 | 27.219 | 0.547 | 0.010 | 132.261 |
24 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 55 | 27.220 | 0.548 | 0.001 | 132.256 |
25 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Ford | 47 | 27.222 | 0.550 | 0.002 | 132.246 |
26 | 77 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 19 | 27.266 | 0.594 | 0.044 | 132.033 |
27 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 46 | 27.294 | 0.622 | 0.028 | 131.897 |
28 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 27 | 27.305 | 0.633 | 0.011 | 131.844 |
29 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | 48 | 27.307 | 0.635 | 0.002 | 131.834 |
30 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 38 | 27.447 | 0.775 | 0.140 | 131.162 |
31 | 95 | Michael McDowell | Chevrolet | 26 | 27.450 | 0.778 | 0.003 | 131.148 |
32 | 23 | Corey Lajoie | Toyota | 20 | 27.542 | 0.870 | 0.092 | 130.709 |
33 | 32 | Matt DiBenedetto | Ford | 19 | 27.594 | 0.922 | 0.052 | 130.463 |
34 | 33 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | Chevrolet | 24 | 27.688 | 1.016 | 0.094 | 130.020 |
35 | 72 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | 25 | 27.715 | 1.043 | 0.027 | 129.894 |
36 | 15 | D.J. Kennington | Chevrolet | 34 | 27.786 | 1.114 | 0.071 | 129.562 |
37 | 00 | Derrike Cope | Chevrolet | 22 | 28.228 | 1.556 | 0.442 | 127.533 |
38 | 51 | Kyle Weatherman | Chevrolet | 30 | 28.433 | 1.761 | 0.205 | 126.613 |
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