Keselowski tops final Cup practice at Martinsville

Keselowski ended up eliminated from the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs last weekend at Kansas but his average lap speed of 96.283 mph has him poised at the chance to sweep both races at the 1-mile track this season.

Penske teammate Ryan Blaney ended up second (95.762 mph) and Kurt Busch was third (95.704 mph). Daniel Hemric was fourth and Ryan Preece completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 in single-lap speeds were Chase Elliott, who blew an engine in Saturday’s first practice, William Byron, Erik Jones, Clint Bowyer and Michael McDowell.

Elliott’s laps were his first in his No. 9 Chevrolet since his team replaced the engine after just five laps in the first practice.

Truck Series driver Matt Crafton continued to practice in Front Row Motorsports’ No. 36 Ford in place of Matt Tifft, who was transported to a local hospital earlier in the day with a “serious medical issue.”

Crafton is expected to remain in the car for Saturday’s qualifying and perhaps the remainder of the weekend.

Bowyer had the fastest average lap speed (94.488 mph) among those drivers who completed at least 10 consecutive laps. Aric Almirola and Jones were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	67	19.667			96.283
2	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	88	19.774	00.107	00.107	95.762
3	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	76	19.786	00.119	00.012	95.704
4	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	57	19.809	00.142	00.023	95.593
5	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	72	19.833	00.166	00.024	95.477
6	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	58	19.835	00.168	00.002	95.468
7	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	66	19.925	00.258	00.090	95.036
8	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	61	19.966	00.299	00.041	94.841
9	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	71	19.968	00.301	00.002	94.832
10	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	50	19.996	00.329	00.028	94.699
11	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	39	20.005	00.338	00.009	94.656
12	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	88	20.014	00.347	00.009	94.614
13	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	45	20.024	00.357	00.010	94.567
14	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	31	20.034	00.367	00.010	94.519
15	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	73	20.036	00.369	00.002	94.510
16	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	57	20.040	00.373	00.004	94.491
17	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	66	20.042	00.375	00.002	94.482
18	22	Joey Logano		Ford	83	20.046	00.379	00.004	94.463
19	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	84	20.048	00.381	00.002	94.453
20	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	72	20.057	00.390	00.009	94.411
21	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	95	20.063	00.396	00.006	94.383
22	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	69	20.127	00.460	00.064	94.083
23	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	50	20.156	00.489	00.029	93.947
24	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	64	20.165	00.498	00.009	93.905
25	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	70	20.166	00.499	00.001	93.901
26	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	75	20.176	00.509	00.010	93.854
27	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	47	20.190	00.523	00.014	93.789
28	21	Paul Menard		Ford	41	20.241	00.574	00.051	93.553
29	38	David Ragan		Ford	52	20.246	00.579	00.005	93.530
30	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	46	20.247	00.580	00.001	93.525
31	36	Matt Crafton		Ford	48	20.494	00.827	00.247	92.398
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	52	20.832	01.165	00.338	90.899
33	51	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	10	21.043	01.376	00.211	89.987
34	53	J.J. Yeley		Chevrolet	40	21.088	01.421	00.045	89.795
35	52	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	31	21.340	01.673	00.252	88.735