Kyle Larson tops Kurt Busch in final Cup practice at Sonoma

Larson registered the fastest average lap speed in Friday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at 95.469 mph.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota SaveMart 350 is 3:10 p.m. ET Saturday.

Larson’s teammate at Chip Ganassi Racing, Kurt Busch, ended up second (94.986 mph) and Aric Almirola (94.421 mph). Clint Bowyer was fourth and Matt DiBenedetto rounded out the top-five.

“I spent a lot of practice working on the same old characteristics of Sonoma, which is nice. We are doing some work to make sure it drives off the corner as well as you are going to need,” DiBenedetto said before the start of the final 1 hour, 20-minute session.

“It needs to turn okay, and you need to be able to throttle down so you can set them up and stay close to their bumper to pull off a pass in Turn 7.”

Rounding out the top 10 were Parker Kligerman, who posted his fastest lap with just minutes remaining in session; William Byron; Alex Bowman; Ricky Stenhouse Jr.; and Ryan Blaney.

Drivers seemed much more confident navigating the Carousel this time around. The addition to the course this year plunges from Turn 4 down through Turns 5 and 6 before dropping onto the raceway’s longest straightaway into the Turn 7 hairpin. It adds about a half-mile to the course’s length.

Kyle Busch had some troubles on the course, spinning off the track briefly in Turn 2 early on and then went off course again near Turn 4 later in the session.

Bubba Wallace also went for a spin late in the session but was able to continue on without a problem.

Bowyer posted the fastest average lap speed of those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (93.416 mph). He was followed by Bowman and Larson, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	27	1'35.026			95.469
2	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	28	1'35.509	0.483	0.483	94.986
3	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	30	1'36.080	1.054	0.571	94.421
4	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	34	1'36.231	1.205	0.151	94.273
5	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	32	1'36.316	1.290	0.085	94.190
6	96	Parker Kligerman		Toyota	24	1'36.352	1.326	0.036	94.155
7	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	27	1'36.353	1.327	0.001	94.154
8	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	30	1'36.359	1.333	0.006	94.148
9	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	25	1'36.372	1.346	0.013	94.135
10	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	27	1'36.459	1.433	0.087	94.050
11	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	28	1'36.468	1.442	0.009	94.042
12	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	23	1'36.469	1.443	0.001	94.041
13	22	Joey Logano		Ford	36	1'36.477	1.451	0.008	94.033
14	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	24	1'36.612	1.586	0.135	93.901
15	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	20	1'36.635	1.609	0.023	93.879
16	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	24	1'36.713	1.687	0.078	93.803
17	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	33	1'36.727	1.701	0.014	93.790
18	21	Paul Menard		Ford	27	1'36.784	1.758	0.057	93.735
19	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	32	1'36.870	1.844	0.086	93.651
20	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	26	1'36.888	1.862	0.018	93.634
21	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	27	1'36.890	1.864	0.002	93.632
22	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	28	1'36.975	1.949	0.085	93.550
23	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	27	1'36.989	1.963	0.014	93.536
24	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	33	1'36.993	1.967	0.004	93.533
25	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	26	1'37.028	2.002	0.035	93.499
26	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	25	1'37.055	2.029	0.027	93.473
27	38	David Ragan		Ford	31	1'37.210	2.184	0.155	93.324
28	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	23	1'37.375	2.349	0.165	93.166
29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	27	1'37.418	2.392	0.043	93.124
30	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	26	1'37.586	2.560	0.168	92.964
31	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	24	1'37.685	2.659	0.099	92.870
32	52	Cody Ware		Ford	15	1'37.868	2.842	0.183	92.696
33	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	24	1'38.003	2.977	0.135	92.569
34	77	Justin Haley		Chevrolet	2	1'38.413	3.387	0.410	92.183
35	51	J.J. Yeley		Ford	8	1'41.332	6.306	2.919	89.527