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McMurray fastest, goes airborne in final practice at Talladega - video

Jamie McMurray ended up fastest in Friday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Talladega but it’s not going to help him on Sunday.

Jamie McMurray, Chip Ganassi Racing flips

Jamie McMurray, Chip Ganassi Racing flips

YouTube screen grab

Within the first five minutes of the session, it appeared McMurray had a left-rear tire go down in the middle of the backstretch and he turned right in front of Ryan Newman. McMurray’s No. 1 Chevrolet flipped up and over Newman’s No. 31.

McMurray’s car proceeded to roll over three times before catching part of infield catchfence and then coming to a rest on the track on its wheels.

“I think I blew a left-rear tire out,” McMurray said. “I’ve been racing before and I’ve never done the roll like that before. I opened my eyes a couple times. I was just thankful that it landed upright.

“When the car is tumbling you can’t tell where the impact is coming from and you don’t know how many other cars might be involved.” 

Ty Dillon checked up and spun behind the incident and Daniel Suarez was also involved. All four teams had to go to backup cars and will have to start Sunday’s GEICO 500 from the rear of the field.

“When I hit the brakes they had nowhere to go behind me,” said Dillon, who was fastest in Friday’s first practice session. “I think (McMurray’s team) may have been pushing a little too far and ended up with a tire rub on the rear tire.”

Newman, a vocal critic in the past of restrictor-plate racing, tempered his response when asked about McMurray’s car getting airborne.

“It’s unnecessary and it needs to be addressed,” he said. “I’ll leave it at that.”

None of the drivers involved were hurt. McMurray had just posted the fastest lap of the day so far before the incident (203.975 mph).

Dillon ended up being second-fastest (203.079 mph) and Suarez was third (203.079 mph). Erik Jones was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Newman, Paul Menard, Brendan Gaughan, Kevin Harvick and Aric Almirola. Harvick completed the most laps in practice (22).

 
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph
1 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 5 46.947     203.975
2 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 5 47.031 0.084 0.084 203.610
3 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 5 47.154 0.207 0.123 203.079
4 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 11 47.212 0.265 0.058 202.830
5 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 11 47.226 0.279 0.014 202.770
6 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 5 47.239 0.292 0.013 202.714
7 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 16 47.255 0.308 0.016 202.645
8 62 united_states Brendan Gaughan  Chevrolet 5 47.282 0.335 0.027 202.530
9 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 22 47.337 0.390 0.055 202.294
10 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 15 47.352 0.405 0.015 202.230
11 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 13 47.359 0.412 0.007 202.200
12 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 17 47.389 0.442 0.030 202.072
13 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 13 47.398 0.451 0.009 202.034
14 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 21 47.399 0.452 0.001 202.030
15 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 10 47.421 0.474 0.022 201.936
16 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 18 47.427 0.480 0.006 201.910
17 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 15 47.442 0.495 0.015 201.846
18 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 11 47.445 0.498 0.003 201.834
19 12 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 8 47.454 0.507 0.009 201.795
20 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 13 47.524 0.577 0.070 201.498
21 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 10 48.164 1.217 0.640 198.821
22 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 7 49.140 2.193 0.976 194.872
23 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 6 49.384 2.437 0.244 193.909
24 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 7 49.468 2.521 0.084 193.580
25 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 8 49.514 2.567 0.046 193.400
26 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 3 49.656 2.709 0.142 192.847
27 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 6 49.791 2.844 0.135 192.324
28 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 13 49.818 2.871 0.027 192.220
29 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 8 49.843 2.896 0.025 192.123
30 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 5 50.061 3.114 0.218 191.287
31 92 united_states Timothy Peters  Ford 10 50.372 3.425 0.311 190.106
32 96 canada D.J. Kennington  Toyota 7 50.793 3.846 0.421 188.530
33 00 united_states Joey Gase  Chevrolet 14 50.963 4.016 0.170 187.901
34 23 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 21 50.996 4.049 0.033 187.779
35 72 united_states Cole Whitt  Chevrolet 4 51.182 4.235 0.186 187.097
36 51 united_states Timmy Hill  Ford 13 51.213 4.266 0.031 186.984
37 55 united_states Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 7 51.768 4.821 0.555 184.979
38 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 7 51.871 4.924 0.103 184.612

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