Joey Logano keeps Team Penske out front in final Cup practice
Team Penske remained a cut above the NASCAR Cup Series teams heading into Sunday’s race at ISM Raceway.
Photo by: Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images
Penske drivers Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney, who won the pole for Sunday’s race, topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final practice session at Phoenix.
Logano led the way with an average lap speed of 137.794 mph followed by Blaney (137.221 mph) and Kevin Harvick (136.685 mph), who won the most recent race at Phoenix in November.
Kyle Busch was fourth and Aric Almirola completed the top-five.
Rounding out the Top 10 are Brad Keselowski, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon and Clint Bowyer.
Logano (136.137 mph) also had the fastest average speed among all the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. He was followed by Harvick, Almirola, Blaney and Keselowski, respectively, in that category.
About 10 minutes into the session, NASCAR displayed a caution after fluid was reported on the track. It appeared to have come from the No. 15 Chevrolet of Ross Chastain.
Track officials had to spread speedy dry through Turns 3 and 4 and down the backstretch to clean up the oil. The track returned to green with about 13 minutes left in the session.
Keselowski was forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of the 50-minute session for twice failing pre-qualifying inspection on Friday.
Cla | # | Driver | Manufacturer | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 49 | 26.126 | 137.794 | ||
2 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 52 | 26.235 | 0.109 | 0.109 | 137.221 |
3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 51 | 26.338 | 0.212 | 0.103 | 136.685 |
4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 58 | 26.387 | 0.261 | 0.049 | 136.431 |
5 | 10 | Aric Almirola | Ford | 47 | 26.408 | 0.282 | 0.021 | 136.322 |
6 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 30 | 26.421 | 0.295 | 0.013 | 136.255 |
7 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 54 | 26.431 | 0.305 | 0.010 | 136.204 |
8 | 1 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | 56 | 26.441 | 0.315 | 0.010 | 136.152 |
9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | 54 | 26.452 | 0.326 | 0.011 | 136.096 |
10 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 40 | 26.458 | 0.332 | 0.006 | 136.065 |
11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 59 | 26.486 | 0.360 | 0.028 | 135.921 |
12 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevrolet | 50 | 26.489 | 0.363 | 0.003 | 135.905 |
13 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevrolet | 37 | 26.497 | 0.371 | 0.008 | 135.864 |
14 | 24 | William Byron | Chevrolet | 35 | 26.498 | 0.372 | 0.001 | 135.859 |
15 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 42 | 26.514 | 0.388 | 0.016 | 135.777 |
16 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 44 | 26.518 | 0.392 | 0.004 | 135.757 |
17 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 43 | 26.521 | 0.395 | 0.003 | 135.741 |
18 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | Ford | 48 | 26.525 | 0.399 | 0.004 | 135.721 |
19 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 48 | 26.565 | 0.439 | 0.040 | 135.517 |
20 | 6 | Ryan Newman | Ford | 45 | 26.569 | 0.443 | 0.004 | 135.496 |
21 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | 32 | 26.582 | 0.456 | 0.013 | 135.430 |
22 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevrolet | 44 | 26.614 | 0.488 | 0.032 | 135.267 |
23 | 8 | Daniel Hemric | Chevrolet | 46 | 26.616 | 0.490 | 0.002 | 135.257 |
24 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevrolet | 36 | 26.715 | 0.589 | 0.099 | 134.756 |
25 | 34 | Michael McDowell | Ford | 30 | 26.720 | 0.594 | 0.005 | 134.731 |
26 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Chevrolet | 34 | 26.758 | 0.632 | 0.038 | 134.539 |
27 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | Toyota | 45 | 26.772 | 0.646 | 0.014 | 134.469 |
28 | 47 | Ryan Preece | Chevrolet | 18 | 26.775 | 0.649 | 0.003 | 134.454 |
29 | 36 | Matt Tifft | Ford | 52 | 26.787 | 0.661 | 0.012 | 134.394 |
30 | 32 | Corey Lajoie | Ford | 20 | 26.810 | 0.684 | 0.023 | 134.278 |
31 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 24 | 26.897 | 0.771 | 0.087 | 133.844 |
32 | 15 | Ross Chastain | Chevrolet | 22 | 26.981 | 0.855 | 0.084 | 133.427 |
33 | 00 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | 19 | 27.346 | 1.220 | 0.365 | 131.646 |
34 | 77 | Quin Houff | Chevrolet | 8 | 27.935 | 1.809 | 0.589 | 128.871 |
35 | 52 | Bayley Currey | Ford | 9 | 28.081 | 1.955 | 0.146 | 128.201 |
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