Ryan Newman fastest in final practice at Martinsville

Newman was one of the first drivers on the track during the 50-minute session and locked in the fastest average lap speed of 95.709 mph.

Chase Elliott, who has won two of his three races this season in the playoffs, ended up second (94.913 mph) and Kyle Busch – who won this race one year ago – was third (94.784 mph). Brad Keselowski and A.J. Allmendinger completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Clint Bowyer, Erik Jones, Ty Dillon, Martin Truex Jr. and Kevin Harvick.

Kyle Busch had the fastest average speed among those drivers who completed at least 10 consecutive laps (94.205 mph). Keselowski and Bowyer were second and third, respectively, in that category.

“You can come here with the same setup, but you’re constantly tweaking on it. You can end one way in a race and come here and unload the exact same way and end another way and then come back here and unload the exact same way and finish that one and make changes,” Busch said.

“You’re just always, constantly evolving and I think that’s just the sport, not necessarily the race track, but the overall change in what happens each time you come here.”

There were no on-track incidents during the session.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	80	19.785			95.709
2	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	77	19.951	0.166	0.166	94.913
3	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	83	19.978	0.193	0.027	94.784
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	74	20.036	0.251	0.058	94.510
5	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	62	20.093	0.308	0.057	94.242
6	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	77	20.100	0.315	0.007	94.209
7	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	62	20.101	0.316	0.001	94.204
8	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	54	20.108	0.323	0.007	94.171
9	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	77	20.118	0.333	0.010	94.125
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	69	20.120	0.335	0.002	94.115
11	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	88	20.135	0.350	0.015	94.045
12	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	54	20.136	0.351	0.001	94.041
13	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	89	20.138	0.353	0.002	94.031
14	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	82	20.139	0.354	0.001	94.027
15	22	Joey Logano	Ford	86	20.148	0.363	0.009	93.985
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	74	20.156	0.371	0.008	93.947
17	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	64	20.165	0.380	0.009	93.905
18	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	57	20.195	0.410	0.030	93.766
19	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	64	20.200	0.415	0.005	93.743
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	54	20.213	0.428	0.013	93.682
21	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	74	20.238	0.453	0.025	93.567
22	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	78	20.253	0.468	0.015	93.497
23	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	83	20.253	0.468	0.000	93.497
24	38	David Ragan	Ford	43	20.261	0.476	0.008	93.460
25	21	Paul Menard	Ford	70	20.271	0.486	0.010	93.414
26	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	43	20.283	0.498	0.012	93.359
27	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	76	20.317	0.532	0.034	93.203
28	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	52	20.328	0.543	0.011	93.152
29	95	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	48	20.344	0.559	0.016	93.079
30	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	48	20.393	0.608	0.049	92.855
31	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	28	20.407	0.622	0.014	92.792
32	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	64	20.486	0.701	0.079	92.434
33	96	D.J. Kennington	Toyota	42	20.544	0.759	0.058	92.173
34	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	43	20.661	0.876	0.117	91.651
35	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	35	20.906	1.121	0.245	90.577
36	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	25	20.925	1.140	0.019	90.495
37	7	Hermie Sadler	Chevrolet	29	20.992	1.207	0.067	90.206
38	00	Joey Gase	Chevrolet	37	21.011	1.226	0.019	90.124
39	51	Jeb Burton	Ford	29	21.014	1.229	0.003	90.111
40	99	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	40	21.046	1.261	0.032	89.974