Blaney fastest in final Cup practice; Bowman wrecks backup car

Blaney’s average lap speed of 133.572 mph topped Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Denny Hamlin (133.226 mph) and Kyle Busch (132.739 mph).

Kevin Harvick was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 in practice were pole-winner Brad Keselowski, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson, Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson.

Blaney also led the way among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps with an average lap speed of 132.687 mph. Kyle Busch and Keselowski were second and third, respectively, in that category.

The final practice ended up being an eventful one.

Just over 22 minutes into the 50-minute session, Bowman spun and hit the Turn 1 wall for the second time this weekend. Bowman was already in a backup car, having wrecking his primary car in Friday’s practice.

“I don’t even know how I did that, I wasn’t even loose,” Bowman said over his team radio after the incident.

It appeared Hendrick Motorsports was pulling out Johnson’s backup No. 48 car to prepare as the No. 88 team’s third car of the weekend. Bowman’s crew chief, Greg Ives, called a team meeting in the hauler shortly after the incident.

Bowman was one of five drivers who already had to move to the rear of the field before the start of Sunday’s Foxwood Casino 301.

“For Alex and the team, you just have to keep track of the big picture here. We have to stay focused and not panic and go out tomorrow and do the best we can in the race," said Jeff Andrews, HMS' vice president of competition. "Different situations. Certainly yesterday was not Alex's fault as we had a mechanical failure there with the drive-line. Today, we are not really sure what happened there at this point and time. We just need to get the best car under Alex and the race team for tomorrow.”

About eight minutes into the session, a caution was displayed for debris when Matt DiBenedetto shredded his left-rear tire. Practice resumed shortly thereafter.

Unfortunately, 35 minutes into the session, DiBenedetto experienced the same problem with the same tire, which again placed the track under caution.

Five drivers – Landon Cassill, Blaney, Paul Menard, Chris Buescher and Daniel Hemric – had to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice. Cassill, Blaney, Menard and Buescher were late to pre-qualifying inspection Friday and Hemric failed pre-qualifying inspection twice.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	37	28.515			133.572
2	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	48	28.589	0.074	0.074	133.226
3	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	52	28.694	0.179	0.105	132.739
4	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	56	28.705	0.190	0.011	132.688
5	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	49	28.714	0.199	0.009	132.646
6	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	61	28.726	0.211	0.012	132.591
7	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	43	28.727	0.212	0.001	132.586
8	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	41	28.728	0.213	0.001	132.581
9	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	53	28.732	0.217	0.004	132.563
10	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	53	28.751	0.236	0.019	132.475
11	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	44	28.797	0.282	0.046	132.264
12	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	38	28.812	0.297	0.015	132.195
13	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	44	28.813	0.298	0.001	132.190
14	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	61	28.816	0.301	0.003	132.177
15	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	52	28.818	0.303	0.002	132.167
16	22	Joey Logano		Ford	47	28.832	0.317	0.014	132.103
17	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	29	28.834	0.319	0.002	132.094
18	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	20	28.842	0.327	0.008	132.057
19	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	30	28.882	0.367	0.040	131.875
20	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	11	28.951	0.436	0.069	131.560
21	21	Paul Menard		Ford	38	28.953	0.438	0.002	131.551
22	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	42	28.955	0.440	0.002	131.542
23	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	27	29.021	0.506	0.066	131.243
24	38	David Ragan		Ford	41	29.037	0.522	0.016	131.171
25	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	34	29.048	0.533	0.011	131.121
26	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	41	29.054	0.539	0.006	131.094
27	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	48	29.123	0.608	0.069	130.783
28	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	51	29.135	0.620	0.012	130.729
29	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	28	29.141	0.626	0.006	130.702
30	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	40	29.208	0.693	0.067	130.403
31	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	35	29.297	0.782	0.089	130.006
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	19	29.656	1.141	0.359	128.433
33	51	Andy Seuss		Ford	13	30.024	1.509	0.368	126.859
34	52	Austin Theriault		Chevrolet	17	30.698	2.183	0.674	124.073