Making his first career XFINITY Series start, Kyle Benjamin ended final practice on top of the scoring pylon at 117.081 mph, over a tenth faster than second, Kyle Larson (116.540 mph).
Benjamin is piloting the No. 20 car for Joe Gibbs Racing, which has been triumphant in the last two XFINITY Series races with Erik Jones. The ride is the only car that has made multiple trips to Victory Lane thus far in 2017 through seven races.
The 19-year-old is coming off a season in which he won three races in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East division, finishing second in the championship standings. Currently, the No. 20 ride is second in the owner standings, 43 points behind the No. 22 car, driven this week by Ryan Blaney.
After running the second fastest lap in opening practice, Brennan Poole wound up final practice third on the chart (116.429 mph). Justin Allgaier finished the practice in fourth (115.464 mph) and Ty Dillon fulfilled the top five (115.444 mph).
Coming off a 15th-place finish in his first career start last week at Bristol Motor Speedway, Quin Houff finished final practice in sixth. Brendan Gaughan was seventh, William Byron eighth, Blake Koch ninth and Cole Custer completed the top 10, after posting the fastest lap in opening practice.
Austin Dillon finished the session in 12th, but ran 64 laps, the most of the 42 drivers. Larson ended up on top of the best 10 consecutive lap average chart at 115.405 mph.
About the author
Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.
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