After winning the pole and leading a race-high 100 laps in June, Kyle Busch led the way in final practice, in preparation for Sunday’s Overton’s 400 at Pocono Raceway.
Putting up a lap of 176.824 mph late in the practice, Busch topped final practice by more than two tenths of a second over Kyle Larson (175.908 mph). Most teams prepared were in qualifying trim as qualifying is set to get underway at 11 a.m. ET Sunday morning.
The second Chip Ganassi Racing driver of Jamie McMurray was third on the board at 175.647 mph, while Denny Hamlin (175.415 mph) was fourth and Chase Elliott was fifth (175.261 mph).
Ryan Blaney, winner of the June race was sixth on the speed chart, while Martin Truex Jr., Clint Bowyer, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kevin Harvick filled the top 10.
Matt Kenseth fell to 16th on the board, more than one second off his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Busch. The No. 20 car paced opening practice on Saturday morning.
In his final practice session ever at Pocono, Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 17th, while Brickyard 400 winner Kasey Kahne was one spot behind in 18th.
Bowyer, Brad Keselowski and Matt DiBenedetto all turned 23 circuits, the most in the session. Seven drivers made a run of at least 10 consecutive laps, in which Busch was at the top at 173.058 mph.
Full final practice results for the Cup Series at Pocono
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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