Elliott tops speeds but bends metal in final practice

Chase Elliott first put down the fastest lap in Cup Series final practice at Auto Club Speedway, then he brushed the wall in his NAPA Chevrolet.

The lap of 187.480 mph was enough for Elliott to pace the session, but his car needed repairs after contact with the wall wrinkled the right-front fender and damaged the quarterpanel above the rear wheel. Fortunately, it was minor enough for Elliott to keep his primary car for Sunday's Auto Club 400.

Elliott wasn't the only driver who found trouble in final practice.

Kyle Larson, who was fifth fastest, scrapped the wall with the right side of his Chevrolet, resulting in what appeared to be cosmetic damage. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver will start from the pole Sunday.

Kyle Busch laid down the 10th-fastest lap in the session before spinning off Turn 2. Running along the wall, Busch got loose and spun down the track but avoided all contact and was able to limp back to the garage with flat tires.

"I think I was above the seam (on the track) by the time the car got loose and it over-rotated on me," Busch said. "I tried to get in the throttle and get it to rotate a little bit and it just kept going too far. Spun it out on exit there and fortunately just didn't keep all the air in the tires in order to be able to drive it back and not damage the car just a little bit more than what we already did.

"Not too bad. We're just missing it a little bit. There's just something that we can't get right on entry here this weekend and we've been trying to work on that and it's kind of messing up the rest of the corner for us, so trying to get the best out of our Interstate Batteries Camry to get it good for tomorrow and we'll go back to work and see if we can't figure out more here."

The top 10 in final practice was Elliott, Martin Truex Jr. (187.378 mph), Ryan Blaney (187.066 mph), Erik Jones (186.994 mph), Larson (186.814 mph), Joey Logano (186.770 mph), Matt Kenseth (185.955 mph), Kevin Harvick (185.706 mph), Kurt Busch (185.524 mph), and Kyle Busch (185.519 mph).

The Auto Club 400 airs Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.