Image by Harrelson/LAT
Newman tops final Darlington practice
Ryan Newman paced final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Darlington Raceway on Friday.
Newman took his black No. 31 Chevrolet around The Lady in Black for a lap of 171.698 mph. He led a Chevrolet top three over Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott, who was second quickest at 171.512 mph, and Jimmie Johnson in third at 171.023 mph.
Kyle Busch ran 170.922 mph, and Kurt Busch ran 170.365 mph to complete the top five.
The rest of the top 10 were Matt Kenseth (170.041 mph), Kasey Kahne (169.871 mph), Clint Bowyer (169.801 mph), Ryan Blaney (169.766 mph), and Alex Bowman (169.491 mph).
Aric Almirola, who was 11th fastest, bounced off the wall during one of his mock qualifying runs, damaging the right side of his Ford. After telling the team “I got it bad,” the Stewart-Haas racing group were able to make some repairs and get back on track.
Jamie McMurray was 31st on the speed chart after making his first laps with a fresh engine in the No. 1 Chevrolet.
There were no major incidents in the session.
UP NEXT: Qualifying at 2 p.m. ET Saturday.
Kelly Crandall
Kelly has been on the NASCAR beat full-time since 2013, and joined RACER as chief NASCAR writer in 2017. Her work has also appeared in NASCAR.com, the NASCAR Illustrated magazine, and NBC Sports. A corporate communications graduate from Central Penn College, Crandall is a two-time George Cunningham Writer of the Year recipient from the National Motorsports Press Association.
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