Menard leads final Brickyard 400 practice

Paul Menard was fastest in final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Indianapolis with a lap of 185.079 mph (48.628 seconds).

Menard went to the top of the chart at the end of the 50-minute session. He was fastest over Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at 184.151 mph and Erik Jones at 183.550 mph. Completing the top five were Chris Buescher at 183.385 mph and Matt DiBenedetto at 183.050 mph.

Rounding out the top 10 were Daniel Hemric at 182.641 mph, Kyle Busch at 182.578 mph, Ryan Preece at 182.522 mph, Kurt Busch at 182.386 mph, and Joey Logano at 182.356 mph.

Denny Hamlin was 15th fastest in final practice but crashed as the session concluded. Hamlin went into Turn 4 and his No. 11 Toyota take off straight toward the outside wall after blowing a tire. The contact not only damaged the right side of the car but resulted in dark smoke and flames to erupt from underneath it.

https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/1170405279642660866

Hamlin will be in a backup car for Sunday’s race. He will have to start at the rear of the field regardless of where he qualifies.

Jimmie Johnson ran the most laps in final practice at 35.

Kurt Busch led the way in the best 10 consecutive lap average over Brad Keselowski, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, and Erik Jones.

UP NEXT: Qualifying at 10:35 a.m. ET Sunday.