Jones tops Cup practice in New Hampshire

Fords continued to show strong pace on flat tracks to open the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. But when the clock started to run out, the Toyotas came to play.

Erik Jones laid down a quick lap of 130.251 mph (29.242 seconds) in a mock qualifying run on his 43rd and final lap to pace Saturday’s lone practice for the Dollar Tree 301. His Legacy Motor Club entry was one of three Toyotas to leap to the top of the charts in the final minutes, followed by Ty Gibbs (130.157 mph) and Bubba Wallace (130.095) in second and third.

Jones will be looking to replicate early success at the Loudon oval. The Michigander had finishes of sixth and third in two of first four Cup starts at the challenging track, but has yet to crack the top 10 in his six ensuing New Hampshire runs.

“I think it was good,” Jones said of his car. “We made a long race run to start and we were pretty happy. We had a few things we need to do better – just normal New Hampshire, a little free in and off. But I thought it was close.

“Just made a mock run at the end and thought it was good. We had to pass a car on our lap and still had good speed. …. The Dollar Tree Camry has speed again. We’ve just gotta put these weekends together.”

Before the late Toyota surge, it appeared Cup’s most recent winner, Joey Logano, was set to lead the way. Logano’s quickest lap (130.055) stood fourth at the session’s end, with Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric following in fifth (130.006).

No one else cracked 130 mph during the session. William Byron (129.975) was the lead Chevrolet in sixth. John Hunter Nemechek (129.683) slotted seventh in a one-off run with the No. 40 Toyota. He’s swapped from his traditional No. 42 this weekend to honor sponsor Dollar General’s 40th anniversary.

Chase Elliott (129.683), last year’s runner-up Josh Berry (129.634) and Christopher Bell (129.625) completed up the top 10. Defending winner Ryan Blaney slotted in 16th (129.436). Chase bubble driver Shane van Gisbergen ended the session 17th, with Ryan Preece a distant 28th as he tries to close up ground with two races left in the regular season.

Berry completed a session-high 80 laps, while 30th-place Cole Custer complete the fewest laps (37) of all competitors. Bell had the quickest 10-lap average over Byron, Blaney, Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain.

Saturday’s practice was the first to see the full Cup field run for 50 minutes in an extended session, a change made by NASCAR that will continue in non-superspeedway race weekends moving forward. There were no incidents during the session.

Qualifying is up next. Sunday’s race is set to go live at 2pm ET on USA. The race was moved forward an hour due to forecasted inclement weather.