Logano, Buescher top Saturday practices at Phoenix

Joey Logano landed atop the leaderboard in Saturday’s final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice, leading another 1-2 sweep for Team Penske at ISM Raceway in Phoenix.

RELATED: Final practice results | Best 10-lap averages

Logano, last week’s winner at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, topped the 50-minute session with a lap of 137.794 mph in the No. 22 Ford. He was just ahead of teammate Ryan Blaney, who registered a 137.221-mph lap and will start from the pole in Sunday’s TicketGuardian 500 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM) after reigning in Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying.

Nine-time Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick recorded the third-fastest lap (136.685 mph) in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford. Kyle Busch (136.431) and Aric Almirola (136.322) completed the top five.

The session was slowed at the 11-minute mark for extended clean-up of fluid dropped by the Premium Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet of Ross Chastain.

Eight teams served 15-minute penalties at the end of final practice for issues in inspection. The Team Penske No. 2 Ford team for Brad Keselowski was docked practice time for failing inspection twice before Friday’s Busch Pole Qualifying. Those troubles resulted in the ejection of a team engineer for the rest of the weekend.

MORE: Officials eject No. 2 team engineer

The other seven teams had time deductions for final practice because they arrived late to inspection:

  • No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford for driver Paul Menard
  • No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of William Byron
  • No. 32 Go Fas Racing Ford of Corey LaJoie
  • No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford of Michael McDowell
  • No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford of David Ragan
  • No. 51 Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet of Cody Ware
  • No. 52 Rick Ware Racing Ford of Bayley Curry

Buescher leads the way in Saturday’s early session

Chris Buescher topped the speed charts in the first of two Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices on Saturday at ISM Raceway, his No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet clocking in at 137.973 mph.

MORE: Best 10-lap averagesPractice 2 results

Polesitter Ryan Blaney, who paced opening practice on Friday, was second on the speed charts with a fast lap of 137.915 mph in his No. 12 Ford. Blaney’s Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski was third-fastest (137.646 mph), while Kyle Larson’s No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet ranked fourth at 137.615 mph. ISM Raceway’s most recent winner Kyle Busch rounded out the top five in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (137.594 mph).

Nine-time Phoenix winner Kevin Harvick ranked sixth-fastest on the leaderboard in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

After their physical altercation during Friday’s qualifying, Daniel Suarez and Michael McDowell met one-on-one and with NASCAR before Saturday’s practice. Suarez’s No. 41 ranked 22nd in practice, while McDowell came up 29th-fastest in the No. 34.

MORE: Suarez on McDowellMcDowell reflects on fight

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*