Final Practice at TicketGuardian 500

Saturday March, 10 2:30 p.m. ET

50 minutes in length

Weather

73 and cloudy at the onset of practice, but will be 80 and sunny for the race on Sunday

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
14Kevin HarvickFord47131.4426.757134.5445
21Jamie McMurrayChevy51129.22226.765134.5044
378Martin Truex Jr.Toyota56129.29626.775134.4545
410Aric AlmirolaFord48130.36926.823134.2136
588Alex BowmanChevy47130.07226.827134.1938
69Chase ElliottChevy51130.32626.83134.1787
742Kyle LarsonChevy49127.16426.842134.1185
818Kyle BuschToyota50130.38826.858134.0385
920Erik JonesToyota43130.24126.867133.9932
1011Denny HamlinToyota51130.04426.868133.9884
1148Jimmie JohnsonChevy56130.86226.895133.8546
122Brad KeselowskiFord50128.86626.913133.7643
133Austin DillonChevy60129.53826.938133.646
1414Clint BowyerFord39131.35326.94133.635
1531Ryan NewmanChevy45129.40326.946133.6016
1621Paul MenardFord45128.58126.972133.4726
1741Kurt BuschFord44130.19926.978133.4426
1822Joey LoganoFord67127.94126.981133.4276
1947AJ AllmendingerChevy50128.64527.015133.2594
2024William Byron #Chevy43130.13327.028133.1955

Best 10-lap Averages

Penalties

Kevin Harvick (15 minutes at end of practice)

Items of Note:

  • Denny Hamlin made two shock changes to start practice and looking to fine tune things in happy hour
  • Darrell Wallace Jr. said they changed everything but the driver for the final practice after running P30 in the second practice. They started with Ryan Newman’s setup to start the week but have now gone back to what the 43-team has run there in the past.
  • Alex Bowman changed a lot between the first practice Saturday and final practice and have a package that’s more to their liking in the car for happy hour.
  • Larry McReynolds was saying that with long runs at race speed of 50-laps or longer the bead of the tire may melt because of the tape covering brake duct openings in the front of the cars.
  • Kyle Larson was complaining of “wheel hop” in the first practice on Saturday and the team did some work to figure out what was causing the issue. Update- With 8 minutes left in practice the car has felt the same as it did previously
  • With 36 minutes left in practice in happy hour, Kevin Harvick has the fastest lap, fastest 10-lap average, fastest 15-lap average, and fastest 20-lap average.
  • Kasey Kahne has been dealing with about of the flu this week and has been feeling miserable all weekend getting in and out of the car. The handling of the car is still being worked on and he is in the mid-20s on the speed chart with 30 minutes left in practice.
  • With 27 minutes left in practice Kevin Harvick got on the radio and said that they could stop running and working on the car at that point because the car was so dialed in. He will have to serve a 15-minute penalty at practice.
  • Alex Bowman likes the direction they are headed in but the car can still improve in speed coming out of the turns. But overall they like the car as it currently runs.
  • Chase Elliott is currently second in the 10-lap, 15-lap, and 20-lap averages with 20 minutes left in practice
  • Jimmy Johnson said he liked the changes made before his first run of the session, it still got tight but it had better drivability over the long run. He is heading out for a second run with 18 minutes left.
  • Erik Jones replaced the steering box in the car after losing a lot of time in the first session Saturday chasing the issue. He now feels a lot more comfortable under Jones when driving at speed around the track.
  • With 16 minutes left in practice, Austin Dillon is the only driver to run 30-consecutive laps in the happy hour session. Said he doesn’t have the turn that he wants and wants help in the entry without hurting the speed. He doesn’t have the feel of the car just yet.
  • Ryan Newman feels like they have a very good car this week and one that can compete. He wanted it a bit more snug and that’s what they did and now he feels very happy with it.
  • Jamie McMurray is also complaining of a bit of wheel hop but put a bit more front brake into the car and that seemed to help the tire chatter issue as he ran a long run.
  • The difference between the best 15-lap average and second is a tenth of a second which is the same difference between the fastest and second-fastest over 20-lap averages.

  • Aric Almirola feels good about his car but thinks it needs a bit more to run up with Harvick.
  • Denny Hamlin says they are trying find the balance between short-run and long-run speed. Said they unloaded very close on Friday and spent the weekend fine tuning instead of looking for a package.

Second Practice for TicketGuardian 500

Saturday, March 10 12:05 p.m. ET

50 minutes in length

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
14Kevin HarvickFord44130.4426.705134.8063
29Chase ElliottChevy32130.926.705134.8064
318Kyle BuschToyota40129.13926.735134.6556
42Brad KeselowskiFord40129.30126.754134.5595
511Denny HamlinToyota38131.24326.781134.4243
631Ryan NewmanChevy46130.54426.788134.3895
778Martin Truex Jr.Toyota35131.17126.801134.3238
848Jimmie JohnsonChevy35127.89526.818134.2386
922Joey LoganoFord27130.626.822134.2186
1042Kyle LarsonChevy44128.89826.828134.1885
1120Erik JonesToyota28130.86626.86134.0284
1210Aric AlmirolaFord36131.46426.882133.9196
1388Alex BowmanChevy42130.80926.898133.8399
1424William Byron #Chevy48129.26426.903133.8148
151Jamie McMurrayChevy29132.20726.939133.63522
1621Paul MenardFord36130.09526.948133.5917
1747AJ AllmendingerChevy27131.35326.948133.5915
1812Ryan BlaneyFord34130.98126.954133.56117
193Austin DillonChevy45129.56626.973133.4676
2014Clint BowyerFord30131.72826.984133.41220

Best 10-Lap Averages

Penalites

Michael McDowell (15 minutes at the end of practice)

Items of Note:

  • Ty Dillon was very loose coming out of turn 3 with 47 minutes left in practice
  • Kyle Busch made one lap and came back in to the garage to adjust the tire pressure and ride height since the splitter was on the ground. He is back on the track for a long run
  • Drivers are making much longer runs in the second practice than in the opening session yesterday which isn’t a shock since yesterday was about qualifying speeds versus race trim today.
  • Teams have been making major changes in this session to roll in entirely new packages with difference in weight and camber.
  • Martin Truex Jr. is the only one that has cut the dogleg in this practice session. However Jeff Gordon and Darrell Waltrip both said that running that too many times can affect the side skirts
  • Denny Hamlin ran a 15-lap run early in practice and felt tight, they adjusted it and ran another multi-lap run but the car still feels on the tight side.
  • Jimmie Johnson said his car felt loose in the corner and tight off but as the car ran longer it got tighter and now it’s an issue in the middle of corner mid-way through the run.
  • With 15 minutes left in practice, Denny Hamlin was fastest on the 15-consecutive lap list, Chase Elliott was second, and Kyle Larson was third
  • With 14 minutes left in practice, Aric Almirola was following Kevin Harvick around the track to see how he runs it so fast.
  • Brake reps are in the garage area to inspect the brakes on the cars after the runs. The rear brakes aren’t showing much issues but the front brakes on a lot of cars are close to overheating because of the lack of air getting to them to increase downforce in the front of the car.
  • Michael McDowell says his long run speed is pretty good but there are things left to do on the car. The weather in the first practice Saturday is a lot different than the conditions expected on Sunday.
  • With seven minutes left in practice only one car has run a 20-lap run. A lot have driven 15-lap runs.
  • Clint Bowyer got very loose in turn 3 with seven minutes left and decided to take it to the garage after that.
  • Kyle Busch was following Kevin Harvick around the track with five minutes left in the session.
  • Kyle Larson crossed into the 20-lap run category with five minutes to go. He was also driving all different lines around the track and not just working the bottom lane.
  • Erik Jones has had some power steering problems all day long and haven’t been able to work on long run speed. His speed is ok but not great and they will work off their baseline data to improve it in the happy hour session.
  • This chart shows the difference in lap times between the 18-car and the 9-car over a long run.

First Practice for TicketGuardian 500

Friday, March 9 12:35 p.m. ET

50 minutes in length

Top-20 Speeds (one lap)

PosCarDriverMakeLapsLast LapBest TimeBest SpeedBest Lap
142Kyle LarsonChevy9138.28126.034138.2819
21Jamie McMurrayChevy11136.75726.132137.7628
318Kyle BuschToyota8137.19526.151137.6627
424William Byron #Chevy16136.65926.159137.6213
59Chase ElliottChevy8137.04926.16137.6152
622Joey LoganoFord8137.4226.197137.428
711Denny HamlinToyota7137.15326.198137.4154
812Ryan BlaneyFord8136.49826.231137.2425
914Clint BowyerFord16136.60726.233137.23214
1078Martin Truex Jr.Toyota8136.56526.245137.1695
114Kevin HarvickFord8136.8226.249137.1487
1288Alex BowmanChevy14137.01826.254137.12211
132Brad KeselowskiFord8136.02426.301136.8775
1448Jimmie JohnsonChevy7136.2426.321136.7736
1531Ryan NewmanChevy10136.27626.333136.7115
163Austin DillonChevy11136.46726.366136.5398
1720Erik JonesToyota10136.23526.374136.4989
1821Paul MenardFord11135.49126.429136.2148
1910Aric AlmirolaFord13136.13226.445136.13213
2047AJ AllmendingerChevy10135.4426.447136.1219

Best 10-Lap Averages

No driver ran 10 consecutive laps in the first session

Penalities

Jimmie Johnson (30-minute at end of practice)

Ross Chastain (30-minute at end of practice)

Matt DiBenedetto (15-minute at end of practice)

Items of Note:

  • Bubba Wallace Jr. and William Byron were the first two cars on the track at the drop of the green flag.
  • Jeff Gordon compared the track to Darlington in that the two ends of the track are different radius turns and so the car has to be setup differently to approach those turns the best way.
  • Darrell Waltrip said he always carried a short track mentality into the races at Phoenix because of the narrowness of the front stretch and the irregular shape of the track overall.
  • Most drivers were making a short run in race trim before changing to qualifying trim for qualifying later on Friday.
  • 9 of the last 18 winners at Phoenix have ended a winless streak of 44+ races.
  • Ricky Stenhouse Jr.’s never turned through the dogleg and never turned in turn 3 driving straight into the wall on the very first lap of the session. He said over the radio that something broke and smoke came out of the rear right side of car just before hitting the wall. He will go to a backup car, but because it was before qualifying he won’t have to go to the back of the pack because of it.
  • Ty Dillon had a front brake lock up on his first run of the day but did not hit anything when it smoked up
  • They will be running hard tires this week that won’t fall off very much over long runs which makes qualifying important to gain track position.
  • With 11 minutes Kyle Larson took over the top spot in practice, the next lap his teammate Jamie McMurray took over the top spot.
  • With 10 minutes left in practice three Hendrick Motor Sports cars are in the top-10
  • Ryan Newman locked up his left sides into turn 1 with 8 minutes left in practice and smoked them. He didn’t hit the wall but pulled into the garage to work on it.
  • Kyle Busch likes the car he has after fine tuning it during practice and getting up to third in the opening session, but he said there is a bit more work to do to find the top speed they are hoping for.
  • At the very end of practice, Kyle Larson took over the top spot with his final lap.