Staff Report|NASCAR.com
Wheeling his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota at 183.094 mph, Erik Jones soared to the top of the leaderboard in the final minutes of Friday’s opening practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Jones’ JGR teammate Daniel Suarez also made a late run that proved fruitful, his No. 19 Toyota ranking second at 182.896 mph on the speed charts.
Las Vegas native Brendan Gaughan was third-fastest (182.106 mph) in his No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet while Gaughan’s RCR teammate Brandon Jones came up fourth (181.886 mph) in his No. 33 ride.
Reigning race winner Austin Dillon, who led the majority of the session, rounded out the top five with a fast lap of 181.733 mph in his No. 2 RCR machine.
Five drivers are performing double-duty this weekend with the XFINITY and Sprint Cup Series races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Besides Austin Dillon, Kyle Busch (sixth-fastest), Chase Elliott (eighth-fastest), Aric Almirola (10th-fastest) and Brad Keselowski (14th-fastest) will wheel entries in both events this weekend at the Nevada track.
Derrike Cope brought out the red flag late in the 85-minute session, as his No. 70 Chevrolet hit the wall off Turn 4 hard. Cope will likely defer to a backup car.
The XFINITY Series was back on track at 6 p.m. ET for final practice (FS1).
Kyle Busch led the final practice session ahead of Saturday’s XFINITY Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The Joe Gibbs Racing driver topped the practice with a best speed of 181.348 mph. He placed sixth in the first session with a best speed of 180.481 mph.
Ty Dillon jumped up to grab second late with a fast lap of 180.892 mph in his No. 3Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet
Busch’s JGR teammate, Erik Jones placed third on the leaderboard at 180.880 mph. Jones, who paced the first session, was trailed by another JGR entry in Daniel Suarez (180.771 mph). Dillon’s RCR teammate, Brandon Jones (180.644 mph), rounded out the top five.
Qualifying for Saturday’s Boyd Gaming 300 (4 p.m. ET, FS1) will kick off earlier in the day (Saturday) at 12:45 p.m. ET on FS2.
MORE: Practice 1 results
MORE: Practice 2 results
