By Staff Report | NASCAR.com
Practice 3 | Results
Ty Dillon led the final XFINITY Series practice on Friday, closing out the sessions at Phoenix.
The Richard Childress Racing driver had a fast lap of 133.087 mph on his final run out of a total of 36 laps.
Current XFINITY Series points leader Daniel Suarez came up short to the No. 3 driver with a speed of 132.787 mph.
Erik Jones, who had led the first two practice sessions at the 1.022-mile track, was third-fastest in the closing round at 132.719 mph.
Defending race winner Kyle Busch was fourth-fastest (132.504 mph) and JR Motorsports driver Justin Allgaier completed the top five with a speed of 132.382 mph.
Along with Busch, other previous race winners in the field are Brad Keselowski and Elliott, who were seventh (132.129 mph) and 16th-fastest (130.957 mph), respectively.
The XFINITY Series returns to the track Saturday for Coors Light Pole Qualifying at 11:45 a.m. ET (FS1). The Axalta Faster. Tougher. Brighter. 200 takes place at 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX).
Practice 2 | Results
Erik Jones found his way to the top of the leaderboard once again in the second XFINITY Series practice on Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, after topping the first earlier in the day.
Jones ran the 1.022-mile desert track at a blistering clip of 134.053 mph to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate and series points leader Daniel Suarez, who clocked in at 133.889 mph. Kyle Busch completed the JGR trio sweep with a best speed of 132.861 mph.
Richard Childress Racing teammates Ty Dillon (132.856 mph) and Brandon Jones (132.763 mph) rounded out the top five. Dillon made a whopping 67 circuits in the practice, the most of any driver.
The session included a lengthy red-flag period as track workers aimed to clean up debris caused by a wreck from the No. 07 driver Ray Black Jr., who broke an oil line and hit the wall.
“It just kind of came out of nowhere,” Black told FS1. “It’s not been a great start for us to the year.”
Practice 1 | Results
Erik Jones zipped to the top of the NASCAR XFINITY Series leaderboard in Friday’s opening practice at Phoenix International Raceway.
Jones drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota to a best lap of 134.128 mph on the 1-mile track. His speed was just .041 seconds quicker than second-fastest Ty Dillon, who pushed the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet to a lap of 133.924 mph in preparation for Saturday’s Axalta 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM), the fourth race of the XFINITY season.
Ryan Sieg was third-fastest at 133.393 mph with Brad Keselowski and Blake Koch completing the top five.
Points leader Daniel Suarez was 12th-fastest in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota. Sprint Cup regular Kyle Busch, an eight-time Phoenix winner in XFINITY competition and Suarez’s JGR teammate, did not turn a lap in opening practice in the No. 18 Toyota.
The hour long session was extended five minutes past its scheduled time after it was interrupted by a crash just past the halfway point involving Brennan Poole, who spun at the exit of Turn 4. Poole’s Chip Ganassi Racing No. 48 Chevrolet crunched into the sand barrels protecting the pit wall abutment. The lengthy clean-up at pit entrance left plenty of teams scrambling to turn laps in the final five minutes of the session.
