Kurt Busch took his turn atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard to lead final practice Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway.
Busch guided the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford to a fast lap of 186.226 mph on the 1.5-mile track. His time was just .019 seconds ahead of second-fastest Erik Jones, who ran 186.104 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota.
RELATED: Final practice results | Weekend schedule for Kansas
Aric Almirola, last weekend’s winner at Talladega, was third-fastest at 185.842 mph. Kyle Busch and Paul Menard closed out the top five in the final prep session ahead of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).
The 12 remaining championship-eligible drivers all posted laps within the top 20, and playoff drivers occupied 10 of the top 13 spots on the leaderboard. The playoff field will be whittled from 12 drivers to eight after Sunday’s event, the final race in the Round of 12.
Joey Logano, who will start first after claiming the Busch Pole Award in Friday’s qualifying, notched the 12th-fastest lap in the 50-minute session.
The Nos. 9 (Chase Elliott) and 32 (Matt DiBenedetto) were held for 15 minutes during final practice for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice.
Almirola tops Saturday’s early practice
Aric Almirola, last weekend’s winner, kept up the show of speed Saturday morning at Kansas Speedway by topping the weekend’s second practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series.
Almirola powered the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 10 Ford to a best lap of 186.683 mph in the 55-minute session. Almirola scored his second career victory in NASCAR’s top division last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.
RELATED: Practice 2 results
Erik Jones registered the second-fastest lap with a 186.599 mph clocking in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota. Defending series champion Martin Truex Jr., Kansas native Clint Bowyer and Kyle Busch completed the top five as tune-ups continued ahead of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM).
A caution came out 19 minutes into the session after smoke started billowing from the back of the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray immediately took the vehicle to the garage, and five minutes was added to the practice to offset the clean-up time.
McMurray’s teammate, Kyle Larson, wrecked during Friday’s practice and had to go to a backup car. Larson was sixth-fastest in Saturday’s early practice.
Joey Logano, who claimed the Busch Pole Award in Friday qualifying, posted the 10th-fastest lap in the Team Penske No. 22 Ford.
Meanwhile, the Nos. 00 (Landon Cassill), 23 (JJ Yeley), 66 (Timmy Hill) and 99 (Kyle Weatherman) were all held for 15 minutes in Saturday’s opening practice for being late to qualifying inspection.