Roush Fenway Racing led the way in a speedy final practice Friday at Talladega Superspeedway as Ryan Newman topped the charts with a lap of 204.157 mph in his No. 6 Ford. Teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was right behind him in his No. 17 Ford at 204.127 mph.
RELATED: Final practice results
The two Fords were among six cars to log a lap of 204 mph or faster in a session that also included 24 drivers, in all, that circled the track at 200 mph or faster.
Those fast laps came even after the final practice included tweaks to the superspeedway rules package — namely, adding a 1-inch wicker to the cars’ spoilers in an effort to quell concerns with engine rev and speeds. The change was made after NASCAR officials consulted with teams following the opening practice at Talladega.
RELATED: NASCAR tweaks rules package
Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (204.114 mph) , Matt Tifft in the No. 36 Front Row Motorsports Ford (204.092 mph) and Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (204.079 mph) rounded out the top five in the 50-minute practice session.
The Monster Energy Series returns to the track Saturday at approximately 4:40 p.m. ET for Busch Pole Qualifying (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
FIRST PRACTICE
Kurt Busch led five Chevrolets in the top 10 when he paced the leaderboard in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series’ first look at Talladega Superspeedway with the 2019 rules package in Friday afternoon’s first practice.
RELATED: First practice results
Busch wheeled his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet around the 2.66-mile track at 202.671 mph in the first practice in preparation for Sunday’s GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
David Ragan in the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford and Erik Jones in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota were both just behind, logging equal laps of 202.654 mph.
Michael McDowell in the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford (202.641 mph) and Chase Elliott in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (202.624 mph) rounded out the top five.
In all, 21 drivers recorded laps of 200 mph or better in the practice session.
This practice was the first look at the 2019 rules package for superspeedway racing at Talladega. The package includes a 0.922-inch tapered spacer (replacing the restrictor plate), 9-inch rear spoiler, 1-inch bolt-on track bar mount (raising the rear of the car by an inch), a tapered radiator pan, 2-inch splitter overhang and aero ducts.
The spoiler and rear-end aerodynamic guidelines were altered after a two-day, three-car test session at Daytona International Speedway following this year’s Daytona 500. Findings from that three-car session prompted NASCAR officials to increase the height of the rear spoiler from 8 to 9 inches, along with the track-bar mount addition to create more drag in an effort to slow the cars down.