Coors Light Pole winner pours it on; trouble for Newman, Gordon, Bowyer
RELATED: Practice 2 results | Final practice results
Carl Edwards backed up his show of speed in Friday's Coors Light Pole Qualifying, logging the fastest lap Saturday afternoon as final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice was cut short by rain at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Edwards drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota to a best lap of 133.110 mph in overcast conditions on the 1.058-mile track. Edwards will start first in Sunday's 5-hour ENERGY 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) after claiming his first pole since 2013 in Friday's qualifying.
Defending Sprint Cup champion Kevin Harvick, fastest in Saturday's early practice, was second-best in the late session, turning a lap of 132.397 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet. Ryan Blaney was third-fastest at 132.213 mph in the Wood Brothers Racing No. 21 Ford, which is making its first start since Michigan in June after qualifying rainouts sidelined the team the last two weekends.
Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas driven by Kyle Busch (fourth-fastest) and Denny Hamlin (fifth) completed the top five in the session, shortened from 55 to 43 minutes because of rain.
The Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet of four-time series champ Jeff Gordon returned to the track with right-rear fender damage repaired from a collision in the garage with the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 of Clint Bowyer during Saturday morning's second practice. Gordon ran 35 laps in final practice, notching the 22nd-fastest lap. Bowyer was sixth-best on the speed chart.
Harvick soars in Saturday's early practice
Defending series champion Kevin Harvick landed atop the leaderboard in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series second practice Saturday morning at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Harvick, driving the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet, clocked a best lap of 132.094 mph on the 1.058-mile track. Harvick, a two-time winner this year and the current standings leader, scored his only New Hampshire victory from the pole position in the fall of 2006.
Jimmie Johnson was second-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet at 131.975 mph in preparation for Sunday's 5-hour ENERGY 301 (1:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM). Carl Edwards, who won the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday's qualifying, was third-fastest, just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, last week's winner at Kentucky Speedway. Kurt Busch, a teammate to Harvick at Stewart-Haas, completed the top five.
The practice session, originally scheduled for 55 minutes, was extended to one hour because of the stalled No. 31 Chevrolet of Ryan Newman, who stopped his Richard Childress Racing entry on the backstretch with a flat left-rear tire.
With the session halted, Newman's crew came to his aid and changed the tire on the track apron to avoid further damage. A near-identical situation occurred Friday involving the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Chevrolet and driver Martin Truex Jr.
The session was also marked by a collision in the garage between former New Hampshire winners Jeff Gordon and Clint Bowyer, who was unable to avoid the Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet as it backed out of its pit stall. Bowyer was able to return to practice with minor front-end scrape to his Michael Waltrip Racing No. 15 Toyota, but Gordon's crew was faced with more significant damage on the right-rear fender.