RELATED: Full practice results
Reaching a top speed of 169.470 mph in his No. 42 HScott Motorsports with Chip Ganassi Chevrolet, Kyle Larson topped the leaderboard early in Friday’s final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The Sprint Cup Series regular is making his 14th and final XFINITY start of the season.
Roush Fenway Racing‘s Elliott Sadler — who will drive for Dale Earnhardt Jr.-owned JR Motorsports next season — nabbed the second spot on the charts, piloting his No. 1 Ford at 169.231 mph. Joe Gibbs Racing‘s Erik Jones laid down a lap of 168.676 mph in the opening lap to earn the third-fastest spot. The Dillon brothers rounded out the top five, with Austin in the fourth spot (168.287 mph) and Ty in the fifth (167.780 mph).
For the fastest 10 lap consecutive average speed, it was Kyle Busch leading the way at 163.597 mph. Larson was second, followed by Austin Dillon , Ryan Blaney and Aric Almirola .
Points leader and title contender Chris Buescher ranked 11th on the speed charts, his No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford coming in at 165.873 mph. Reigning series champion — and Buescher’s primary competition for the title — Chase Elliott was 16th-fastest (165.042 mph) in his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.
The practice began later than anticipated, as track officials worked to dry the track from the rainfall that had halted Sprint Cup practice minutes before. Cars began rolling off the grid at 1:45 p.m.
The XFINTY Series is back on track Saturday for Coors Light Pole qualifying (11:15 a.m. ET CNBC/Live Extra).