Denny Hamlin tops chart in final practice at Texas

RELATED: Final practice results | 10-lap averages | Full schedule for Texas Denny Hamlin landed atop the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series leaderboard in Saturday's final practice at Texas Motor Speedway. Hamlin drove the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota to a best lap of 191.469 mph around the 1.5-mile track. He was also second-fastest in Saturday's earlier practice. Rookie Erik Jones captured the second-fastest lap at 190.860 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota. Ryan Blaney was third-fastest, rookie Daniel Suarez fourth and points leader Martin Truex Jr. fifth in the 50-minute session. Sunday's AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) is the middle event in the three-race Round of 8 in the series' playoffs, bookended by last week's race at Martinsville Speedway and next weekend's event at Phoenix Raceway. After the Phoenix race, the field will be trimmed to the final four drivers who will compete for the championship. Several Monster Energy Series teams had time deducted from Saturday practice because of failed inspections from Friday's qualifying at Texas and last weekend's race at Martinsville Speedway. That list included 30-minute holds from each practice for the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 (Hamlin) and No. 18 (Kyle Busch) Toyota teams. No other teams were held out of Saturday's early practice. The full list of teams with 30-minute deductions from final practice:

• Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin
• Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch
• Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota of Matt Kenseth
• Furniture Row Racing No. 77 Toyota of Erik Jones

The following teams sat out 15 minutes in final practice:

• Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Ford of Kevin Harvick
• Hendrick Motorsports No. 5 Chevrolet of Kasey Kahne
• Roush Fenway Racing No. 6 Ford of Trevor Bayne
• Premium Motorsports No. 15 Chevrolet of Reed Sorenson
• Team Penske No. 22 Ford of Joey Logano
• BK Racing No. 23 Toyota of Corey LaJoie
• Hendrick Motorsports No. 24 Chevrolet of Chase Elliott
• BK Racing No. 83 Toyota of Gray Gaulding

Kurt Busch stays fast in first Saturday practice RELATED: Practice 2 results Kurt Busch backed up his show of speed in qualifying by leading Saturday's first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway. Busch powered the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Ford to a lap of 191.768 mph in the 55-minute session. He'll start Sunday's AAA Texas 500 (2 p.m. ET, NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM) from the first spot after winning the Coors Light Pole Award in Friday qualifying. Denny Hamlin was second-fastest at 191.110 mph in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 Toyota. Erik Jones, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five on the 1.5-mile track. Playoff contenders took five of the first eight spots in the series' second practice of the weekend. In addition to Hamlin's and Elliott's performances in the top five, the rest of the postseason-eligible drivers were: Kyle Busch (sixth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh), Ryan Blaney (eighth), Kevin Harvick (12th), Jimmie Johnson (16th) and Brad Keselowski (23rd). Daniel Hemric was 29th-fastest as a fill-in driver for the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 Chevrolet. Regular driver Paul Menard is expected back in the cockpit for final practice, having taken time off for the birth of his second child this week.