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Ryan Blaney’s speed show continues atop final practice at Las Vegas

Staff Report

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RELATED: Final practice results | Full schedule for Vegas Pole-starter Ryan Blaney backed up his speed from Friday's qualifying by setting the pace in Saturday's final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Blaney powered to a lap of 186.445 mph around the 1.5-mile track in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford. He'll start first in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). Kyle Larson, the fastest in Saturday's earlier practice, was second-best in the final tune-up, landing a lap of 186.136 mph in the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet. Martin Truex Jr., the defending series champ and last year's Vegas winner, clocked the third-fastest lap at 186.091 mph in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Chase Elliott (186.059 mph) and William Byron (186.002) completed the top five in the 50-minute session. Cole Custer, a NASCAR Xfinity Series regular gearing up for his premier-series debut, was 25th-fastest at 183.974 mph in the Rick Ware Racing No. 51 Ford. Larson was fastest in the category of consecutive 10-lap averages, which is often a forecasting factor for long-run speed on race day. He was followed by Harvick, Truex, Brad Keselowski and Chase Elliott in the top five on that chart. RELATED: Consecutive 10-lap averages Three teams served 15-minute penalties at the end of Saturday's final practice for failing pre-qualifying inspection twice: Sunday's 400.5-mile event is the third of 36 points-paying races for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. It's also the first event in the three-race West Coast swing, with Las Vegas, Phoenix and Fontana, California, on the schedule in consecutive weekends. Larson fastest in early Saturday practice Kyle Larson led the way in Saturday's opening practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. MORE: Practice 2 results Larson placed the Chip Ganassi Racing No. 42 Chevrolet atop the leaderboard with a lap of 187.559 mph on the 1.5-mile Nevada track. Larson, the runner-up at Las Vegas last season, is scheduled to start fifth in Sunday's Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM). "The car is really good," Larson said. "We tested here about a month ago and were fast and got a good balance on our car. I think this practice we were just kind of chasing the track a little bit. I was loose the first few runs we did and worked on tightening it up and then we put a set of stickers on there a few laps there at the end, ran a fast lap, but I built tight really fast. So, I think if we would have just waited to practice and left the same set-up on there to start we would have been fine. The track just went through a lot of changes, transition I think." Ryan Newman was second-fastest in the 55-minute session, notching a 187.454 mph lap in the Richard Childress Racing No. 31 Chevy. Jimmie Johnson claimed the third spot on the leaderboard (186.587) for Hendrick Motorsports, completing a 1-2-3 practice sweep for Chevrolet drivers. Kevin Harvick, last weekend's winner at Atlanta, and Alex Bowman rounded out the top five in preparation for the third Monster Energy Series race of the season. Ryan Blaney, who won the pole Friday during qualifying for Sunday's event, was sixth-fastest (185.325 mph) in the Team Penske No. 12 Ford. Defending series champion Martin Truex Jr., who won this race last year, was 10th-fastest (185.096 mph) in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota. Denny Hamlin's No. 11 Toyota slowed with an apparent parts failure, prompting a caution period 18 minutes into the session for debris. He pulled into the garage to the attention of his Joe Gibbs Racing crew, which returned him to the track later in practice. Three teams were docked 15 minutes of practice at the end of the session because they were late to Friday's pre-qualifying inspection. Those teams were: