Joey Logano, last week’s winner, topped out at 190.476 mph in his No. 22 Ford for Team Penske. Behind him was 2013 adversary Denny Hamlin, who navigated the 1.5-mile oval at 190.295 mph. Busch’s SHR teammate Kevin Harvick, currently sixth in the standings, was fourth at 189.967 mph.

Paul Menard (189.727 mph) rounded out the top five and was the highest Richard Childress Racing driver.

Carl Edwards (189.507 mph, sixth) and Brad Keselowski (189.401 mph, seventh) were the only other Chase drivers to finish the session in the top 10.

Birthday boy Dale Earnhardt Jr. (188.633 mph) and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kasey Kahne (188.547 mph) were just outside the top 10 in 11th and 12th place, respectively.

Other Chase drivers were scattered across the board: Matt Kenseth was 13th, Jimmie Johnson was 17th, Ryan Newman was 23rd, Jeff Gordon was 27th and Kyle Busch was 29th.

Kyle Busch, who won the Coors Light Pole Award on Thursday, stayed off the track until the final five minutes of practice.

Final practice at Charlotte is slated for later tonight, from 5:30-6:50 p.m. ET. It will be televised on ESPN2.

The Bank of America 500 is scheduled for Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET with TV coverage on ABC.

Sprint Cup Series practice 3 | Results

Less than a week after winning the Contender Round Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup opener at Kansas, Joey Logano is again primed for a solid performance after turning in the fastest lap in final practice at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday evening.

The Team Penske driver, who has already advanced to the Eliminator Round via his second win of the Chase, turned a quick lap of 190.597 mph to top the board.

Kurt Busch continued to be fast, pulling into the garage with a best speed of 190.463 mph, good for second on the board. Busch led the first practice of the day and ran the fastest lap (198.771 mph) during the second round of qualifying on Thursday to set the record for fastest qualifying lap ever at a 1.5-mile track.

Chase drivers Kevin Harvick (190.087 mph), Jeff Gordon (190.007 mph) and Brad Keselowski (189.893 mph) rounded out the top five, with Denny Hamlin (189.687 mph) right behind.

Jimmie Johnson, in need of a good finish this weekend after wrecking at Kansas last week, brushed the wall in the closing minutes of practice. He took his No. 48 back to the garage in eighth place on the board and fortunately will not have to go to his backup car. Johnson ultimately qualified 21st.

All Chase drivers placed in the top 20, with Kasey Kahne (188.449) and Ryan Newman (188.350) bringing up the rear in 19th and 20th, respectively.

Follow the Chase action Saturday night in the Bank of America 500 (7:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

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Logano later simplified it even more.

"My goal is still to win," he said. "I might be greedy, but I want to win."

Still, the Kansas victory does bring a bit of relief for the Connecticut native.

"It’s nice to know you’re in because I think everyone was very nervous about this round," Logano said. "Knowing that it’s not a round that is going to win you the championship, but it’s a round that could keep you from winning it, when you think of Kansas and Talladega being in this round."

Logano’s five wins this year have come at a variety of tracks — from the short tracks at Bristol and Richmond to the "Magic Mile" of Loudon to the intermediate ovals of Texas and Kansas.

Clearly, the Team Penske driver is thriving like never before. In addition to more than doubling his win total entering this season (he came in with three career victories and has five in 2014), he has the most top-fives in one season (14) and has led more laps this year (916) than he had from 2009-2013. (660).

On top of that, shortly after his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the Challenger Round of the Chase, he inked a multiyear extension with Team Penske, the team he’s been with since 2013.

One of the year’s biggest thrills is also a career first for him: Holding the points lead, which he has now.

"One of the coolest things about winning last week is that we are the points leader now," Logano said. "That’s never happened for me before. Seeing your truck parked in the first spot, having that first garage stall, obviously it doesn’t mean much at this point, but it is something special."

At Kansas, Logano was able to avoid the tire woes that claimed several Chase contenders such as teammate Brad Keselowski, as well as six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Those three drivers occupy the lowest three spots in the standings among the Chase field coming into Charlotte.

With his teammate currently on the wrong side of the Chase bubble, Logano says there are no plans to do anything differently this weekend.

"We’re going to do what we normally do," Logano said. "We normally go out and try and help each other. As a two-car team, we have to work very tight together to make sure both our cars are fast. I feel like that’s something we applied to Team Penske a long time ago.

"We’ll pretty much do the same things we are already doing. Working together throughout practice, throughout qualifying, sharing our notes, talking about our race cars and then race each other as hard as we know how to on the race track."

Logano is enjoying arguably the best stretch of his career, with three wins in the past seven races, four top-five finishes to start the Chase and no finish worse than 14th in his past 11 Sprint Cup races. The Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC) could very well keep the momentum going. He has three top-fives, six top-10s and a series-best average finish of 10.5 in 11 starts.

Still, despite having his spot in the next round locked up, Logano knows things could change, and next time it could be him instead of Keselowski or the other favorites who is in a tough position come the Eliminator Round.

"We are fortunate enough that it is not going be us this time," Logano said. "But like Roger (Penske) likes to say, ‘You can’t trip up over your own press clippings.’ "

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