CONCORD, N.C. – In a NASCAR Cup Series practice session dominated by the Bowtie Brigade, 2017 Coca-Cola winner Austin Dillon was fastest Friday evening ahead of the 62nd edition of NASCAR’s longest race.
Dillon toured the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway in 29.845 seconds (180.935 mph) with the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off-Road Chevrolet. He’ll seek his second Coca-Cola 600 win Sunday night.
Coca-Cola 600 Practice Results
Two Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets were second and third – courtesy of Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson, respectively – with Erik Jones ranking fourth for Richard Petty Motorsports after sitting atop the charts for most of Friday’s 50-minute session.
Despite not ending the day fastest, Jones was all smiles and extremely optimistic about his car going into the remainder of the weekend.
“This feels good,” Jones said. “It’s a testament to the guys working hard back at the shop to get us ready for this one. We had a good run at Las Vegas earlier this year but struggled from there on mile-and-a-half tracks. Regardless of where we ended up, I feel good about it.
“We didn’t really do a super long run, but the car felt stable, and I was comfortable with it,” Jones added. “Hopefully, it carries into the rest of the weekend for 600 miles on Sunday.”
Joey Logano was the fastest Ford driver in fifth, followed by four more Chevrolet drivers in Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and William Byron.
Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin closed the top 11 in single-lap speeds as the quickest two Toyota drivers.
Defending Coca-Cola 600 champion Brad Keselowski was a disappointing 22nd on the practice charts.
NASCAR Cup Series qualifying will take place Saturday at 11 a.m. ET, live on FS1. Each car will get a single timed lap to set its starting position, and all 38 cars entered will make the race.