By Aaron Bearden, Motorsports Editor
JOLIET, Ill. — Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski and Ryan Blaney combined to sweep Saturday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practices at Chicagoland Speedway.
Happy Hour
Brad Keselowski proved to be the quickest driver in final practice for Sunday’s Overton’s 400, beating out two-time defending winner Martin Truex Jr. with a time of 29.863 seconds.
While Truex joined the top two, it was Keselowski and Ford that dominated the session. Blue Ovals combined to claim five of the top six spots, with Joey Logano, Kurt Busch, Aric Almirola and Kevin Harvick taking third through sixth.
Jamie McMurray led all Chevrolets in seventh, with Kyle Busch, Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer completing the top 10.
A total of 37 drivers set a time in the session, with all but two of them completing 10 or more laps. Completing the most laps in the session was McMurray, with 47 circuits around the 1.5-mile oval.
Handling woes were prevalent throughout the garage, but only one driver got into the outside wall. Kyle Larson was running the high lane when he got loose in his No. 42 Chevrolet, drifting up and lightly rubbing the outside wall with his car’s left-rear quarter panel.
Larson brought his machine to pit road with minimal damage shortly thereafter, and the rest of the session continued on without issue.
The Cup Series field will return for qualifying at 7:05 p.m. ET.
Practice 1
Ryan Blaney’s late flyer placed the Team Penske shoe and Ford atop an otherwise Chevrolet-dominated opening practice session at Chicagoland Speedway.
Blaney’s last of 14 laps proved to be the quickest in the opening session, with a time of 30.169 seconds. The third-generation driver unseated seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson atop the charts by just .022 seconds in the closing moments after Johnson led the way for the majority of the session.
Alex Bowman, Chase Elliott and Daniel Suarez rounded out the top five, with Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano and Jamie McMurray completing the top 10.
The opening session proved challenging for teams, as the smoldering sun and blistering temperatures made for slick race track. Despite that, no drivers made any serious errors during the practice.