DOVER, Del. — After his team swapped out the ignition panel on the No. 22 Fitzgerald Glider Kits Ford Mustang, Ryan Blaney bolted to the top of the board in NASCAR XFINITY Series final practice Friday at Dover Int’l Speedway.
Blaney used the newfound speed to post a top lap of 23.604 seconds (152.517 mph) around the one-mile concrete oval, rebounding from struggles in the opening round earlier in the morning caused by a reported miss in the engine that was likely causing some of his issues.
Opening practice leader Kyle Larson sat among the top three for the entirety of the session, before jumping up to second in the waning moments on the strength of a 23.679 second (152.033 mph) clip in the No. 42 ParkerStore Chevrolet.
Apart from Blaney, the ‘Blue Oval Brigade’ brought some additional steam in Happy Hour as well, as Cole Custer’s No. 00 Haas Automation Ford landed third on the speed charts with a lap of 23.698 seconds (151.912 mph).
Custer led at the drop of the green flag to start final practice, before Blaney eclipsed his time roughly 20 minutes later.
Five more Chevrolet Camaros followed Custer on the time sheets, with rookies Daniel Hemric and William Byron completing the ‘Fast Five’.
Chip Ganassi Racing sophomore Brennan Poole was sixth ahead of veteran Brendan Gaughan and Coca-Cola 600 winner Austin Dillon.
They were followed by reigning series champion Daniel Suarez, who was the fastest Toyota inside the top 10 in ninth, and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Erik Jones, who rounded out the top 10 on the speed charts.
Notables behind Jones included points leader Elliott Sadler (12th), Justin Allgaier (16th), Ty Dillon (17th) and Ross Chastain (18th), who is pulling triple duty for the first time in his NASCAR career this weekend by competing in all three national series races.
Spencer Gallagher and Joey Gase, who were involved in an incident in the morning practice that sparked a war of words between the two, ended up 29th and 37th, respectively.
37 cars took at least one lap during the final round of practice.
Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the NASCAR XFINITY Series is slated for 10 a.m. ET Saturday morning (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM).
Full practice results can be viewed on the next page…
