Vegas-Officially the NASCAR season is back and Front Row Motorsports Ford driver Michael McDowell has put the pressure on other drivers during his final practice run on Saturday. McDowell tore up the track with an average time of 191.440mph, which was the fastest time of the day.
McDowell can make a surprise splash in Daytona if he can somehow keep it together. Last season he led for 33 laps, but somehow could not even manage to make a top 15 appearance McDowell was top 25 in averages that he finished. Now, today he set the pace for other drivers to match, but he has to be very aggressive with making his moves. During his career, McDowell has been very passive at times and it has cost him to move out of the top 15 in a chase. In order to be in the top 10, he needs to steer clear from taking wide turns and make his turns more narrow and sharp.
Final practice times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael McDowell | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 47.012s | – | 9 |
| 2 | Ty Dillon | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 47.014s | 0.002s | 5 |
| 3 | William Byron | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 47.037s | 0.025s | 5 |
| 4 | Alex Bowman | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 47.052s | 0.040s | 10 |
| 5 | Daniel Hemric | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 47.140s | 0.128s | 3 |
| 6 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 47.276s | 0.264s | 4 |
| 7 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 47.279s | 0.267s | 14 |
| 8 | Daniel Suarez | Stewart-Haas Racing | Ford | 47.336s | 0.324s | 2 |
| 9 | Jamie McMurray | Spire Motorsports | Chevrolet | 47.339s | 0.327s | 12 |
| 10 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 47.367s | 0.355s | 11 |
| 11 | Kurt Busch | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 47.433s | 0.421s | 16 |
| 12 | Darrell Wallace Jr. | Richard Petty Motorsports | Chevrolet | 47.573s | 0.561s | 5 |
| 13 | Ryan Blaney | Team Penske | Ford | 47.592s | 0.580s | 3 |
| 14 | Chris Buescher | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 47.617s | 0.605s | 8 |
| 15 | Matt Tifft | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 47.665s | 0.653s | 7 |
| 16 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 47.712s | 0.700s | 10 |
| 17 | Tyler Reddick | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 47.767s | 0.755s | 3 |
| 18 | Ryan Preece | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 47.976s | 0.964s | 10 |
| 19 | Parker Kligerman | Gaunt Brothers Racing | Toyota | 48.000s | 0.988s | 5 |
| 20 | Landon Cassill | StarCom Racing | Chevrolet | 48.318s | 1.306s | 6 |
| 21 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | – | – | 0 |