Ryan Blaney Fastest in Final Bristol Night Race Practice

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor

After a top-five run in the first practice session of the day, Ryan Blaney backed up the speed he had shown earlier on Friday by posting the fastest speed in the final practice session for Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Blaney topped the board with a time of 14.926 seconds, 128.554 mph and was followed by fellow young gun Kyle Larson, who timed in with a lap just .057 seconds slower.

In four starts at Bristol, Blaney has yet to finish inside the top-10, with his best finish coming last spring with an 11^th place result.

Rounding out the remainder of the top-10 fastest speeds were Ryan Newman, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch, Chris Buescher, Trevor Bayne, Erik Jones, AJ Allmendinger, and Clint Bowyer. Other notables included Martin Truex, Jr. in 11^th, Chase Elliott in 12^th, Matt Kenseth in 13^th, Kevin Harvick in 17^th, Denny Hamlin in 21^st, Jimmie Johnson in 22^nd, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 28^th.

With all of their practice sessions complete, the drivers will set the field for tomorrow night’s race when they take to the track for qualifying at 5:45 pm ET. The Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race is scheduled for 7:30 pm ET on Saturday.