Final MIS practice results: Hamlin spins while Gordon is fastest
While the track remained dry after wet weather overnight and in the morning hours at Michigan International Speedway, a heavy fog set in over the two-mile track for Saturday's final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice session.
With 30 minutes left in the session, three-time Michigan winner Jeff Gordon put his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet on the top of the board with a lap of 36.253 seconds at 198.604 miles per hour and remained there until the end of the session.
Earlier, Kyle Larson went to the top of the speed charts in the opening moments of the session, but Martin Truex Jr. quickly bumped his way to the top of the leaderboard.
Kyle Busch equaled the lap put up by Truex, 36.259 seconds at 198.571 mph. Larson ended the final practice session fourth, followed by Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Carl Edwards and Brad Keselowski.
Harvick had led the previous five Sprint Cup practice sessions going back to last week's race at Pocono Raceway, but ended Saturday's final practice in the fifth spot.
Just before the 30-minute mark of the session, Denny Hamlin had posted the seventh fastest lap of the session, but lost control of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota in the fourth corner on his 18th lap.
Hamlin's car went for a big slide off the corner and into the tri-oval, but did not make contact with another car or the outside wall. However, the flat right front went flat when Hamlin flat-spotted the tires.
When the tire came apart, it caused significant damage to the right front fender and sent his JGR crew members scrambling to pull out a backup car. Yet when Hamlin got the car to the garage the team decided to make repairs to the damaged fender instead of using the backup car.
After repairs by the Dave Rogers-led crew, Hamlin retuned to the track with less than 10 minutes left in the final session, allowing the driver of the No. 11 Toyota to shake down the car after the incident.
Hamlin ended the session with the 10th-fastest lap of the session.
Stewart-Haas Racing's Kurt Busch ran the most laps of the session (45) and had the 17th-fastest time.
Larson ended the session with the best 10-consecutive lap average. Kyle Busch had the best five-consecutive lap average.
Check out the complete practice results here:
