Casey Mears was the fastest in Saturday’s final practice for Sunday’s Food City 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Mears drove his Geico Chevrolet 40 laps around Bristol’s .533-mile high-banked layout, with a best speed of 125.906 mph.
Matt Kenseth was second-fastest in the Happy Hour episode at 125.815 mph, followed by Carl Edwards (125.683), Las Vegas winner and Sunday’s outside pole-sitter Brad Keselowski (125.486) and five-time Bristol winner Kurt Busch (125.469).
Thirteen drivers eclipsed the 125 mph mark.
Current Sprint Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was eighth-fastest (125.387), while Sunday’s pole sitter, Denny Hamlin, was 16th-astest (124.930).
Late in the session, Landon Cassill hit the wall hard, sustaining heavy damage to his No. 40 Chevrolet. If his team is unable to repair the damage before Sunday’s race, Cassill would likely be forced to start from the rear of the field in a back-up car.
Here’s Saturday’s Happy Hour speeds:
1 Casey Mears 125.906 mph
2 Matt Kenseth 125.815
3 Carl Edwards 125.683
4 Brad Keselowski 125.486
5 Kurt Busch 125.469
6 Martin Truex Jr. 125.412
7 Paul Menard 125.404
8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 125.387
9 Kevin Harvick 125.363
10 Jimmie Johnson 125.199
11 Marcos Ambrose 125.117
12 Justin Allgaier 125.093
13 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 125.068
14 Ryan Newman 124.995
15 Jeff Gordon 124.995
16 Denny Hamlin 124.930
17 Tony Stewart 124.906
18 Joey Logano 124.784
19 Kasey Kahne 124.695
20 Kyle Busch 124.622
21 Aric Almirola 124.565
22 Greg Biffle 124.517
23 Austin Dillon 124.508
24 Jamie McMurray 124.291
25 David Gilliland 124.178
26 Kyle Larson 124.178
27 David Ragan 124.114
28 Brian Vickers 124.066
29 AJ Allmendinger 124.018
30 Clint Bowyer 123.970
31 Landon Cassill 123.937
32 Travis Kvapil 123.435
33 Alex Bowman 123.269
34 Danica Patrick 123.190
35 Parker Kligerman 123.126
36 Josh Wise 123.079
37 Cole Whitt 123.024
38 Timmy Hill 122.537
39 Michael McDowell 122.505
40 Michael Annett
41 Ryan Truex 122.333
42 Reed Sorenson 122.185
43 Joe Nemechek 121.167
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