MARTINSVILLE, Va. – After three Stewart-Haas Racing Fords dominated Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session, a trio of Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets paced Happy Hour at Martinsville Speedway.
Chase Elliott topped the final Cup Series practice with a lap of (97.542 mph) in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, leading teammates Alex Bowman and Jimmie Johnson at the half-mile Virginia paper clip.
The Hendrick trio at the top was part of a run of six Chevrolet drivers in the top seven spots on the speed charts during the 50-minute session, an impressive showing from the Bowtie Brigade after a slow start to the season.
Chevrolet is still looking for its first win of the Cup Series season, after Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske have combined to dominate the headlines so far in 2019.
Behind Johnson, a nine-time Martinsville winner, Austin Dillon was fourth-quick for Richard Childress Racing, while Paul Menard completed the top five for Wood Brothers Racing in the team’s first Martinsville appearance since the passing of team patriarch Glenn Wood.
Ty Dillon, Daniel Hemric, Kevin Harvick, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Erik Jones completed the top 10.
Though 11th in single-lap speed, Martin Truex Jr. led all drivers in 10-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap and 30-lap average speed on Saturday afternoon. He finished second to Joey Logano last fall at Martinsville.
Opening practice leader Clint Bowyer was 12th-quick in the final round on Saturday.
Qualifying for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is slated for 5 p.m. local time.