Harvick posted a speed of 136.960 mph to top the board, just ahead of rookie’s Kyle Larson’s 136.596 mph.
Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top-five in final practice. Daytona 500 winner and series points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. was sixth, followed by Jamie McMurray, Joey Logano, Brian Vickers and Carl Edwards.
The only incident came when Reed Sorenson was turned after slight contact with Marcos Ambrose. Sorenson’s car suffered minimal body damage.
In the first practice Saturday, Harvick also had the fastest 10-lap average speed at 136.085 mph. Other drivers with top 10-lap averages Saturday morning were McMurray, race polesitter Brad Keselowski, Gordon, defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart. No driver went 10 consecutive laps in the final practice.
Although rain threatened the Saturday practice sessions, the drivers got about 100 minutes of on-track time around the 1-mile track.
The Profit 500 — 500 kilometers — is scheduled for 312 laps Sunday (3 p.m. ET, Fox).
KESELOWSKI'S CREW CHIEF TO MISS RACE
Brad Keselowski crew chief Paul Wolfe will miss the Sprint Cup Series race Sunday as his wife went into labor Saturday and he flew home from Phoenix to North Carolina.
Keselowski team engineer Brian Wilson and the team’s Nationwide Series competition director Greg Erwin, who has extensive Cup crew-chief experience, will guide the team for The Profit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Third in the Cup standings, Keselowski is on the pole for the second race of the 2014 season.
Wolfe’s wife, Aleah, going into labor was not a surprise and the team was prepared to fly him home for the birth of the couple's first child. Penske pilot Joey Meier, who also is the team's spotter, flew Wolfe home and will return to Phoenix for the race Sunday.
SHR LOOKING TO REBOUND
Stewart-Haas Racing, which entered 2014 with so many new faces and renewed hope, will look to rebound from a frustrating Daytona 500 this weekend.
The group, which includes newcomers Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch, didn’t have any of its drivers in the top-10 in the season-opener last week and will try to turn that around Sunday in The Profit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
“Daytona is a restrictor-plate race and, unlike Daytona, guys can’t get in a line at Phoenix and go to the front. … What happens at Phoenix and the races after that has to be done on your own,” co-owner and driver Tony Stewart said. “You can’t help each other at Phoenix. You just have to go race.”
Harvick had the best finish of the team’s four drivers at Daytona as he placed 13th while crashing on the last lap. Kurt Busch ended a lap down in 19th after a late spin, Stewart had fuel pump issues and ended up 35th and Danica Patrick was 40th as a crash ended her day.
“That’s the nature of plate racing,” Patrick said. “A lot of times you’re caught up in things that you had nothing to do with.”
The drivers had mixed results in qualifying Friday as Busch will start 10th, Harvick 13th, Stewart 20th and Patrick 33rd.
“I felt good about the communication and performance of the No. 4 team. … We were in position to win both the Sprint Unlimited and the Daytona 500, and that is all you can ask for at the end of the day,” Harvick said about his Speedweeks. “We’re starting the rest of the season this weekend at Phoenix, in a way.”
For Stewart, he is hoping that with Phoenix, he can put questions about the health of his leg to rest. He said he was 65 percent healed a couple of weeks ago but has full strength because of the titanium rod in his right leg. He broke both bones in his lower leg in a sprint-car racing accident Aug. 5.
“I’ll be more happy when everybody quits asking me how I feel,” Stewart said. “I’m not 100 percent. I’m not going to be 100 percent for a while. It was fine (after Daytona). … I appreciate everybody checking on me, but it’s not going to change in a week.”
BUSCH WINS AGAIN
Kyle Busch became the first driver to win three straight Nationwide races at Phoenix International Raceway, dominating his way through a rain-shortened race Saturday.
Busch took an early lead and was still out front when the race was halted with 32 laps left in the 200-mile race around Phoenix's odd-shaped mile oval. After a delay of more than two hours, the race was called, giving Busch his series-record 64th Nationwide victory.
Kevin Harvick finished second and pole sitter Brad Keselowski was third, followed by Kyle Larson and Matt Kenseth.
Busch led 155 laps for his 10th overall victory at PIR and the fourth straight Nationwide win for Joe Gibbs Racing at the track. Joey Logano won for JGR in the 2012 fall PIR race.
Busch swept the two Nationwide races at Phoenix in 2013, overcoming a pit-road speeding penalty to end a 24-race winless streak in the series in the spring and leading 169 laps in the fall for his 12th Nationwide victory of the season.
He had the dominant car at PIR on Saturday, moving into the lead on lap 6 after starting third. Busch led 83 laps after that, retook the top spot on a restart after a pit stop midway through and stayed there another with about 60 laps left.
Then came the rain.
PIR dodged the heavy downpours that spread across the Phoenix area for most of the day, but rain sent the fans scrambling and halted the race with 32 laps left.
Contributor: Bob Pockrass, The Associated Press
VIDEO: Busch wins Nationwide race
