For one of many few instances this season, Cup groups got a 50-minute apply session on Friday, this time as a result of it’s the collection’ first race on the .875-mile oval. The monitor has additionally been not too long ago partially repaved.
With a number of automobiles doing mock qualifying runs late within the session, Gragson ended up with the highest common velocity at 137.988 mph.
Ty Gibbs was second fast (136.558 mph) and Alex Bowman ended up third (136.334 mph).
Justin Haley and Chase Elliott rounded out the highest 5.
Finishing the top-10 had been Ross Chastain, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe.
Amongst these drivers who ran at the very least 10 consecutive laps, Tyler Reddick (who additionally suffered a right-front flat) had the highest common lap velocity (135.168 mph) adopted by Chastain and Bowman.
About 14 minutes into the session, Gibbs was pressured to drag off the monitor after he suffered a flat right-front tire however was capable of preserve his No. 54 Toyota off the Flip 3 wall.
A number of minutes after the monitor returned to inexperienced, Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, additionally had a right-front tire go down however he hit the wall between Turns 3 and 4 pretty exhausting and did vital right-side harm to his No. 20 Toyota.
Watch: Christopher Bell smashes major automobile into wall throughout apply session
“Simply misplaced the tire, man. Misplaced the tire,” Bell mentioned after the incident. Requested about what he had discovered from his time on the monitor, he mentioned, “It’s about what we anticipated. A lot of grip on the underside, and that’s what we anticipated.”
Bell’s No. 20 group was pressured to maneuver to a backup automobile, and he should begin Sunday night time’s race from the rear of the sphere.
About half-hour into the session, Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet got here to a relaxation on the backstretch after he appeared to have a left-rear tire go down. It took practically 13 minutes to tow his automobile on a dolley again to the storage.
Austin Cindric had a right-front tire go down and grazed the Flip 2 wall with about 10 minutes to go in apply. He will even go to a backup automobile and be part of Bell on the rear of the sphere.
