The single NASCAR Cup Series practice session for championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway concluded on Friday night, with Chase Briscoe recording the fastest lap time.
Practice Speeds and Long-Run Performance
Chase Briscoe topped the speed charts by clocking a 32.680-second lap at 165.238 mph. He finished 0.073 seconds ahead of Austin Cindric, while title contenders Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell placed third and fourth, respectively. Ryan Blaney completed the top five.
Championship leader Kyle Larson managed the tenth-fastest single lap. During the session, Larson struck the wall multiple times while navigating the high groove of the 1.5-mile intermediate track, sustaining minor right-side damage on his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Joey Logano was among several other drivers who also brushed the wall.
Regarding his long-run performance, Austin Cindric led the five-lap averages, while his Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney paced the field across 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-lap averages. Briscoe, Tyler Reddick, and Ty Gibbs demonstrated strong pace during extended runs, with Christopher Bell looking like the most competitive among the three championship contenders in that category.
“That’s probably pretty excessive,” Chase Briscoe said about his wall contact after the session. “Yeah, I just didn’t feel very good. I don’t know, I didn’t feel comfortable for the first few laps, and then I would feel okay, and then I just didn’t have enough grip to run the wall like I needed to. I’ll just have to kind of think about that and what I was doing wrong, and then listen to my teammates, kind of what they had to say about their cars. But just a disconnect and (lack of) comfort, I guess, from the first few laps to the end of whatever. I didn’t get to run super long, but, I’m getting glued — stuck in the wall. So, yeah, that was not a great practice, but I haven’t really even gotten to dive into it yet.” Note: the quote reflects Larson’s remarks despite the source attribution.
Pit Road Incident
The session ended with an unusual crash on pit entry as Tyler Reddick tried to execute a mock pit stop. Reddick slammed into the rear of Zane Smith’s slowing vehicle, which spun him out and caused front-end damage to his No. 45 machine. Team co-owner Michael Jordan observed the incident from the pit box looking dismayed, while Reddick showed clear frustration after stepping out of the car.
“Just sums up our year,” Tyler Reddick stated. “When we have something that’s really solid, we find a way to screw it up. Me and Zane were both coming pit road hot, kind of almost at the point of no return. I realized he was really checking up big, and I saw that there was a car ahead, turning the garage. So, I’m guessing that’s where all of our trouble started. You know, we were both coming in hot, so expecting to roll down pit road, and I couldn’t tell who — oh, 34 [Todd Gilliland]. Yeah, there we go. I was looking at the replay, but that’s just what it felt like. You know, we were coming pit road hot, and he checked up, and I guess it was just cars coming in to turn into the garage … it just sucks.”
The entrance to the garage area is situated near the pit road entrance via a gap in the pit wall.
