The first NASCAR National Series on-track activity at North Wilkesboro Speedway since the 1996 season is officially in the books, as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers and teams have completed practice for Saturday’s Tyson 250.
Carson Hocevar, who was born seven years after the track’s last NASCAR Cup Series event, turned the fastest lap of the session with a lap time of 20.589 seconds, which equates to 109.282 mph around the 0.625-mile short track.
RELATED: NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Tyson 250 practice results
While that was Hocevar’s quick lap, lap times fell off dramatically over the course of the run with the worn-out surface of North Wilkesboro Speedway. Some drivers were turning 22-to-23-second laps after around 20 laps clicked off in a run.
Hocevar turned a total of 52 laps in the session, which was near the top of the board for drivers in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice. NASCAR Cup Series point leader Ross Chastain turned the most laps in the session with 56.
Ty Majeski was the second fastest in the session, and he trailed Hocevar by just 0.005 sec. Chase Purdy, Zane Smith, and Kaden Honeycutt rounded out the top-five fastest in the practice session.
Kyle Larson, Parker Kligerman, Ben Rhodes, William Byron, and Grant Enfinger made up spots six through 10 in the session.
Norm Benning was involved in a crash near the mid-way point of the session, when he backed his No. 6 Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet Silverado into the outside wall. The damage to Benning’s truck was quite severe, and that may end his bid at making it into Saturday’s Tyson 250.
Video: Norm Benning Crashes Early in Truck Practice at North Wilkesboro
The other incident of the session came with right around 20 minutes left in practice as Akinori Ogata appeared to lose an engine, which caused his No. 46 G2G Racing truck to veer toward the wall. As Ogata slammed the wall, with great impact, the rear of his truck burst into flames.
Video: Akinori Ogata Bursts Into Flames in Truck Practice at North Wilkesboro
Fortunately, Ogata and Benning were both able to walk away from their respective crashes.
