NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race Practice Results (Phoenix)

It’s the most high-stakes weekend of the season, the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway.

With four drivers left in title contention for this weekend’s winner-takes-all event at the one-mile racetrack in Avondale, Arizona, only Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, and William Byron are of the utmost importance as the fans look at practice, qualifying, and in-race speed. But, this weekend, none of those four drivers are atop the practice charts.

There’s some good news if you’re rooting for Denny Hamlin or Chase Briscoe, though, because their teammate from Joe Gibbs Racing, Ty Gibbs, was quickest in Friday’s 50-minute practice session from Phoenix Raceway, making a mock qualifying run late in the session to lead over Team Penske teammates Ryan Blaney and Austin Cindric. The fastest lap of the session was 27.300 seconds.

Ryan Preece of RFK Racing was fourth-quickest in the session, with Denny Hamlin, looking for his first championship in the NASCAR Cup Series after more than two decades of trying, rounding out the top-five — the fastest of the Championship 4 contenders.

Chase Elliott was sixth, with Ross Chastain just behind in seventh. Josh Berry slotted into eighth-place, showing similar speed to that of his defacto teammates at Team Penske. William Byron was ninth fastest, the second-highest of the Championship 4 contenders, while Christopher Bell completed the top-10.

2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson was 11th quickest in the practice session, while Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 19 Toyota Camry XSE for Joe Gibbs Racing, was the slowest of the four title contenders, clocking in 16th. However, the difference between Hamlin and Briscoe was just over a tenth of a second.

The session brought pandemonium to the NASCAR Cup Series field on Friday, as driver after driver, including Championship 4 competitor Chase Briscoe, were experiencing left-rear tire issues. Kyle Busch, Riley Herbst, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Dillon, Daniel Suarez, and Christopher Bell all faced significant issues, with some drivers also feeling vibrations and coming directly to the pits.

PRACTICE RESULTS:

	#	Driver	Team	Time	Diff	Speed	Laps
1	54	Ty Gibbs	Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Toyota	27.300		131.868	60
2	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske Menards / Dutch Boy Ford	27.396	0.096	131.406	60
3	2	Austin Cindric	Team Penske Discount Tire Ford	27.402	0.102	131.377	64
4	60	Ryan Preece	RFK Racing Fry's / CELSIUS Ford	27.407	0.107	131.353	45
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing Progressive Insurance Toyota	27.426	0.126	131.262	65
6	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet	27.450	0.150	131.148	55
7	1	Ross Chastain	Trackhouse Racing Busch Light Chevrolet	27.452	0.152	131.138	60
8	21	Josh Berry	Wood Brothers Racing Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford	27.459	0.159	131.105	55
9	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports Axalta Chevrolet	27.460	0.160	131.100	64
10	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing Interstate Batteries Toyota	27.487	0.187	130.971	47
11	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports HendrickCars.com Chevrolet	27.489	0.189	130.961	69
12	43	Erik Jones	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Dollar Tree Toyota	27.491	0.191	130.952	57
13	34	Todd Gilliland	Front Row Motorsports Love's Travel Stops Ford	27.501	0.201	130.904	38
14	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske Shell-Pennzoil Ford	27.515	0.215	130.838	57
15	77	Carson Hocevar	Spire Motorsports Delaware Life Chevrolet	27.539	0.239	130.724	43
16	19	Chase Briscoe	Joe Gibbs Racing Bass Pro Shops Toyota	27.541	0.241	130.714	24
17	38	Zane Smith	Front Row Motorsports Aaron's Rent to Own Ford	27.561	0.261	130.619	22
18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing McDonald's Toyota	27.564	0.264	130.605	64
19	42	John Hunter Nemechek	LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Mobil 1 Toyota	27.571	0.271	130.572	56
20	71	Michael McDowell	Spire Motorsports Tide Chevrolet	27.577	0.277	130.544	39
21	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing Bass Pro Shops / Winchester Chevrolet	27.592	0.292	130.473	44
22	45	Tyler Reddick	23XI Racing The Beast Toyota	27.608	0.308	130.397	59
23	8	Kyle Busch	Richard Childress Racing Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet	27.634	0.334	130.274	43
24	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports Ally Financial Chevrolet	27.649	0.349	130.204	59
25	47	Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.	HYAK Motorsports Real American Beer Chevrolet	27.659	0.359	130.157	60
26	99	Daniel Suarez	Trackhouse Racing Trackhouse / Freeway Chevrolet	27.689	0.389	130.016	50
27	17	Chris Buescher	RFK Racing Body Guard Ford	27.699	0.399	129.969	60
28	41	Cole Custer	Haas Factory Team Haas / Bonanza Ford	27.707	0.407	129.931	54
29	35	Riley Herbst	23XI Racing Monster Energy Toyota	27.729	0.429	129.828	17
30	51	Cody Ware	Rick Ware Racing Mighty Fire Breaker Ford	27.745	0.445	129.753	33
31	16	AJ Allmendinger	Kaulig Racing CELSIUS Chevrolet	27.749	0.449	129.734	16
32	7	Justin Haley	Spire Motorsports Gainbridge Chevrolet	27.761	0.461	129.678	43
33	4	Noah Gragson	Front Row Motorsports Long John Silver's Ford	27.775	0.475	129.613	62
34	10	Ty Dillon	Kaulig Racing Alpine Partners Chevrolet	27.780	0.480	129.590	30
35	6	Brad Keselowski	RFK Racing Castrol Ford	27.792	0.492	129.534	44
36	88	Shane Van Gisbergen	Trackhouse Racing WeatherTech Chevrolet	27.824	0.524	129.385	57
37	66	Casey Mears	Garage 66 S.I. Yachts Ford	28.195	0.895	127.682	28
38	44	J.J. Yeley	NY Racing Fanatics Sportsbook Chevrolet	28.209	0.909	127.619	40