As part of an extended race weekend, NASCAR Cup teams got a 50-minute practice on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
William Byron set the early pace with a 49.753s lap (180.893mph) around the historic speedway. Later, it was Hendrick Motorsports teammate went fastest of all with a 49.279s lap (182.633mph). But the Toyotas soon flexed their muscles, and Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing went fastest of all with a 49.043s lap (183.512mph).
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At the end of the session, it was Toyota 1-2-3-4-5 with John-Hunter Nemechek second behind Bell, followed by Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin.
Larson led the way for Chevrolet in sixth, followed by Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney leading the way for Ford in ninth, and Daniel Suarez tenth. Larson was also the fastest driver in five-lap and ten-lap averages.
For those paying attention to the In-Season Challenge finals, Todd Gilliland was 32nd on the speed charts as he tries to claim a big underdog win against Blaney on Sunday, collecting the $1 million prize.
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Practice setbacks
Early in the session, defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace hit the wall at the exit of Turn 2 right before the end of the SAFER Barrier, causing visible damage to the right-side of the car. Not long after, Shane van Gisbergen got into the wall at corner exit as well, but not quite as hard as Wallace. Both returned to the track later in the practice.
Austin Cindric lost power on his first lap of practice, and the team had to spend a lot of time diagnosing the problem. He eventually made it back out into the track, only to lose power again with the dash shutting off, but the engine still running.
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Ryan Preece suffered a flat left-rear tire in the middle of the session, but he was able to drive the car back to the pits.
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