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Motorsport
Motorsport
Sport
Jim Utter

Team Penske drivers dominate NASCAR Cup practice at Gateway

Friday’s 50-minute practice session was the first time Cup Series cars have appeared on the 1.25-mile oval located in Madison, Ill.

Logano set his fastest average lap speed of 136.753 mph right before the conclusion of the practice. He was followed by teammates Ryan Blaney (136.260 mph) and Austin Cindric (136.017 mph).

Kurt Busch and Erik Jones rounded out the top-five.

Completing the top-10 in fastest average single-lap speed were Tyler Reddick, Aric Almirola, Kyle Larson, Ross Chastain and Kyle Busch.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Logano also had the fastest average speed (135.685 mph). He was followed by Blaney and Cindric, respectively, in that category.

About 12 minutes into the session, Ben Rhodes – driving Kaulig Racing’s No. 16 for practice and qualifying this weekend – hit the Turn 3 wall after his left-rear tire went down.

A.J. Allmendinger, who is competing in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race in Portland, Ore., will drive the car in Sunday’s race.

William Byron, Alex Bowman and Bubba Wallace also experienced flat left-rear tires early in the session but without series damage.

The No. 15 of Parker Kligerman caught fire with about 30 minutes remaining in the session. Kligerman was able to it to the garage but it appeared the car suffered extensive damage. Kligerman was unhurt.

“This was my first time in a Next Gen so thanks to Rick Ware Racing for giving me the opportunity,” Kligerman said. “I was really looking forward to it and I thought the first couple laps were pretty good.

“I was coming back in (to the garage) to reset my wheel and collect my thoughts and talk about what I just learned. It start to get smoky. There was a fire coming out of the engine bay. I’m not sure what it was yet.”

Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 22 United States Joey Logano Ford 34 32.906     136.753
2 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 46 33.025 0.119 0.119 136.260
3 2 United States Austin Cindric Ford 34 33.063 0.157 0.038 136.104
4 45 United States Kurt Busch Toyota 37 33.065 0.159 0.002 136.096
5 43 United States Erik Jones Chevrolet 29 33.088 0.182 0.023 136.001
6 8 United States Tyler Reddick Chevrolet 35 33.098 0.192 0.010 135.960
7 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 30 33.124 0.218 0.026 135.853
8 5 United States Kyle Larson Chevrolet 37 33.161 0.255 0.037 135.702
9 1 United States Ross Chastain Chevrolet 36 33.165 0.259 0.004 135.685
10 18 United States Kyle Busch Toyota 39 33.176 0.270 0.011 135.640
11 14 United States Chase Briscoe Ford 39 33.199 0.293 0.023 135.546
12 21 United States Harrison Burton Ford 28 33.228 0.322 0.029 135.428
13 11 United States Denny Hamlin Toyota 37 33.239 0.333 0.011 135.383
14 9 United States Chase Elliott Chevrolet 36 33.277 0.371 0.038 135.229
15 4 United States Kevin Harvick Ford 50 33.290 0.384 0.013 135.176
16 24 United States William Byron Chevrolet 27 33.357 0.451 0.067 134.904
17 23 United States Bubba Wallace Toyota 30 33.366 0.460 0.009 134.868
18 42 United States Ty Dillon Chevrolet 40 33.377 0.471 0.011 134.823
19 6 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 35 33.378 0.472 0.001 134.819
20 3 United States Austin Dillon Chevrolet 31 33.385 0.479 0.007 134.791
21 48 United States Alex Bowman Chevrolet 30 33.401 0.495 0.016 134.727
22 47 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 37 33.415 0.509 0.014 134.670
23 20 United States Christopher Bell Toyota 33 33.470 0.564 0.055 134.449
24 19 United States Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 28 33.478 0.572 0.008 134.417
25 41 United States Cole Custer Ford 26 33.495 0.589 0.017 134.348
26 17 Zane Smith Ford 28 33.499 0.593 0.004 134.332
27 34 United States Michael McDowell Ford 27 33.517 0.611 0.018 134.260
28 31 United States Justin Haley Chevrolet 28 33.525 0.619 0.008 134.228
29 99 Mexico Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 30 33.526 0.620 0.001 134.224
30 7 United States Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 33 33.563 0.657 0.037 134.076
31 38 United States Todd Gilliland Ford 28 33.581 0.675 0.018 134.004
32 51 United States Cody Ware Ford 26 33.807 0.901 0.226 133.109
33 16 United States Ben Rhodes Chevrolet 2 33.933 1.027 0.126 132.614
34 77 United States Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 33 33.992 1.086 0.059 132.384
35 15 United States Parker Kligerman Ford 5 34.823 1.917 0.831 129.225
36 78 United States B.J. McLeod Ford 6 35.394 2.488 0.571 127.140
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