AVONDALE, Ariz. — Denny Hamlin was the fastest of the Cup championship contenders in a practice session that saw several drivers, including a Championship 4 competitor, have tire issues.
Hamlin ranked fifth overall (131.262 mph) to lead the title contenders. William Byron was ninth on the speed chart at 131.100 mph. Kyle Larson ranked 11th at 130.961 mph. Chase Briscoe, who had a tire go down and also had vibration issues in practice, was 16th overall at 130.714 mph.
MORE: Practice results
Briscoe was limited to 24 laps in the session — the fewest among the Championship 4 drivers and most of the field.
“This wasn’t a great practice for us just because we didn’t really get to run a lot because of the issues,” Briscoe told truTV after the practice session. “We’ll get to work on it and see what we can do. ... I’m confident that we’ll be just fine. Just got to figure out what’s going on.”
James Small, Briscoe’s crew chief, wasn’t too concerned, telling reporters about the tire issue: “Too low on air. Too much on camber. Just too aggressive, I guess. You saw it with a number of cars out there.”
Riley Herbst and AJ Allmendinger each hit the wall in separate incidents early in Cup practice. Allmendinger said he bruised his elbow but he was fine otherwise.
Briscoe, Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez and Kyle Busch each had left rear tires go down.
Ty Gibbs posted the fastest lap in the 50-minute session at 131.868 mph.
Ryan Blaney ranked second on the speed chart with a lap at 131.406 mph, followed by Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric (131.377 mph) and Ryan Preece (131.353 mph).
Blaney had the best average over 10 consecutive laps at 129.331 mph. He was followed by Larson (129.231 mph), Byron (129.215), Tyler Reddick (129.113) and Bell (129.054). Hamlin ranked 26th in that category at 128.183 mph. Briscoe did not run 10 consecutive laps in the session.
