Daniel Suarez and Carson Hocevar, teammates out of the Spire Motorsports stable, were the quickest drivers in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Phoenix Raceway.
A former winner at the one-mile racetrack in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (2016) and the NASCAR Mexico Series (2014), Suarez placed his No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the top of the speed charts in practice on Saturday, with a lap time of 26.877 seconds (133.944mph).
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Carson Hocevar, as previously mentioned, was second-quickest in the practice session — with was comprised of two 25-minute groups with the field split in half. Hocevar is still in search of his first career victory in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Chase Briscoe was third quickest, with Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric rounding out the top-five. Cindric, driving the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske ( a team that has had much success at this racetrack) was fastest in the 10-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap, and 25-lap averages throughout practice.
Ty Gibbs was ranked sixth-place overall in the session, but ended up being the fastest of those who went on-track during the second and final group. Ryan Blaney, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick, and Michael McDowell completed the top-10 in the session.
As was the case the last time the NASCAR Cup Series competed at Phoenix Raceway during Championship Weekend last November, the tires were once again a storyline during practice, with several competitors having flats throughout the session, including Chris Buescher and Riley Herbst.
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While both Buescher and Herbst were able to get away from the incidents with minor damage, if any, Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 6 Consumer Cellular Ford Mustang Dark Horse wasn’t that lucky, as a cut right-front tire going into Turn 3 caused significant damage to his RFK Racing entry.
Tyler Reddick, who made history last weekend at Circuit of The Americas by becoming the first driver in NASCAR Cup Series history to win the first three races of the season, also had an issue in practice, spinning at the exit of Turn 4.
NASCAR Cup Series qualifying will follow a 10-minute break following the end of the practice.
Straight Talk Wireless 500 Practice Results:
1. #7 – Daniel Suarez
2. #77 – Carson Hocevar
3. #19 – Chase Briscoe
4. #1 – Ross Chastain
5. #2 – Austin Cindric
6. #54 – Ty Gibbs
7. #12 – Ryan Blaney
8. #20 – Christopher Bell
9. #45 – Tyler Reddick
10. #71 – Michael McDowell
11. #17 – Chris Buescher
12. #88 – Connor Zilisch
13. #43 – Erik Jones
14. #9 – Chase Elliott
15. #11 – Denny Hamlin
16. #23 – Bubba Wallace
17. #8 – Kyle Busch
18. #5 – Kyle Larson
19. #22 – Joey Logano
20. #51 – Cody Ware
21. #24 – William Byron
22. #3 – Austin Cindric
23. #34 – Todd Gilliland
24. #47 – Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
25. #38 – Zane Smith
26. #35 – Riley Herbst
27. #60 – Ryan Preece
28. #33 – Austin Hill
29. #48 – Anthony Alfredo
30. #10 – Ty Dillon
31. #97 – Shane Van Gisbergen
32. #16 – AJ Allmendinger
33. #21 – Josh Berry
34. #6 – Brad Keselowski
35. #42 – John Hunter Nemechek
36. #4 – Noah Gragson
37. #41 – Cole Custer
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/onsi/racing-america as Daniel Suarez Tops Incident-Filled Cup Practice at Phoenix.
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