NASCAR Cup drivers get chaotic first taste of San Diego street course

The NASCAR Cup drivers got a 50-minute practice on Friday, and they had very little time to learn the newly constructed 3.4-mile street course.

Reigning two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson ran the fastest lap with a 2:16.588s, leading Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs, Connor Zilisch, and Carson Hocevar.

Corey Heim, Michael McDowell, Shane van Gisbergen, Austin Hill, and Alex Bowman filled out the remainder of the top ten.

The session wasn’t as chaotic as the NASCAR Truck or O’Reilly sessions that preceded it, but there were still plenty of moments.

Austin Cindric spun, Brad Keselowski nosed it into the tire barrier, and Jimmie Johnson went for an impressive 360-degree spin, standing in the throttle and somehow managing to keep it out of the wall.

Ex-F1 driver Kevin Magnussen is making his Cup debut this weekend with Trackhouse’s Project 91 entry, and while he had decent pace, he did find the wall. The Dane smacked the wall with the right-side of his car at the exit of the final corner, and then hit the wall again with the left-side at the exit of Turn 1.

Christopher Bell is racing with a fractured left wrist, and actually stepped out of his car halfway through the session so relief driver Brent Crews could run some laps in the JGR No. 20 Toyota.

Hill, who was one of just two Cup drivers allowed to take part in the lower division races and already had track time, was the first driver to break into the 2:17s.

Teams had three sets of tires available, and times continued to rapidly fall whenever a new set went on. Van Gisbergen was the fastest of all drivers before the third set of stickers went on, but SVG never actually put that set on due to some miscommunication with the team over the radio.

Van Gisbergen also posted the fastest five-lap average at 2:18.19s, followed by Hill and McDowell, who were about a second off of SVG in the five-lap averages.

No driver ran more than 15 laps on Friday, and while there were several minor incidents, there were no red flags.

Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Legacy Motor Club Toyota

San Diego NASCAR Cup practice results

1		5	Chevrolet	12	2’16.588		89.613
2		34	Ford	13	+0.293 2’16.881	0.293	89.421
3		54	Toyota	14	+0.336 2’16.924	0.043	89.393
4	TrackHouse Racing	88	Chevrolet	13	+0.372 2’16.960	0.036	89.369
5		77	Chevrolet	11	+0.413 2’17.001	0.041	89.342
6	23XI Racing	67	Toyota	12	+0.451 2’17.039	0.038	89.318
7		71	Chevrolet	15	+0.696 2’17.284	0.245	89.158
8		97	Chevrolet	13	+0.732 2’17.320	0.036	89.135
9		33	Chevrolet	14	+1.021 2’17.609	0.289	88.948
10		48	Chevrolet	13	+1.093 2’17.681	0.072	88.901
11		45	Toyota	13	+1.290 2’17.878	0.197	88.774
12		22	Ford	13	+1.294 2’17.882	0.004	88.772
13		35	Toyota	14	+1.374 2’17.962	0.080	88.720
14		11	Toyota	15	+1.467 2’18.055	0.093	88.660
15		24	Chevrolet	15	+1.625 2’18.213	0.158	88.559
16		10	Chevrolet	14	+1.754 2’18.342	0.129	88.476
17		60	Ford	15	+1.803 2’18.391	0.049	88.445
18		12	Ford	13	+1.888 2’18.476	0.085	88.391
19		16	Chevrolet	12	+2.041 2’18.629	0.153	88.293
20		23	Toyota	15	+2.045 2’18.633	0.004	88.291
21		9	Chevrolet	13	+2.125 2’18.713	0.080	88.240
22		38	Ford	12	+2.231 2’18.819	0.106	88.172
23		19	Toyota	15	+2.330 2’18.918	0.099	88.110
24		51	Chevrolet	12	+2.494 2’19.082	0.164	88.006
25		41	Chevrolet	10	+2.529 2’19.117	0.035	87.983
26		17	Ford	14	+2.579 2’19.167	0.050	87.952
27		3	Chevrolet	13	+2.594 2’19.182	0.015	87.942
28		47	Chevrolet	14	+2.724 2’19.312	0.130	87.860
29		91	Chevrolet	12	+2.787 2’19.375	0.063	87.821
30		42	Toyota	15	+2.835 2’19.423	0.048	87.790
31		4	Ford	12	+2.882 2’19.470	0.047	87.761
32		1	Chevrolet	10	+2.928 2’19.516	0.046	87.732
33		7	Chevrolet	13	+3.105 2’19.693	0.177	87.621
34	Wood Brothers Racing	21	Ford	9	+3.527 2’20.115	0.422	87.357
35		6	Ford	11	+3.758 2’20.346	0.231	87.213
37		2	Ford	10	+4.544 2’21.132	0.786	86.727
38		84	Toyota	13	+5.066 2’21.654	0.522	86.408
39		43	Toyota	11	+5.263 2’21.851	0.197	86.288