NASCAR News

Team Penske drivers dominate NASCAR Cup practice at Gateway

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.”

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