AVONDALE, Ariz. - After the lead up of Thursday's media day, NASCAR Championship 4 drivers in the Cup Series finally took to the track at Phoenix Raceway for the first time on Friday afternoon for a practice session.
Friday's practice was 50 minutes long with each team getting three sets of tires to work with. The session was marred by four red flags with several cars suffering from flat tires.
All eyes were on the four drivers fighting for a championship this weekend including Hendrick Motorsports wheelmen William Byron and Kyle Larson. In terms of a single-lap runs, Byron was ninth with a 27.46 with Larson two spots back at 27.489. More encouragingly, Larson was second and Byron third in terms of 10-lap average and Larson topped the board in 15-lap speed.
"It was really crowded and on track and a lot of chaos with the tires," Byron said. "I think our first run was probably the best balance feel that I had and then we kind of tried some different stuff and felt some different things. Overall, I feel good."
Chase Elliott was the best among the organization's cars, showing sixth on the individual lap board with a time of 27.45 seconds. Alex Bowman rounded out the Hendrick Motorsports contingent with a lap of 27.649.
Prior to Friday's Cup Series session was practice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Corey Day is back in the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet this weekend and was fast off the truck, turning in the fourth-best lap time at 28.143 seconds.
Here's practice results in both the Cup Series and Xfinity Series from Phoenix on Friday:
NASCAR Cup Series practice results
- Ty Gibbs, No. 54, 27.3
- Ryan Blaney, No. 12, 27.396
- Austin Cindric, No. 2, 27.402
- Ryan Preece, No. 60, 27.407
- Denny Hamlin, No. 11, 27.426
- Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 27.45
- Ross Chastain, No. 1, 27.452
- Josh Berry, No. 21, 27.459
- William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet, 27.46
- Christopher Bell, No. 20, 27.487
- Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 27.489
- Erik Jones, No. 43, 27.491
- Todd Gilliland, No. 34, 27.501
- Joey Logano, No. 22, 27.515
- Carson Hocevar, No. 77, 27.539
- Chase Briscoe, No. 19, 27.541
- Zane Smith, No. 38, 27.561
- Bubba Wallace, No. 23, 27.564
- John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42, 27.571
- Michael McDowell, No. 71, 27.577
- Austin Dillon, No. 3, 27.592
- Tyler Reddick, No. 45, 27.608
- Kyle Busch, No. 8, 27.634
- Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 27.649
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47, 27.659
- Daniel Suarez, No. 99, 27.689
- Chris Buescher, No. 17, 27.699
- Cole Custer, No. 41, 27.707
- Riley Herbst, No. 35, 27.729
- Cody Ware, No. 51, 27.745
- AJ Allmendinger, No. 61, 27.749
- Justin Haley, No. 7, 27.761
- Noah Gragson, No. 4, 27.775
- Brad Keselowski, No. 6, 27.792
- Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88, 27.824
- Ty Dillon, No. 10, 27.863
- Casey Mears, No. 66, 28.195
- JJ Yeley, No. 44, 28.209
RELATED: Check out highlights from Championship 4 media day on Thursday
NASCAR Xfinity Series practice results
- Connor Zilisch, No. 88, 28.045
- Brenden Queen, No. 11, 28.07
- Jesse Love, No. 2, 28.082
- Corey Day, No. 17 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 28.143
- Austin Hill, No. 21, 28.183
- Sammy Smith, No. 8, 28.198
- Aric Almirola, No. 19, 28.202
- Brandon Jones, No. 20, 28.233
- Jeb Burton, No. 27, 28.258
- Nick Sanchez, No. 48, 28.273
- Harrison Burton, No. 25, 28.335
- Connor Mosack, No. 99, 28.374
- Dean Thompson, No. 26, 28.399
- Justin Allgaier, No. 7, 28.41
- Carson Kvapil, No. 1, 28.419
- Ryan Sieg, No. 41, 28.421
- Jeremy Clements, No. 51, 28.429
- Taylor Gray, No. 54, 28.46
- Kyle Sieg, No. 39, 28.461
- Christian Eckes, No. 16, 28.467
- Justin Bonsignore, No. 18, 28.469
- Brennan Poole, No. 44, 28.502
- Sheldon Creed, No. 00, 28.524
- Daniel Dye, No. 10, 28.539
- Blaine Perkins, No. 31, 28.602
- Parker Retzlaff, No. 4, 28.607
- Anthony Alfredo, No. 42, 28.66
- Nick Leitz, No. 28, 28.665
- Leland Honeyman, No. 70, 28.821
- Stefan Parsons, No. 35, 28.844
- Ryan Ellis, No. 71, 28.852
- Josh Williams, No. 45, 28.947
- Josh Bilicki, No. 91, 29.082
- Patrick Emerling, No. 07, 29.113
- Garrett Smithley, No. 14, 29.255
- Glen Reen, No. 5, 29.361
- Joey Gase, No. 53, 29.545
- Dawson Cram, No. 74, 29.662
NASCAR schedule today on TV
Friday, Oct. 31
- 7:30 - Truck Series championship race (FS1)
Saturday, Nov. 1
- 1:30 p.m. ET - ARCA West race (FloRacing)
- 3:30 - Xfinity Series qualifying (CW App)
- 5 - Cup Series qualifying (TruTV)
- 7:30 - Xfinity Series championship race (CW)
Sunday, Nov. 2
- 3 p.m. - Cup Series race (NBC)
RELATED: NASCAR Championship 4 by the numbers
Where is NASCAR racing this weekend?
The NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series are at Phoenix Raceway for the 2025 Championship races.
Where is Phoenix Raceway?
Phoenix Raceway is located in Avondale, Arizona.