Larson fastest in Coke 600 NASCAR Cup practice, then wrecks

Larson’s posted an average speed of 182.500 mph soon after taking the track in the Group A practice but later in the session hit the wall in Turn 2, doing significant damage to his No. 5 Chevrolet.

While his Hendrick Motorsports team planned to fix the car, he was not going to be able to participate in Saturday night’s qualifying and would end up starting near the rear of the field in Sunday’s race.

Alex Bowman ended up second-fastest overall (182.204 mph) and Ross Chastain was third (181.799 mph). Austin Cindric was fourth and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-five.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps during practice, Truex had the fastest average speed (178.188 mph). Ryan Blaney and Christopher Bell were second and third-fastest in that category, respectively.

Group B

Cindric ended up fastest in the second 20-minute session, with an average lap speed of 181.787 mph.

Truex was second (181.634 mph) and Kyle Busch third (181.494 mph). Daniel Suarez and Blaney rounded out the top-five.

With less than 10 minutes to go in the session, Ryan Preece spun off Turn 4 to bring out a caution but didn’t appear to suffer any serious damage to his No. 15 Ford.

Just minutes before the session ended, the hood popped up over the windshield of the No. 50 of Kaz Grala, forcing him to drop to the apron and return to pit road. Luckily, he was not up yet to full speed on the track.

Group A

While it won’t do him any good with regards to his starting position in Sunday’s race, Larson was the fastest in the first 20-minute session.

Larson posted an average lap speed of 182.500 mph – which ended up leading the session – shortly before he hit the wall with about 12 minutes remaining.

Larson tagged the wall near Turn 2 to halt practice. “I hit it pretty good,” he said over his team radio. Larson’s team decided to repair his No. 5 Chevrolet and will not participate in qualifying Saturday night, ensuring he will start near the back in Sunday’s race.

Bowman ended up second (182.204 mph) and Chastain was third (181.799 mph). Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano rounded out the top-five.

About 8 minutes into the session, Corey LaJoie wrecked to bring out a caution. “The left-rear (tire) is done,” he said. “It hurt a lot more than it looked like on camera, I can tell you that.”

LaJoie’s Spire Motorsports team will go to a backup car and he will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.