NASCAR CUP IOWA: SEVERAL TIRE ISSUES AS GRAGSON LEADS PRACTICE

For one of the few times this season, Cup teams were given a 50-minute practice session on Friday, this time because it’s the series’ first race at the .875-mile oval. The track has also been recently partially repaved.

With several cars doing mock qualifying runs late in the session, Gragson ended up with the top average speed at 137.988 mph.

Ty Gibbs was second quick (136.558 mph) and Alex Bowman ended up third (136.334 mph).

Justin Haley and Chase Elliott rounded out the top five.

Completing the top-10 were Ross Chastain, Harrison Burton, Denny Hamlin, Austin Dillon and Chase Briscoe.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Tyler Reddick (who also suffered a right-front flat) had the top average lap speed (135.168 mph) followed by Chastain and Bowman.

About 14 minutes into the session, Gibbs was forced to pull off the track after he suffered a flat right-front tire but was able to keep his No. 54 Toyota off the Turn 3 wall.

Several minutes after the track returned to green, Gibbs’ Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Christopher Bell, also had a right-front tire go down but he hit the wall between Turns 3 and 4 fairly hard and did significant right-side damage to his No. 20 Toyota.

Watch: Christopher Bell smashes primary car into wall during practice session

“Just lost the tire, man. Lost the tire,” Bell said after the incident. Asked about what he had learned from his time on the track, he said, “It’s about what we expected. Lots of grip on the bottom, and that’s what we expected.”

Bell’s No. 20 team was forced to move to a backup car, and he will have to start Sunday night’s race from the rear of the field.

About 30 minutes into the session, Chastain’s No. 1 Chevrolet came to a rest on the backstretch after he appeared to have a left-rear tire go down. It took nearly 13 minutes to tow his car on a dolley back to the garage.

Austin Cindric had a right-front tire go down and grazed the Turn 2 wall with about 10 minutes to go in practice. 

CLADRIVER# MANUFACTURERLAPSTIMEINTERVALMPH                                     

1	10	Ford	40	22.828	137.988
2	JOE GIBBS RACING	54	Toyota	45	+0.239 23.067	0.239	136.559
3	48	Chevrolet	48	+0.277 23.105	0.038	136.334
4	51	Ford	32	+0.288 23.116	0.011	136.269
5	9	Chevrolet	53	+0.354 23.182	0.066	135.881
6	1	Chevrolet	41	+0.368 23.196	0.014	135.799
7	21	Ford	35	+0.371 23.199	0.003	135.782
8	11	Toyota	61	+0.379 23.207	0.008	135.735
9	3	Chevrolet	31	+0.387 23.215	0.008	135.688
10	14	Ford	60	+0.410 23.238	0.023	135.554
11	45	Toyota	57	+0.419 23.247	0.009	135.501
12	47	Chevrolet	59	+0.444 23.272	0.025	135.356
13	5	Chevrolet	50	+0.456 23.284	0.012	135.286
14	7	Chevrolet	50	+0.477 23.305	0.021	135.164
15	99	Chevrolet	51	+0.478 23.306	0.001	135.158
16	20	Toyota	19	+0.479 23.307	0.001	135.153
17	16	Chevrolet	34	+0.489 23.317	0.010	135.095
18	15	Ford	43	+0.494 23.322	0.005	135.066
19	23	Toyota	54	+0.514 23.342	0.020	134.950
20	4	Ford	39	+0.525 23.353	0.011	134.886
21	SPIRE MOTORSPORTS	77	Chevrolet	32	+0.532 23.360	0.007	134.846
22	12	Ford	49	+0.536 23.364	0.004	134.823
23	22	Ford	46	+0.545 23.373	0.009	134.771
24	24	Chevrolet	37	+0.555 23.383	0.010	134.713
25	34	Ford	56	+0.558 23.386	0.003	134.696
26	41	Ford	33	+0.568 23.396	0.010	134.638
27	6	Ford	40	+0.571 23.399	0.003	134.621
28	38	Ford	47	+0.579 23.407	0.008	134.575
29	31	Chevrolet	46	+0.588 23.416	0.009	134.523
30	8	Chevrolet	47	+0.607 23.435	0.019	134.414
31	17	Ford	51	+0.648 23.476	0.041	134.180
32	42	Toyota	47	+0.660 23.488	0.012	134.111
33	19	Toyota	36	+0.685 23.513	0.025	133.968
34	2	Ford	46	+0.685 23.513	0.000	133.968
35	SPIRE MOTORSPORTS	71	Chevrolet	45	+0.703 23.531	0.018	133.866
36	43	Toyota	30	+1.036 23.864	0.333	131.998

2024-06-14T22:52:13Z dg43tfdfdgfd