Joey Logano found himself atop the NASCAR Cup Series time charts once again in practice for the Shriners Children’s 500 Friday at Phoenix Raceway, but this time with a contingent of Toyotas breathing down his neck — six of the top 10, in fact.
The Team Penske driver worked his No. 22 Ford Mustang Dark Horse up to a 131.167mph lap (27.446s) followed by Denny Hamlin (131.081mph), Tyler Reddick (131.066mph) and John Hunter Nemecheck (130.985mph). Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric broke up the Toyota party in fifth (130.976mph).
Reddick slid himself into the top five in spite of a spin part way through the session, creating a lot of smoke as he lost control of his 23XI Toyota Camry in Turn 2. The incident brought out a brief red flag despite Reddick keeping all four corners of his car off the walls.
.@TylerReddick goes for a spin and does one heck of a burnout. pic.twitter.com/PVj1L1jNjg
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) March 8, 2024
Chase Elliott (130.747mph), Christopher Bell (130.331), Bubba Wallace (130.222mph) and Carson Hocevar (130.199) completed the top 10.
Last week’s Las Vegas winner Kyle Larson came in only 20th at 129.627mph while teammate and defending Phoenix spring race winner William Byron was mired back in 24th (129.464mph).
Kyle Busch was a notable absence from the sharp end of the field as well, struggling to dial in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet throughout the 55-minute session and ultimately ending up 31st at 128.797mph.
Next up: Qualifying for the Shriners Children’s 500 at Phoenix Raceway Saturday at 2:10 p.m. ET (FS1) to set the field for Sunday’s race at 3:30 p.m. ET on Fox, MRN and SiriusXM. Kyle Larson is the defending polesitter.