Shane van Gisbergen was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday on the Charlotte Roval.
The Kiwi topped the field at 98.604mph (83.242s). Austin Dillon was second fastest at 98.343mph, Ryan Blaney (P) was third at 98.304mph and Joey Logano (P) was fourth at 97.988mph.
AJ Allmendinger completed the top five at 97.969mph. Carson Hocevar was sixth at 97.964mph; Bubba Wallace, seventh at 97.944mph; William Byron (P), eighth at 97.817mph; Kyle Larson (P), ninth at 97.792mph and Chase Elliott (P), tenth at 97.725mph.
The field received a total of 40m of practice because of the course changes to the Roval. The frontstretch chicane was adjusted to be a sharper turn and there was a change to the infield portion. Drivers now have a hairpin turn to navigate coming out of the infield and onto the oval.
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Tyler Reddick (P) had the only incident during practice. He spun coming through the frontstretch chicane and stalled his Toyota, suffering no damage.
Reddick ended up 12th fastest in practice. His best lap was 97.633mph.
Austin Cindric (P) was 14th; Daniel Suarez (P), 15th; Alex Bowman (P), 17th; Christopher Bell (P), 21st; Denny Hamlin (P), 23rd and Chase Briscoe (P), 33rd.
There are 38 drivers entered at the Roval, among them Kaulig Racing’s three cars entered, with defending race winner Allmendinger in the No. 16 Chevrolet and van Gisbergen in the No. 13 Chevrolet.
*P denotes playoff driver.