Riley Herbst hadn’t even started a NASCAR Cup Series race the last time the series raced at Chicagoland Speedway in 2019, but he was the fastest driver in Cup Series practice at the Joliet, Illinois, track on Friday afternoon.
Herbst paced the practice session with a fastest time of 30.32 seconds/178.065 miles per hour around the 1.5-mile track.
Herbst’s 23XI Racing teammate, Bubba Wallace, was second-fastest, with defending Cup Series champion Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin and Ty Gibbs rounding out the top five. Corey Heim, Austin Cindric, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar and Chris Buescher completed the top 10.
All four 23XI cars were in the top eight, with Toyotas making up six of the top eight.
Cindric was fastest in five-lap averages, while Reddick was quickest on 10, 15, 20 and 25-lap averages. Ryan Blaney was the only driver to run 30 consecutive laps during the session.
Notable practice results
Other notable practice results include Chase Elliott in 11th, Chase Briscoe in 14th, William Byron in 16th, Christopher Bell in 17th and Blaney in 22nd. JJ Yeley was slowest (38th) of the 38 drivers to take time, turning a fastest lap of only 31.351 seconds/172.243 miles per hour.
Cup Series qualifying is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET Saturday on truTV and MRN, with Sunday’s eero 400 at Chicagoland set for a green flag shortly after 6 p.m. ET. Race coverage will be provided by TNT, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.