Chris Buescher is looking to avenge his heartbreaking Kansas Speedway defeat by 0.001 seconds, a season ago, this weekend, and he kicked off the bid to win Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 by turning the fastest lap in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice.
Buescher turned a fast lap time of 30.672 seconds, which equates to a 176.056 mph average around the 1.5-mile speedway. Buescher topped Zane Smith, who has had a decent season behind the wheel of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang.
Denny Hamlin was the top Playoff contender in the session as he clocked in third-fastest, and he was ahead of Bubba Wallace, another Playoff contender who drives the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota.
RELATED: NASCAR Cup Series Playoff Standings
John Hunter Nemechek was fifth-fastest.
Here are where all of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoff drivers ranked in the session: Denny Hamlin (3rd), Bubba Wallace (4th), Chase Briscoe (8th), Kyle Larson (12th), Chase Elliott (13th), Tyler Reddick (14th), Christopher Bell (17th), Austin Cindric (20th), William Byron (23rd), Ross Chastain (31st), Joey Logano (35th), and Ryan Blaney (36th).
Logano and Blaney suffered flat tires during the practice session, and Blaney slammed the outside wall due to his flat tire.
Trouble for @Blaney in practice! pic.twitter.com/jFVdKRBmkl
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) September 27, 2025
Here are the complete results from Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. Race 31 of 36.
Rank
Car
Driver
Lap time
Speed
1
17
Chris Buescher
30.672
176.056
2
38*
Zane Smith
30.735
175.695
3
11
Denny Hamlin (P)
30.737
175.684
4
23*
Bubba Wallace (P)
30.741
175.661
5
42
John Hunter Nemechek
30.763
175.536
6
43
Erik Jones
30.776
175.461
7
7
Justin Haley
30.792
175.370
8
19
Chase Briscoe (P)
30.801
175.319
9
34*
Todd Gilliland
30.806
175.291
10
10
Ty Dillon
30.823
175.194
11
41
Cole Custer
30.839
175.103
12
5
Kyle Larson (P)
30.855
175.012
13
9
Chase Elliott (P)
30.860
174.984
14
45*
Tyler Reddick (P)
30.867
174.944
15
16
AJ Allmendinger
30.869
174.933
16
71
Michael McDowell
30.871
174.921
17
20
Christopher Bell (P)
30.878
174.882
18
4*
Noah Gragson
30.882
174.859
19
54
Ty Gibbs
30.883
174.853
20
2
Austin Cindric (P)
30.907
174.718
21
99
Daniel Suarez
30.938
174.543
22
88
Shane van Gisbergen #
30.940
174.531
23
24
William Byron (P)
30.974
174.340
24
21
Josh Berry
30.974
174.340
25
77
Carson Hocevar
30.990
174.250
26
3
Austin Dillon
31.004
174.171
27
35*
Riley Herbst #
31.031
174.020
28
47
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
31.034
174.003
29
60
Ryan Preece
31.046
173.935
30
51
Cody Ware
31.088
173.700
31
1
Ross Chastain (P)
31.124
173.500
32
6
Brad Keselowski
31.187
173.149
33
8
Kyle Busch
31.244
172.833
34
48
Alex Bowman
31.272
172.678
35
22
Joey Logano (P)
31.492
171.472
36
12
Ryan Blaney (P)
31.678
170.465
37
44*
JJ Yeley (i)
32.115
168.146
(P) indicates NASCAR Cup Series Playoff driver
* indicates “Open” entry
# indicates Rookie of the Year contender
(i) indicates a driver ineligible to score points
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