Hocevar leads short, rain-affected Cup Series practice at Loudon

Carson Hocevar led a brief NASCAR Cup Series practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

After waiting out rain and track drying for 90 minutes, Hocevar laid down an early lap of 127.533mph (29.865s) to reach the top of the charts. That stood as the best lap after rain quickly returned, halting practice after just under five minutes.

Michael McDowell was second quickest with a speed of 127.312mph. Two-time Magic Mile winner Brad Keselowski (127.214mph) followed in third, with William Byron (127.163mph) and Zane Smith (127.125mph) filling out the top five.

Joey Logano (127.082mph) slotted in sixth followed by Denny Hamlin (127.065mph) in the lead Toyota. Josh Berry (126.866mph), Bubba Wallace (126.765mph) and Noah Gragson (126.736mph) completed the top 10.

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Polesitter Chase Elliott (126.278mph) was 19th, with defending winner Martin Truex Jr. (126.057mph) four spots behind him in 23rd.

Decision-making was split between teams as the session got underway, with many quickly taking to the track while others chose to wait out a couple laps and confirm the conditions were okay. Nearly the entire field ultimately took to the track, with only Christopher Bell failing to complete a lap at speed.

“I feel like track conditions are going to be completely different when we actually race, so I’m not too concerned about it,” Bell said afterward.

There are 36 drivers entered in the USA Today 301. No driver was able to complete more than seven laps in the abbreviated session, so there were no 10-lap averages to review.

Sunday’s green flag will fly at 2:06 p.m. ET on USA Network.