Briscoe tops Michigan Cup practice as tire trouble strikes three

An early morning practice session at Michigan International Speedway ended with three tire issues and a familiar face up front.

Searching for his third-consecutive pole, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Chase Briscoe led the way in the weekend-opening practice session. The Hoosier laid down a lap of 195.482mph (36.832s) in the second group session to top the charts in practice.

Christopher Bell followed in second, clocking in just 0.016s slower with a speed of 195.397mph. Former Michigan winner Chris Buescher was third with a 195.206mph lap.

Alex Bowman was quickest of all drivers in the opening group with a 194.984mph lap. That left him fourth on the combined charts at session’s end, with Austin Dillon completing the top five. William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Carson Hocevar and Ty Gibbs capped off the top 10.

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The practice session was plagued by tire troubles for the field, all on the left-side rubber Goodyear brought to the two-mile oval for the first time. It was the same tire seen two weeks prior at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Shane van Gisbergen was the first one to suffer an issue, his left-rear tire going down in the waning seconds of the opening group’s practice. The Kiwi took his No. 88 to the apron and kept his left-rear tires on the infield grass while rolling to pit road.

Drivers in the second group were less fortunate, with their session stalled by two separate tire issues for Championship 4 drivers from the prior year. Ryan Blaney was first to come to a stop after his left-front tire went flat. That led to a lengthy delay as the safety crew carefully rolled his car to pit lane.

NASCAR extended the practice session by 10 minutes to account for the stoppage. But shortly after it resumed, the session was halted again when Tyler Reddick suffered a flat left-rear tire and came to a stop on the apron. The sanctioning body elected not to extend the session for a second time.

That kept many drivers from making lengthy runs in the second group. Bell had the quickest five-lap average at 37.01s, with Gibbs setting a top 10-lap time at 37.11s.

All 36 entrants set a time in practice. Cody Ware completed a session-high 30 laps, while Bubba Wallace completed just five laps for the briefest track time in the field.