Bell leads Iowa practice; crash forces Busch to backup car

Christopher Bell topped the charts in a NASCAR Cup Series practice session marred by a hard crash for Kyle Busch at Iowa Speedway.

Bell laid down a quick lap of 133.979mph (23.511s) in the middle stages of the second group to pace the session. The Oklahoman finished fourth in last year’s Cup debut at the 0.875-mile oval and has two Xfinity Series victories at the facility. He’s looking for the first win since he rattled off three-straight victories in February and March.

Fresh off his Brickyard 400 win, Bubba Wallace slotted in second with a speed of 133.894mph. Chase Briscoe (133.78mph) followed in third to give Toyota a sweep of the top three spots. William Byron (133.752mph) was the quickest Chevrolet in fourth, with Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (133.678mph) completing the top-five.

Tyler Reddick (133.638mph) was quickest in the opening group and sixth overall. Alex Bowman (133.616mph), Brad Keselowski (133.599mph), Chase Elliott (133.525mph) and Denny Hamlin (133.497mph) capped off the top-10.

Byron had the quickest five, 10 and 15-lap averages. Elliott was quickest in 20, 25 and 30-lap averages.

The opening group session suffered a lengthy red flag with eight minutes remaining after Busch crashed hard in Turn 1. Busch’s No. 8 Chevrolet got loose going into the corner and the two-time Cup champion overcorrected, sending his car head-on into the outside wall.

Busch climbed out of the machine under his own power and was later seen and released from the infield care center. He was second on the charts at the time of the accident but will need a backup car to compete on Sunday.

“Went off into Turn 1 with too much trust,” Busch said of the accident, which came after he’d been to pit road for adjustments. “Chattered the right-rear (tire), then overcorrected and smacked the fence.

“Not real sure how to find more trust. When you feel something good in one corner, it’s not there the next.”

There were other moments and close calls. Denny Hamlin chased his No. 11 Toyota up the track and lightly into the Turn 1 wall after getting loose with 14 minutes left in the second group session.

Ross Chastain lost the nose of his No. 1 Chevrolet and drifted up the track in Turn 3 early on. Bell suffered a similar fate in the second group session. The former driver of the No. 8 Chevrolet, Reddick, nearly lost control of his No. 45 Toyota going into Turn 1, but made the save and continued on.

There are 37 cars entered for Sunday’s Iowa Corn 350.