Haley, Blaney pace Cup Series practice at Bristol

Justin Haley and Ryan Blaney had both single-lap and long-run pace in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Haley topped the board with a lap of 125.354mph (15.307s). He was also the fastest in the five and 10-lap averages.

Blaney (P) was second fastest overall in practice at 125.354mph but showed the best pace in the 15-, 20-, 25-, and 30-lap averages.

Carson Hocevar was the third at 125.338mph, Brad Keselowski fourth at 125.313 mph, Michael McDowell fifth at 125.305mph, Chase Briscoe (P) sixth at 126.182mph and Denny Hamlin (P) seventh at 125.027mph.

Briscoe and Hamlin are the only two drivers locked into the Round of 12. Saturday night will determine the next 10.

Chase Elliott (P) ran eighth at 124.938mph, Ty Gibbs ninth at 124.889mph and Ross Chastain (P) completed the top 10 at 124.621mph.

The remaining playoff drivers in practice were Christopher Bell in 12th, Bubba Wallace in 13th, Alex Bowman in 16th, Austin Cindric in 17th, William Byron in 25th, Kyle Larson in 27th, Shane van Gisbergen in 29th, Austin Dillon in 30th, Joey Logano in 31st, Tyler Reddick in 34th and Josh Berry in 38th.

There are 39 teams entered at Bristol for Saturday night’s race. Among the additional teams are Austin Hill in a third car for Richard Childress Racing and Corey Heim in a fourth car for 23XI Racing.

Larson is the defending winner at Bristol. He also won the spring race.

There were no significant incidents in practice.