Jones, Herbst pace Cup Series practice at Darlington

Erik Jones was fastest in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Darlington Raceway as teams got their first taste of what the latest rules package will do at the venerable facility.

The 1.366-mile oval is the first intermediate track to feature the high-horsepower, low-downforce package. That means the smaller spoiler and rear diffuser with 750 hp, and drivers expect it to produce a much different race than they are used to at the South Carolina track.

Jones led the way in his Legacy Motor Club Toyota with a lap of 164.331 mph (29.925s). He set the fastest pace on his first lap on track.

Riley Herbst was second fastest with the same lap time and speed as Jones but he set it on his second lap on the track.

Austin Cindric was third fastest at 163.827 mph and Daniel Suarez was fourth fastest at 163.653 mph. Carson Hocevar completed the top five at 163.576 mph.

Cup Series points leader Tyler Reddick was sixth fastest at 163.484 mph, rookie Connor Zilisch was seventh fastest at 163.446 mph, and Michael McDowell was eighth fastest at 163.321 mph. Kyle Busch was ninth fastest at 163.316 mph and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10 at 162.921 mph.

The defending race winner, Denny Hamlin, was 14th fastest in practice.

Justin Allgaier was 31st fastest for Hendrick Motorsports as he continues his substitution role in the No. 48.

At the bottom of the practice chart was two Team Penske drivers. Joey Logano was 35th and Ryan Blaney was 36th.

There was one significant incident in practice when Timmy Hill spun in Turns 3 and 4. Hill, however, kept his Garage 66 machine off the wall and only briefly halted the session.

Hill is the only Open driver entered in this weekend’s race. It means that a total of 37 drivers will take the green flag in the Goodyear 400.

Austin Cindric was fastest in the best 10-lap average during practice. Tyler Reddick was fastest in the best 15 and 20 lap average.