Stenhouse leads Charlotte Cup practice

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

NASCAR canceled qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 because of rain, but gave teams 45 minutes to practice after the racetrack was dried. It was a combined session for all teams, rather than splitting the field into two groups.

The weather conditions led drivers to lay down laps that are not expected to be seen during the Coca-Cola 600. In the low 60s, overcast, and either raining or misting, the area has been battling bad weather for the last few days.

Stenhouse topped the practice sheet because of a lap of 185.765 mph (29.069s).

Carson Hocevar was second fastest in practice at 185.090 mph, Michael McDowell was third fastest at 184.932 mph, and Ryan Blaney was fourth fastest at 184.679 mph. Corey Heim was fifth fastest at 184.451 mph, but he also caught a piece of the wall during practice.

Kyle Larson was sixth fastest at 184.433 mph, Christopher Bell was seventh fastest at 184.357 mph, and Ty Gibbs was eighth fastest at 184.269 mph. Erik Jones was ninth fastest at 184.250 mph, and Josh Berry rounded out the top 10 at 184.200 mph.

The defending race winner, Ross Chastain, was 17th fastest in practice.

Austin Hill was 28th fastest in practice driving for Kyle Busch’s team. Hill’s teammate, Austin Dillon, was 30th fastest. However, Dillon suffered a flat left-rear tire and had to limp his car back to pit road, trying to minimize any potential underbody damage.

There were no significant incidents during the session. It was briefly halted at one point due to rain.

Michael McDowell was the fastest driver in the top 10 consecutive lap averages. Erik Jones was second in the category with Austin Cindric third, Riley Herbst fourth, and Connor Zilisch fifth.