Larson leads the way in Saturday NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono

Kyle Larson was fastest in Saturday practice for the NASCAR Cup Series at Pocono Raceway.

Larson topped the board in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet with a fast lap of 170.707 mph (52.722s). The fast lap came on Larson’s second around the Tricky Triangle, and he ran a total of 19 laps in the session.

He was also the fastest in the best 10-lap average.

Denny Hamlin was the second fastest in practice at 170.245 mph. A former Pocono winner, Hamlin enters the weekend looking for his third consecutive victory on the tour. He has never won three straight races in his career.

Daniel Suarez was the third fastest at 170.168 mph, Carson Hocevar was the fourth fastest at 169.994 mph, and Chris Buescher completed the top five at 169.847 mph.

Riley Herbst was sixth on the board at 169.728 mph, Ty Gibbs was seventh at 169.622 mph, and William Byron was eighth at 169.610 mph. Ross Chastain was ninth fastest at 169.307 mph, and Chase Briscoe rounded out the top 10 at 169.144 mph.

Briscoe is the defending winner at Pocono with his No. 19 team from Joe Gibbs Racing.

The championship points leader, Tyler Reddick, was 11th fastest in practice. Rookie Connor Zilisch was 12th fastest. 

There was one incident in practice for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. It occurred during the first group of drivers on track, when Stenhouse spun off Turn 3. He was able to keep his car from any contact.

There are 38 teams entered at Pocono. The two Open teams are Daniel Dye for Live Fast Motorsports and Casey Mears for Beard Motorsports.