Larson on top as NASCAR takes the stage in San Diego

Kyle Larson will go down in the NASCAR record books as the fastest driver on the first day of track time at Naval Base Coronado.

Larson jumped to the top of the board at the end of Friday’s session. The fastest lap for the Hendrick Motorsports driver was 89.613 mph (2m16.588s).

Todd Gilliland was second fastest at 89.421 mph (2m16.881s) in practice and Ty Gibbs was third fastest at 89.393 mph (2m16.924s). Connor Zilisch was fourth fastest at 89.369 mph (2m16.960s) and Carson Hocevar completed the top five at 89.342 mph (2m17.001s).

Corey Heim was sixth fastest at 89.318 mph (2m17.039s), Michael McDowell was seventh fastest at 89.158 mph (2m17.284s), Shane van Gisbergen was eighth fastest at 89.135 mph (2m17.320s), and Austin Hill was ninth fastest at 88.948 mph (2m17.609s).

Alex Bowman completed the top 10 in practice at 88.901 mph (2m17.681s).

The lone practice session was 50 minutes. It was the only track activity scheduled for Friday for Cup Series teams

Further in the field was championship point leader Tyler Reddick in 11th, Denny Hamlin was 14th fastest, and William Byron was 15th. Ryan Blaney was 18th, Bubba Wallace was 20th, and Chase Elliott was 21st.

Chris Buscher, a former road course winner, was 26th-fastest. Kevin Magnussen was 29th-fastest.

Brent Crews got some laps behind the wheel of the No. 20 for Joe Gibbs Racing during the session. Crews is on standby for Christopher Bell, who has a fractured left wrist.

While there were incidents through drivers learning how far they could push their cars or where the off-line marks were, none resulted in serious damage. Magnussen, however, did bounce off the wall with the right side of his Chevrolet in Turn 16, and then with the left side in Turn 1. Sunday will be Magnussen’s NASCAR debut.

There are 39 teams entered in San Diego. The Open teams are 23XI Racing (Corey Heim), Trackhouse Racing (Magnussen), and Legacy Motor Club (Jimmie Johnson).

NEXT: Cup Series qualifying at 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday.