Preece leads Cup Series practice at Martinsville

Ryan Preece led NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Martinsville Speedway with a lap of 96.612 mph (19.600s).

Preece put his RFK Racing Ford Mustang at the top of the board on his third lap. He ran 100 total laps in practice.

Josh Berry was second fastest at 96.224 mph and Todd Gilliland was third fastest at 95.927 mph. Ty Gibbs (C) was fourth fastest overall and the fastest Chase driver at 95.898 mph. Ross Chastain completed the top five at 95.854 mph.

Denny Hamlin (C) was sixth fastest at 95.801 mph, Carson Hocevar (C) was seventh-fastest at 95.757 mph, and Chase Elliott (C) was eighth-fastest at 95.690 mph. Michael McDowell was ninth-fastest at 95.641 mph.

Christopher Bell (C) rounded out the top 10 at 95.627 mph.

The rest of the Chase drivers in practice were Ryan Blaney in 12th, Joey Logano in 13th, Chris Buescher in 14th, and Chase Briscoe in 19th. Then it was Daniel Suarez in 21st, William Byron in 22nd, Bubba Wallace in 24th, and Austin Cindric in 26th.

Kyle Larson, the championship leader, was 29th in practice.

Tyler Reddick was the slowest Chase driver in 30th.

There were no incidents in the 50-minute session

Ross Chastain was fastest in the best 10-lap average, ahead of Carson Hocevar and Christopher Bell. Ty Gibbs and Josh Berry completed the top five in the category.

There are 37 teams entered at Martinsville Speedway. The Open entry is Josh Bilicki for Garage 66.

(C) denotes Chase driver