Busch brothers lead Cup Road America practice

For the first time since 1956, NASCAR Cup Series cars are on track at Road America. Saturday’s activities included the lone practice session for the series ahead of Sunday’s qualifying and race. After fifty minutes, Kurt Busch was the fastest of forty drivers ahead of younger brother Kyle Busch, though the latter will have to go to a backup car and start at the rear in the race after a crash.

The older Busch, who has not won on a road course since Sonoma 2011, was the only driver to set a fastest lap time below 134 seconds at 133.849 with a speed of 108.875 mph. Kyle followed at 134.116 seconds, but went off course and spun while leading the session, resulting in damage to the rear.

NASCAR Xfinity Series regular Austin Cindric, who won the pole for his series’ race earlier in the day and the 2020 Road America event, placed third at 134.280; he led four laps in his most recent Cup start at fellow road course COTA in May. Another Xfinity driver and road course ace joined him in the top ten as A.J. Allmendinger, who won the 2013 Xfinity event, placed seventh.

Kyle Busch was not the only driver with problems during practice as Ryan Preece spun in turn eleven on his first lap and damaged the front, also forcing him to switch to a backup. Road ringer Kyle Tilley went into the gravel trap and finished thirty-fifth.

Ryan Eversley was thirty-eighth in his first official Cup action. Sunday’s race will mark the sports car regular’s maiden Cup start.

Qualifying will take place on Sunday prior to the Jockey Made in America 250. As forty drivers are entered, nobody will miss the race.

Results

Position	Number	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Best Time	Best Speed (mph)	Laps
1	1	Kurt Busch	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	133.849	108.875	9
2	18	Kyle Busch	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	134.116	108.658	6
3	33	Austin Cindric*	Team Penske	Ford	134.280	108.525	13
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Team Penske	Ford	134.313	108.499	10
5	8	Tyler Reddick	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	134.341	108.476	12
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	134.626	108.247	16
7	16	A.J. Allmendinger*	Kaulig Racing	Chevrolet	134.637	108.238	10
8	20	Christopher Bell	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	134.650	108.227	14
9	5	Kyle Larson	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	134.700	108.187	14
10	14	Chase Briscoe	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	134.798	108.108	10
11	24	William Byron	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	134.854	108.064	14
12	48	Alex Bowman	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	134.929	108.003	14
13	42	Ross Chastain	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	134.959	107.979	11
14	9	Chase Elliott	Hendrick Motorsports	Chevrolet	135.068	107.892	14
15	3	Austin Dillon	Richard Childress Racing	Chevrolet	135.167	107.813	14
16	41	Cole Custer	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	135.539	107.517	13
17	4	Kevin Harvick	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	135.558	107.502	14
18	23	Bubba Wallace	23XI Racing	Toyota	135.611	107.460	13
19	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Joe Gibbs Racing	Toyota	135.619	107.454	15
20	21	Matt DiBenedetto	Wood Brothers Racing	Ford	135.695	107.394	14
21	17	Chris Buescher	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	135.703	107.387	12
22	22	Joey Logano	Team Penske	Ford	135.750	107.350	12
23	34	Michael McDowell	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	135.792	107.317	12
24	7	Corey LaJoie	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	135.884	107.244	14
25	2	Brad Keselowski	Team Penske	Ford	135.911	107.223	11
26	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	135.977	107.171	12
27	10	Aric Almirola	Stewart-Haas Racing	Ford	136.176	107.014	14
28	99	Daniel Suárez	Trackhouse Racing Team	Chevrolet	136.602	106.681	12
29	38	Anthony Alfredo	Front Row Motorsports	Ford	136.826	106.506	13
30	77	Justin Haley*	Spire Motorsports	Chevrolet	137.134	106.267	5
31	51	Cody Ware*	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	137.188	106.225	8
32	43	Erik Jones	Richard Petty Motorsports	Chevrolet	137.428	106.040	12
33	15	James Davison	Rick Ware Racing	Chevrolet	137.885	105.688	8
34	6	Ryan Newman	Roush Fenway Racing	Ford	138.103	105.521	8
35	78	Kyle Tilley	Live Fast Motorsports	Ford	138.479	105.235	12
36	52	Josh Bilicki	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	138.499	105.220	9
37	96	Ty Dillon*	Gaunt Brothers Racing	Toyota	138.972	104.861	11
38	53	Ryan Eversley	Rick Ware Racing	Ford	140.186	103.953	13
39	00	Quin Houff	StarCom Racing	Chevrolet	141.783	102.782	7
40	37	Ryan Preece	JTG Daugherty Racing	Chevrolet	172.044	84.704	1

Italics – Competing for Rookie of the Year
* – Ineligible for Cup points