Race Weekend Central

Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell Lead XFINITY Practices at Bristol

After being so close to winning at Bristol Motor Speedway throughout his career, it’s no surprise Kyle Larson was quickest in opening practice. His dirt racing counterpart Christopher Bell topped final practice, and is hoping to rebound from an early crash in the April race in Thunder Valley.

Practice One: 

Larson turned a lap of 124.259 mph, .032 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch (124.002 mph), who swept the weekend at Bristol last year. In the Cup race in April, it was these two drivers that battled for the victory, with Busch nudging Larson out of the way with less than 10 laps to go.

The first XFINITY regular in the field was Christopher Bell (123.770 mph), while Joey Logano (123.570 mph) and Daniel Hemric (123.531 mph) rounded out the top five.

Chase Elliott, Elliott Sadler, Cole Custer, Austin Cindric and Justin Allgaier filled the rest of the top 10.

Brandon Jones was just outside the top 10 in 11th, though led the most laps (106) in the spring race before finishing sixth. Meanwhile, Michael Annett turned 60 laps, the most in the session. Coming into Bristol, the No. 5 team is 49 points off the cut-line to the playoffs.

Full results for opening XFINITY practice at Bristol

Final Practice

Bell led the charge in final practice with a lap of 122.976 mph, .013 seconds ahead of Larson (122.874 mph).

Meanwhile, Busch was third in the session, though having some right rear quarter panel damage after getting into the wall. Jones and Hemric rounded out the top five.

For the second straight practice, Elliott was sixth on the speed chart, while Custer, Allgaier, Logano and Tyler Reddick completed the top 10.

Cindric and Sadler were the only drivers who were among the top 10 in opening practice that weren’t in final practice. Ryan Truex, who was 16th on single-lap speed, and Vinnie Miller (32nd) also had right rear damage.

Larson was on top when it came to 10-lap average, with a speed of 121.708 mph, just ahead of Busch. The No. 42 car also ran 101 laps, the most in the practice session.

Qualifying for Friday’s Food City 300 is scheduled to get underway at 3:40 p.m. ET on Friday. Busch is the defending winner, leading 186 of 300 laps.

About the author

Dustin joined the Frontstretch team at the beginning of the 2016 season. 2020 marks his sixth full-time season covering the sport that he grew up loving. His dream was to one day be a NASCAR journalist, thus why he attended Ithaca College (Class of 2018) to earn a journalism degree. Since the ripe age of four, he knew he wanted to be a storyteller.

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