Team Penske Leads NASCAR Cup Practice at Gateway

MADISON, IL – RIS -Team Penske dominated NASCAR Cup practice on Saturday morning.  All-Star Race winner Joey Logano topped the board in practice, while defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Ryan Blaney placed second in the session. While Austin Cindric was sixth on speed overall, he was second of all drivers on a 10-lap run and fourth on the board on 15-lap runs.

Ford has been struggling most of the season with speed, but not today.  Gateway may be the most important race of the year so far for the two-time Cup Series champion and his manufacturer.. The only problem seems to be the weather. 

"The track ... will be quite a bit slicker tomorrow," Logano said. "For practice today, not only is it cooler, but it's overcast, too. The track temp is going to be very cool, the track's going to be really, really fast. There's going to be more speed variance tomorrow. The track will be quite a bit slower and slicker."

Some weather reports call for an 80% chance of rain, which makes it more problematic.

With Logano first and Blaney second in the practice, and Austin Cindric in sixth place, the three Fords appear to have an edge.  Ty Gibbs and Tyler Reddick rounded up the top five.

Hendrick Motorsports seemed to have trouble in the practice,   with William Byron being the fastest Hendrick Chevy in 17th. His teammate, Chase Elliott, followed in 18th, while Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson followed in 22nd and 24th, respectively.

Practice: Enjoy Illinois 300 - World Wide Technology Raceway

Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Lap #, # Laps, -Fastest, -Next

1) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 32.603 sec, 138.024 mph, 4, 27, ---, ---

2) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 32.604, 138.020, 4, 28, -0.001 sec, -0.001 sec

3) Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 32.627, 137.923, 3, 27, -0.024, -0.023

4) Tyler Reddick, No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota, 32.694, 137.640, 4, 29, -0.091, -0.067

5) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 32.742, 137.438, 3, 29, -0.139, -0.048

6) Austin Cindric, No. 2 Freightliner Ford, 32.751, 137.400, 3, 31, -0.148, -0.009

7) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet, 32.751, 137.400, 3, 30, -0.148, -0.000

8) Christopher Bell, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota, 32.782, 137.270, 3, 21, -0.179, -0.031

9) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Siteman Cancer Center Ford, 32.813, 137.141, 2, 32, -0.210, -0.031

10) Martin Truex Jr., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota, 32.817, 137.124, 4, 15, -0.214, -0.004

11) Justin Haley, No. 51 MotoRad Ford, 32.825, 137.091, 3, 29, -0.222, -0.008

12) Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, 32.826, 137.086, 4, 33, -0.223, -0.001

13) Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Solomon Plumbing Ford, 32.827, 137.082, 3, 16, -0.224, -0.001

14) Kyle Busch, No. 8 Rebel Bourbon Chevrolet, 32.839, 137.032, 3, 23, -0.236, -0.012

15) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 32.852, 136.978, 5, 23, -0.249, -0.013

16) Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet, 32.916, 136.712, 4, 29, -0.313, -0.064

17) William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 32.926, 136.670, 3, 27, -0.323, -0.010

18) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 32.926, 136.670, 5, 33, -0.323, -0.000

19) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Health/Oikos Chevrolet, 32.948, 136.579, 5, 21, -0.345, -0.022

20) Josh Berry #, No. 4 Overstock.com Ford, 32.949, 136.575, 5, 28, -0.346, -0.001

21) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet, 32.966, 136.504, 4, 23, -0.363, -0.017

22) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 32.979, 136.450, 5, 22, -0.376, -0.013

23) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Travel Centers of America Ford, 32.999, 136.368, 3, 23, -0.396, -0.020

24) Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 33.024, 136.265, 3, 24, -0.421, -0.025

25) Derek Kraus, No. 16 Kafka Conveyors Chevrolet, 33.026, 136.256, 2, 30, -0.423, -0.002

26) Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet, 33.050, 136.157, 4, 30, -0.447, -0.024

27) Todd Gilliland, No. 38 Ruedebusch Ford, 33.073, 136.063, 3, 24, -0.470, -0.023

28) Harrison Burton, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford, 33.074, 136.059, 5, 20, -0.471, -0.001

29) Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 33.107, 135.923, 3, 29, -0.504, -0.033

30) Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Overstock.com Ford, 33.109, 135.915, 3, 26, -0.506, -0.002

31) Noah Gragson, No. 10 SERVPRO Ford, 33.110, 135.911, 2, 37, -0.507, -0.001

32) Ryan Preece, No. 41 Overstock.com Ford, 33.124, 135.853, 4, 32, -0.521, -0.014

33) Austin Dillon, No. 3 DOW/Rivers are Life Chevrolet, 33.133, 135.816, 5, 21, -0.530, -0.009

34) John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Bommarito.com Toyota, 33.177, 135.636, 3, 31, -0.574, -0.044

35) Erik Jones, No. 43 Family Dollar Toyota, 33.344, 134.957, 10, 14, -0.741, -0.167

36) Cody Ware, No. 15 Jacob Construction Ford, 33.405, 134.710, 7, 28, -0.802, -0.061

Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series

Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average

Pos, Driver, Car, From Lap, To Lap, Avg Speed

1) Joey Logano, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford, 1, 10, 136.274 mph

2) Austin Cindric, No. 2 Freightliner Ford, 1, 10, 136.161

3) Ryan Blaney, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford, 2, 11, 136.119

4) Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota, 2, 11, 135.964

5) Christopher Bell, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota, 1, 10, 135.872

6) Ty Gibbs, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota, 2, 11, 135.865

7) Tyler Reddick, No. 45 SiriusXM Toyota, 1, 10, 135.859

8) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Chevrolet, 1, 10, 135.731

9) Michael McDowell, No. 34 Siteman Cancer Center Ford, 1, 10, 135.554

10) Carson Hocevar #, No. 77 Zeigler Auto Group Chevrolet, 1, 10, 135.549

11) Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Chevrolet, 1, 10, 135.530

12) William Byron, No. 24 Valvoline Chevrolet, 2, 11, 135.345

13) Josh Berry #, No. 4 Overstock.com Ford, 2, 11, 135.190

14) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger Health/Oikos Chevrolet, 1, 10, 135.172

15) Bubba Wallace, No. 23 McDonald's Toyota, 1, 10, 135.172

16) Zane Smith #, No. 71 Focused Health Chevrolet, 2, 11, 135.134

17) Derek Kraus, No. 16 Kafka Conveyors Chevrolet, 1, 10, 134.924

18) Ryan Preece, No. 41 Overstock.com Ford, 2, 11, 134.874

19) Noah Gragson, No. 10 SERVPRO Ford, 2, 11, 134.762

20) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Choice Privileges Chevrolet, 2, 11, 134.685

21) Chris Buescher, No. 17 Travel Centers of America Ford, 5, 14, 134.417

22) Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Poppy Bank Chevrolet, 1, 10, 134.333

23) Justin Haley, No. 51 MotoRad Ford, 3, 12, 134.287

24) Cody Ware, No. 15 Jacob Construction Ford, 5, 14, 134.085

25) Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, 13, 22, 133.662

 26) Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 20, 29, 133.505

27) Chase Briscoe, No. 14 Overstock.com Ford, 16, 25, 133.409

28) Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Chili's Catch-a-Rita Chevrolet, 19, 28, 133.395

29) John Hunter Nemechek, No. 42 Bommarito.com Toyota, 9, 18, 132.889Must run 10 consecutive laps

* Required to qualify on time, (i) Ineligible for driver points in this series