Chase Briscoe absolutely lit up the speed charts at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Friday night, tearing through the NASCAR Cup Series practice with a blazing 32.680-second lap that nobody else could touch. He smashed Austin Cindric’s best by a solid 0.073 seconds, while Denny Hamlin and Christopher Bell grabbed third and fourth, and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five. Briscoe’s the fastest, no doubt, but that’s not the real story everyone’s buzzing about heading into championship weekend. The actual leader in the points, Kyle Larson, looked anything but comfortable out there, and it was a mess.
Larson’s Rough Ride and Reddick’s Roadblock
Kyle Larson, the championship favorite, finished practice in a worrying ninth place after repeatedly kissing the wall. He was trying to run the highest groove on the 1.5-mile track, and his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet took “slight damage” to its right side. He wasn’t the only one getting acquainted with the barrier, as Joey Logano also had his own wall-brushing moments. But for Larson, the stakes are way too high for “slight damage.” He didn’t mince words after the session, calling his wall contact “probably pretty excessive.” He just couldn’t find his rhythm, saying, “I just didn’t feel very good. I don’t know, I didn’t feel comfortable for the first few laps, and then I would feel okay, and then I just didn’t have enough grip to run the wall like I needed to.” That’s not what you want to hear from your championship contender. He knows he needs to figure it out, “I’ll just have to kind of think about that and what I was doing wrong, and then listen to my teammates, kind of what they had to say about their cars.” Sounds like a disconnect and a serious lack of comfort. It was not a great practice for the championship leader, and he hasn’t even had time to dive into why.
If Larson’s struggles weren’t enough, we also saw a bizarre incident on pit road that just summed up one team’s entire year. Tyler Reddick was rolling in for a mock pit stop when he slammed right into the back of a slowing Zane Smith at pit entry. The No. 45 car spun out, its nose totally damaged. Team co-owner Michael Jordan was spotted in the pits, looking absolutely dismayed, and Reddick himself was visibly frustrated after climbing from the car. “Just sums up our year,” Reddick fumed, “When we have something that’s really solid, we find a way to screw it up.” He explained that both he and Smith were coming in hot when Smith checked up because of a car turning into the garage near the pit road entrance. “It just sucks,” he said, perfectly capturing the moment.
What’s Next for Homestead-Miami
While Briscoe owned the single fastest lap and Blaney showed incredible pace on long runs, leading the 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30-lap averages, all eyes will be on how Larson responds after his concerning practice. Can he find that comfort and grip he desperately needs to protect his championship lead? And for Reddick, can he put that pit road nightmare behind him and somehow turn things around? The championship is on the line, and after a practice session filled with wall scrapes and pit road chaos, it feels like anything could happen. Get ready, because the Homestead-Miami race is about to be an absolute battle.
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Yahoo Sports.
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