RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series ran one 45-minute practice session at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the upcoming Shriners Children's 500 on Sunday afternoon.
The 37-car field was all on the track simultaneously for the duration of this session. We got an extended practice because Goodyear brought two separate tires for teams to use this week: the Primary tire and the Option Tire.
Below you will find the key notes from the practice session as well as the practice speeds for all drivers.
Important Practice Notes
Option Tires—The Option tires were definitely faster than the Primary tires this weekend, and it's worth noting that the falloff for the Option tire wasn't as drastic as many teams expected.
Kyle Larson's practice runs:
Blue line: Soft/Option (red) tire
Orange line: Hard/Primary (yellow) tire pic.twitter.com/A8jnAi4KIL— NASCAR Insights (@NASCARInsights) March 8, 2025
Brad Keselowski - When interviewed after practice was over, Brad Keselowski noticed that his teammate, Chris Buescher, had a bit of a different setup than Keselowski has- hinting that Roush-Fenway Keselowski Racing may be testing a bit this weekend. Buescher was fifth-fastest while Keselowski ended up 17th-fastest.
Katherine Legge - Katherine Legge is in the No. 78 Chevrolet for Live Fast Motorsports this weekend. The Shriners Children's 500 will be her Cup Series debut, and she's expected to be well off the pace during the race- just as she was in practice.
2025 Phoenix Shriners Children's 500 Practice Speed Chart
Click here to download the PDF of the practice speed chart.
| Pos | Driver | Time | Speed | Fastest Lap | Laps Ran | Behind Leader |
| 1. | Carson Hocevar | 27.163 | 132.533 | 1 | 56 | ---.--- |
| 2. | Michael McDowell | 27.165 | 132.523 | 1 | 68 | -0.002 |
| 3. | Tyler Reddick | 27.170 | 132.499 | 40 | 75 | -0.007 |
| 4. | Austin Cindric | 27.172 | 132.489 | 38 | 71 | -0.009 |
| 5. | Chris Buescher | 27.205 | 132.329 | 29 | 63 | -0.042 |
| 6. | William Byron | 27.248 | 132.120 | 28 | 61 | -0.085 |
| 7. | Denny Hamlin | 27.276 | 131.984 | 28 | 71 | -0.113 |
| 8. | Erik Jones | 27.298 | 131.878 | 29 | 65 | -0.135 |
| 9. | Christopher Bell | 27.303 | 131.854 | 34 | 66 | -0.140 |
| 10. | John Hunter Nemechek | 27.306 | 131.839 | 3 | 39 | -0.143 |
| 11. | Joey Logano | 27.319 | 131.776 | 38 | 72 | -0.156 |
| 12. | Bubba Wallace | 27.320 | 131.772 | 33 | 72 | -0.157 |
| 13. | Ty Gibbs | 27.325 | 131.747 | 36 | 74 | -0.162 |
| 14. | Ryan Blaney | 27.358 | 131.589 | 37 | 78 | -0.195 |
| 15. | Alex Bowman | 27.358 | 131.589 | 40 | 70 | -0.195 |
| 16. | Noah Gragson | 27.364 | 131.560 | 37 | 60 | -0.201 |
| 17. | Brad Keselowski | 27.371 | 131.526 | 22 | 61 | -0.208 |
| 18. | Ross Chastain | 27.378 | 131.492 | 40 | 71 | -0.215 |
| 19. | Justin Haley | 27.409 | 131.344 | 28 | 66 | -0.246 |
| 20. | Chase Elliott | 27.421 | 131.286 | 46 | 68 | -0.258 |
| 21. | Kyle Busch | 27.442 | 131.186 | 3 | 57 | -0.279 |
| 22. | Chase Briscoe | 27.454 | 131.128 | 1 | 55 | -0.291 |
| 23. | Austin Dillon | 27.459 | 131.105 | 5 | 58 | -0.296 |
| 24. | Cole Custer | 27.484 | 130.985 | 24 | 54 | -0.321 |
| 25. | Zane Smith | 27.502 | 130.900 | 35 | 67 | -0.339 |
| 26. | Kyle Larson | 27.507 | 130.876 | 2 | 68 | -0.344 |
| 27. | Todd Gilliland | 27.533 | 130.752 | 22 | 49 | -0.370 |
| 28. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 27.542 | 130.709 | 35 | 68 | -0.379 |
| 29. | Riley Herbst | 27.549 | 130.676 | 33 | 54 | -0.386 |
| 30. | Daniel Suarez | 27.552 | 130.662 | 39 | 75 | -0.389 |
| 31. | Shane Van Gisbergen | 27.555 | 130.648 | 35 | 65 | -0.392 |
| 32. | AJ Allmendinger | 27.597 | 130.449 | 34 | 62 | -0.434 |
| 33. | Ryan Preece | 27.604 | 130.416 | 36 | 64 | -0.441 |
| 34. | Josh Berry | 27.629 | 130.298 | 2 | 71 | -0.466 |
| 35. | Cody Ware | 27.676 | 130.077 | 30 | 51 | -0.513 |
| 36. | Ty Dillon | 27.733 | 129.809 | 37 | 64 | -0.570 |
| 37. | Katherine Legge | 28.342 | 127.020 | 25 | 43 | -1.179 |
2025 Phoenix Shriners Children's 500 10-Lap Average Chart
| Pos | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg Speed |
| 1. | Michael McDowell | 1 | 10 | 130.730 |
| 2. | Tyler Reddick | 39 | 48 | 130.713 |
| 3. | Austin Cindric | 37 | 46 | 130.575 |
| 4. | Ross Chastain | 38 | 47 | 130.417 |
| 5. | William Byron | 26 | 35 | 130.363 |
| 6. | Bubba Wallace | 32 | 41 | 130.331 |
| 7. | Joey Logano | 37 | 46 | 130.271 |
| 8. | Chris Buescher | 28 | 37 | 130.256 |
| 9. | Ryan Blaney | 36 | 45 | 130.203 |
| 10. | Ty Gibbs | 34 | 43 | 130.190 |
| 11. | Kyle Larson | 1 | 10 | 130.014 |
| 12. | Zane Smith | 33 | 42 | 130.005 |
| 13. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 34 | 43 | 129.959 |
| 14. | Erik Jones | 28 | 37 | 129.944 |
| 15. | Brad Keselowski | 22 | 31 | 129.937 |
| 16. | Denny Hamlin | 27 | 36 | 129.907 |
| 17. | Noah Gragson | 37 | 46 | 129.904 |
| 18. | Chase Elliott | 1 | 10 | 129.865 |
| 19. | Kyle Busch | 24 | 33 | 129.862 |
| 20. | Daniel Suarez | 37 | 46 | 129.813 |
| 21. | Alex Bowman | 1 | 10 | 129.810 |
| 22. | Austin Dillon | 1 | 10 | 129.798 |
| 23. | Justin Haley | 27 | 36 | 129.732 |
| 24. | Carson Hocevar | 3 | 12 | 129.670 |
| 25. | Chase Briscoe | 5 | 14 | 129.585 |
| 26. | Cole Custer | 22 | 31 | 129.481 |
| 27. | Shane Van Gisbergen | 34 | 43 | 129.463 |
| 28. | Josh Berry | 31 | 40 | 129.417 |
| 29. | AJ Allmendinger | 33 | 42 | 129.389 |
| 30. | Christopher Bell | 1 | 10 | 129.351 |
| 31. | Ryan Preece | 31 | 40 | 128.967 |
| 32. | Riley Herbst | 1 | 10 | 128.794 |
| 33. | Todd Gilliland | 21 | 30 | 128.618 |
| 34. | Ty Dillon | 36 | 45 | 127.931 |
| 35. | Cody Ware | 30 | 39 | 127.912 |
| 36. | John Hunter Nemechek | 11 | 20 | 127.375 |
| 37. | Katherine Legge | 24 | 33 | 126.050 |
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