RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series ran an extended practice session at Phoenix Raceway on Friday afternoon in preparation for the upcoming Shriners Children's 500 on Sunday afternoon.
The Cup Series decided to make this an extended practice session (50 minutes) because this weekend is the debut of the new short track package, which includes a bigger spoiler.
Here is the difference in the underbody/diffuser of the car for short tracks/road courses this year. It doesn’t change the amount of downforce (spoiler now 3 inches instead of 2 inches) as much as changes where the downforce is made. pic.twitter.com/qY7b0I1pA7
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) March 5, 2024
The 36-car field was split into two groups for this practice session. Below you'll find the two practice groups, key notes from the practice session and the practice speeds for all drivers.
Important Practice Notes
New Package Debut - NASCAR is debuting its new short track package this weekend with changes from last year's that were supposed to encourage more on-track action and passing. Unfortunately, it looks like they missed the mark. After the extended practice session on Friday, many drivers remarked that they noticed no changes from last year's package, with several saying that this new one is actually worse in traffic.
Daniel Suarez after practice: “The car is very bad in traffic. Probably even worse than before.”
On a positive note, he said the tire seems to fall off a little bit quicker than before.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) March 8, 2024
Tyler Reddick - Tyler Reddick had the third-fastest car in practice, and, thankfully, he didn't do any damage to it when he spun out late in the session. He did note that he hit the wall a few times during practice (again, no major damage) and that he feels like the No. 45 team has some work to do on this Toyota before the race on Sunday.
Daniel Hemric - About 30 minutes into practice, Daniel Hemric spun out his No. 31 Chevrolet and backed it up into the wall. The Kaulig Racing team had to make repairs to the car and Hemric was able to get back on track late in the session, although he was never able to find much speed in that race car.
2024 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. | Joey Logano | 27.446 | 131.167 | 2 | 55 | ---.--- |
| 2. | Denny Hamlin | 27.464 | 131.081 | 2 | 54 | -0.018 |
| 3. | Tyler Reddick | 27.467 | 131.066 | 2 | 53 | -0.021 |
| 4. | John Hunter Nemechek | 27.484 | 130.985 | 2 | 48 | -0.038 |
| 5. | Austin Cindric | 27.486 | 130.976 | 2 | 48 | -0.040 |
| 6. | Erik Jones | 27.528 | 130.776 | 1 | 42 | -0.082 |
| 7. | Chase Elliott | 27.534 | 130.747 | 48 | 48 | -0.088 |
| 8. | Christopher Bell | 27.622 | 130.331 | 2 | 63 | -0.176 |
| 9. | Bubba Wallace | 27.645 | 130.222 | 3 | 64 | -0.199 |
| 10. | Carson Hocevar | 27.650 | 130.199 | 22 | 48 | -0.204 |
| 11. | Alex Bowman | 27.667 | 130.119 | 2 | 49 | -0.221 |
| 12. | Martin Truex Jr. | 27.668 | 130.114 | 23 | 54 | -0.222 |
| 13. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 27.696 | 129.983 | 2 | 54 | -0.250 |
| 14. | Michael McDowell | 27.704 | 129.945 | 2 | 46 | -0.258 |
| 15. | Daniel Suarez | 27.711 | 129.912 | 25 | 58 | -0.265 |
| 16. | Ross Chastain | 27.715 | 129.894 | 1 | 44 | -0.269 |
| 17. | Ty Gibbs | 27.718 | 129.880 | 23 | 36 | -0.272 |
| 18. | Corey LaJoie | 27.730 | 129.823 | 2 | 47 | -0.284 |
| 19. | Chris Buescher | 27.737 | 129.791 | 2 | 42 | -0.291 |
| 20. | Kyle Larson | 27.772 | 129.627 | 4 | 58 | -0.326 |
| 21. | Ryan Blaney | 27.773 | 129.622 | 5 | 54 | -0.327 |
| 22. | Brad Keselowski | 27.791 | 129.538 | 42 | 59 | -0.345 |
| 23. | Harrison Burton | 27.793 | 129.529 | 4 | 60 | -0.347 |
| 24. | William Byron | 27.807 | 129.464 | 30 | 42 | -0.361 |
| 25. | Chase Briscoe | 27.811 | 129.445 | 4 | 59 | -0.365 |
| 26. | Noah Gragson | 27.860 | 129.218 | 1 | 45 | -0.414 |
| 27. | Daniel Hemric | 27.866 | 129.190 | 2 | 46 | -0.420 |
| 28. | Ryan Preece | 27.894 | 129.060 | 27 | 55 | -0.448 |
| 29. | Josh Berry | 27.901 | 129.028 | 16 | 43 | -0.455 |
| 30. | Todd Gilliland | 27.923 | 128.926 | 23 | 51 | -0.477 |
| 31. | Kyle Busch | 27.951 | 128.797 | 22 | 39 | -0.505 |
| 32. | Justin Haley | 27.975 | 128.686 | 27 | 28 | -0.529 |
| 33. | Kaz Grala | 28.015 | 128.503 | 27 | 41 | -0.569 |
| 34. | Austin Dillon | 28.060 | 128.297 | 20 | 41 | -0.614 |
| 35. | Zane Smith | 28.062 | 128.287 | 3 | 33 | -0.616 |
| 36. | Derek Kraus | 28.137 | 127.945 | 28 | 51 | -0.691 |
2024 Phoenix Shriners Children's 500 10-Lap Average Chart
| Pos | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg Speed |
| 1. | Bubba Wallace | 1 | 10 | 129.374 |
| 2. | Christopher Bell | 2 | 11 | 129.287 |
| 3. | John Hunter Nemechek | 1 | 10 | 129.256 |
| 4. | Joey Logano | 1 | 10 | 129.195 |
| 5. | Erik Jones | 25 | 34 | 128.946 |
| 6. | Ross Chastain | 18 | 27 | 128.938 |
| 7. | Tyler Reddick | 22 | 31 | 128.912 |
| 8. | Ryan Blaney | 33 | 42 | 128.908 |
| 9. | Carson Hocevar | 21 | 30 | 128.832 |
| 10. | Austin Cindric | 22 | 31 | 128.738 |
| 11. | Denny Hamlin | 1 | 10 | 128.721 |
| 12. | Alex Bowman | 1 | 10 | 128.629 |
| 13. | Kyle Larson | 25 | 34 | 128.590 |
| 14. | Daniel Suarez | 23 | 32 | 128.579 |
| 15. | Chase Elliott | 30 | 39 | 128.546 |
| 16. | Chris Buescher | 23 | 32 | 128.486 |
| 17. | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | 10 | 128.436 |
| 18. | Michael McDowell | 1 | 10 | 128.426 |
| 19. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 1 | 10 | 128.398 |
| 20. | Brad Keselowski | 40 | 49 | 128.329 |
| 21. | Ryan Preece | 26 | 35 | 128.327 |
| 22. | Ty Gibbs | 22 | 31 | 128.298 |
| 23. | William Byron | 28 | 37 | 128.263 |
| 24. | Josh Berry | 30 | 39 | 128.196 |
| 25. | Harrison Burton | 2 | 11 | 128.193 |
| 26. | Kyle Busch | 18 | 27 | 128.150 |
| 27. | Corey LaJoie | 1 | 10 | 128.148 |
| 28. | Noah Gragson | 1 | 10 | 128.123 |
| 29. | Chase Briscoe | 2 | 11 | 127.939 |
| 30. | Todd Gilliland | 22 | 31 | 127.434 |
| 31. | Austin Dillon | 18 | 27 | 127.388 |
| 32. | Zane Smith | 1 | 10 | 127.374 |
| 33. | Daniel Hemric | 1 | 10 | 127.180 |
| 34. | Derek Kraus | 27 | 36 | 127.084 |
| 35. | Justin Haley | 3 | 12 | 126.624 |
| 36. | Kaz Grala | 2 | 11 | 126.592 |
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