Cole Custer and little-known Shane Lee led Friday’s (April 27) two NASCAR XFINITY Series practices at Talladega Superspeedway. Unlike the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, which had a frightening crash that saw Jamie McMurray barrel roll several times, both sessions were incident free.
Custer led 40 drivers in that first practice with a speed of 194.125 mph. Spencer Gallagher was second quickest, .037 seconds off that pace (193.980 mph). Ryan Truex, Brandon Jones and Elliott Sadler rounded out the top-five drivers.
The second practice was notable for how many didn’t run. Just 17 cars out of 41 turned a lap during the session. Shane Lee, the 24-year-old running only his second XFINITY event for Richard Childress Racing ran fastest at 187.938 mph. Most teams were doing single-car runs in preparation for qualifying Saturday morning.
Truex, Ryan Reed, Ty Majeski and rookie Alex Labbe were the top-five drivers in that second practice. But major names like Justin Allgaier, Matt Tifft, Tyler Reddick and Sadler were among those who sat that one out.
Just five drivers ran over ten laps in that second practice and no one ran over ten consecutive laps. Mike Harmon appears to be the lone driver in jeopardy of a DNQ; he ran the slowest speeds during both sessions.
The Sparks Energy 300 will be run tomorrow (April 28) at 3 p.m. ET. The race will be televised on FOX and can also be listened to on SIRIUS XM Radio (Channel 90).
Qualifying will be 11:00 a.m. tomorrow morning, televised on FOX Sports 1.
SPARKS ENERGY 300: XFINITY PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
SPARKS ENERGY 300: XFINITY PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
About the author
His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.
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