After winning the ARCA Menards Series West season finale at Phoenix Raceway on Friday (Nov. 4), Sammy Smith continued running fast at the 1-mile track. He posted the fastest time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series practice session there on Friday, leading a Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3.
Smith wheeled his No. 18 Toyota atop the leaderboard with a speed of 131.128 mph.
Smith will make his ninth career Xfinity Series start, but his first one at Phoenix.
After running up front at Martinsville Speedway, Brandon Jones was second followed by Ty Gibbs in third. Gibbs posted the fastest time of the Championship 4 drivers.
In fact, none of the other Championship 4 drivers – all JR Motorsports entries – made it into the top 10.
Justin Allgaier was 12th, Noah Gragson was 13th and Josh Berry was 14th.
Reigning Xfinity Series champion Daniel Hemric was fourth-fastest followed by Riley Herbst in fifth.
AJ Allmendinger, Alex Labbe, Ryan Sieg, Nick Sanchez and Kyle Weatherman comprised sixth through 10th place, respectively.
The session had two red flag periods. Early on, Matt Mills spun in turn 2 and avoided contact. Later on, Joe Graf Jr. slid into the wall in turn 1, damaging his Ford.
Graf ended up 31st in the session, while Mills was last (39th).
Xfinity Series Practice Speeds from Phoenix
Because 39 drivers are entered, one will fail to qualify for the Xfinity season finale.
The Xfinity field will qualify at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday (Nov. 5). Then, the Xfinity season will end with a 200-lap race at 6 p.m. ET, with TV coverage provided by USA Network.
About the author
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
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Yeah toyota has their best illegal cars running at Phoenix.