Practice report
NASCAR Cup Indianapolis
Christopher Bell leads Brickyard 400 practice; Bubba Wallace and SVG hit wall
The Indianapolis practice session stayed green from start-to-finish, but some drivers still found trouble
Nick DeGroot
Edited: Jul 25, 2026, 4:00 PM
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As part of an extended race weekend, NASCAR Cup teams got a 50-minute practice on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
William Byron set the early pace with a 49.753s lap (180.893mph) around the historic speedway. Later, it was Hendrick Motorsports teammate went fastest of all with a 49.279s lap (182.633mph). But the Toyotas soon flexed their muscles, and Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing went fastest of all with a 49.043s lap (183.512mph).
At the end of the session, it was Toyota 1-2-3-4-5 with John-Hunter Nemechek second behind Bell, followed by Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, and Denny Hamlin.
Larson led the way for Chevrolet in sixth, followed by Carson Hocevar, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney leading the way for Ford in ninth, and Daniel Suarez tenth. Larson was also the fastest driver in five-lap and ten-lap averages.
For those paying attention to the In-Season Challenge finals, Todd Gilliland was 32nd on the speed charts as he tries to claim a big underdog win against Blaney on Sunday, collecting the $1 million prize.
Practice setbacks
Early in the session, defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace hit the wall at the exit of Turn 2 right before the end of the SAFER Barrier, causing visible damage to the right-side of the car. Not long after, Shane van Gisbergen got into the wall at corner exit as well, but not quite as hard as Wallace. Both returned to the track later in the practice.
Austin Cindric lost power on his first lap of practice, and the team had to spend a lot of time diagnosing the problem. He eventually made it back out into the track, only to lose power again with the dash shutting off, but the engine still running.
Ryan Preece suffered a flat left-rear tire in the middle of the session, but he was able to drive the car back to the pits.
Watch: Preece has left-rear tire go down during Indy practice
Cla Driver # Manufacturer Laps Time Interval Mph 1 C. BellJoe Gibbs Racing 20 Toyota 27
49.043
183.512 2 J. NemechekLegacy Motor Club 42 Toyota 28
+0.089
49.132
0.089 183.180 3 T. GibbsJoe Gibbs Racing 54 Toyota 30
+0.110
49.153
0.021 183.102 4 E. JonesLegacy Motor Club 43 Toyota 27
+0.183
49.226
0.073 182.830 5 D. HamlinJoe Gibbs Racing 11 Toyota 26
+0.219
49.262
0.036 182.697 6 K. LarsonHendrick Motorsports 5 Chevrolet 36
+0.236
49.279
0.017 182.634 7 C. HocevarSpire Motorsports 77 Chevrolet 30
+0.238
49.281
0.002 182.626 8 T. Reddick23XI Racing 45 Toyota 26
+0.242
49.285
0.004 182.611 9 R. BlaneyTeam Penske 12 Ford 24
+0.265
49.308
0.023 182.526 10 D. SuarezSpire Motorsports 7 Chevrolet 32
+0.341
49.384
0.076 182.245 11 W. ByronHendrick Motorsports 24 Chevrolet 35
+0.382
49.425
0.041 182.094 12
C. Heim23XI Racing
67 Toyota 27
+0.385
49.428
0.003 182.083 13 R. ChastainTrackHouse Racing 1 Chevrolet 32
+0.470
49.513
0.085 181.770 14 C. BuescherRFK Racing 17 Ford 38
+0.482
49.525
0.012 181.726 15
J. BerryWood Brothers Racing
21 Ford 17
+0.504
49.547
0.022 181.646 16 A. AllmendingerKaulig Racing 16 Chevrolet 35
+0.535
49.578
0.031 181.532 17 R. Herbst23XI Racing 35 Toyota 31
+0.563
49.606
0.028 181.430 18 A. CindricTeam Penske 2 Ford 21
+0.571
49.614
0.008 181.400 19 R. Stenhouse JrHyak Motorsports 47 Chevrolet 28
+0.575
49.618
0.004 181.386 20 B. Wallace23XI Racing 23 Toyota 18
+0.576
49.619
0.001 181.382 21 C. ElliottHendrick Motorsports 9 Chevrolet 36
+0.609
49.652
0.033 181.262 22 J. LoganoTeam Penske 22 Ford 40
+0.638
49.681
0.029 181.156 23 B. KeselowskiRFK Racing 6 Ford 27
+0.660
49.703
0.022 181.076 24 M. McDowellSpire Motorsports 71 Chevrolet 31
+0.667
49.710
0.007 181.050 25 S. van GisbergenTrackHouse Racing 97 Chevrolet 25
+0.674
49.717
0.007 181.025 26 Z. SmithFront Row Motorsports 38 Ford 22
+0.684
49.727
0.010 180.988 27 R. PreeceRFK Racing 60 Ford 21
+0.752
49.795
0.068 180.741 28 T. GillilandFront Row Motorsports 34 Ford 17
+0.760
49.803
0.008 180.712 29 C. BriscoeJoe Gibbs Racing 19 Toyota 30
+0.789
49.832
0.029 180.607 30 C. CusterHaas Factory Team 41 Chevrolet 26
+0.850
49.893
0.061 180.386 31 A. BowmanHendrick Motorsports 48 Chevrolet 30
+0.860
49.903
0.010 180.350 32 N. GragsonFront Row Motorsports 4 Ford 29
+0.931
49.974
0.071 180.094 33
C. ZilischTrackHouse Racing
88 Chevrolet 30
+0.966
50.009
0.035 179.968 34 C. WareRick Ware Racing 51 Chevrolet 28
+1.119
50.162
0.153 179.419 35 A. DillonRichard Childress Racing 3 Chevrolet 26
+1.123
50.166
0.004 179.404 36 A. HillRichard Childress Racing 33 Chevrolet 24
+1.151
50.194
0.028 179.304 37 T. DillonKaulig Racing 10 Chevrolet 30
+1.226
50.269
0.075 179.037 38 C. MearsBeard Motorsports 62 Chevrolet 20
+2.158
51.201
0.932 175.778 39
D. DyeLive Fast Motorsports
78 Chevrolet 5
+2.806
51.849
0.648 173.581
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