Defending race winner Logano fastest in Gateway practice

Logano, the reigning Cup champion, led the way in Saturday’s lone practice session with an average lap speed of 136.857 mph.

The top-five single-lap speeds all came from the first 20-minute session. Kyle Larson was second, William Byron third, Michael McDowell fourth and Tyler Reddick fifth.

Aric Almirola was the fastest car from Group B and ninth-fastest overall.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Denny Hamlin had the fastest average speed (135.839 mph), followed by McDowell and Reddick, respectively, in that category.

Group A

Logano was among the first on the track and ended up with the fastest average lap speed (136.857 mph) in the first 20-minute session.

Larson was second-fastest (136.811 mph) and Byron was third (136.558 mph).

“We learned a little bit of what not to do,” Byron said. “I was running a little bit of the wrong line. This race track was our toughest last year.”

Michael McDowell and Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five.

Brad Keselowski had a left-rear tire go down after seven laps on the track and had to return to the garage.

“I thought we were really conservative,” Keselowski said. “Not sure what’s going on but hopefully we can figure it out before qualifying.”

There were no other incidents in the session.

Group B

Almirola led the way in the second 20-minute session with an average lap speed of 135.898 mph.

Martin Truex Jr. was second-fastest (135.672 mph) and Ross Chastain was third (135.427 mph).

Ty Gibbs and last week’s race winner, Ryan Blaney, rounded out the top five.

There were no on-track incidents during the session.

Carson Hocevar, substituting for Corey LaJoie in Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet, made his first laps on track in a Next Gen car and was 16th-fastest overall.