Practice report
NASCAR Cup Sonoma
Kyle Larson leads the way in Sonoma Cup practice
Kyle Larson, who has started on the pole the last five NASCAR Cup races at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, was – surprise – fastest in Saturday’s lone practice session.
Jim Utter
Edited: Jun 11, 2023, 8:12 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Larson had the fastest overall average lap speed at 91.019 mph, which he set in the first 20-minute session.
Martin Truex Jr. was second-fastest overall 991.078 mph, also in the first session, while A.J. Allmendinger was third (91.019 mph) and fastest in the second session.
Group A
Larson finished the first 20-minute session with the fastest average lap speed at 91.729 mph.
Truex was second-fastest (91.078 mph) and Reddick was third (90.936 mph).
“Kyle laid down a really good lap,” Reddick said. “I think we’ll just keep looking at it, make a few adjustments and we’ll get a shot here in qualifying and see what the one-lap potential is.”
Michael McDowell and Ty Gibbs rounded out the top five.
Reddick went briefly off the course on the backstretch early in the session but returned to the track without further incident.
About 10 minutes in, Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4A but was able to get his No. 6 Ford refired and returned to pit road.
Truck Series regular Grant Enfinger drove Legacy Motor Club’s No. 42 Chevrolet in place of Noah Gragson, who is sitting out the weekend with concussion-like symptoms. He was slowest among the 18 drivers.
Group B
Allmendinger set the fastest average lap speed of the second session (91.019 mph) in the first few laps.
His Kaulig Racing teammate, Justin Hailey, was second-fastest (90.701 mph) while Chase Elliott – in his first race back from a one-race suspension by NASCAR – was third (90.665 mph).
Austin Dillon and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rounded out the top five.
Bubba Wallace briefly went off course in Turn 7 early in the session but was able to continue on without incident.
Cla # Driver Manufacturer Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 5 
Kyle Larson Chevrolet 11 1'18.099 91.730 2 19 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 9 1'18.657 0.558 0.558 91.079 3 16 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 10 1'18.708 0.609 0.051 91.020 4 45 Tyler Reddick Toyota 10 1'18.780 0.681 0.072 90.937 5 34 Michael McDowell Ford 12 1'18.951 0.852 0.171 90.740 6 31 Justin Haley Chevrolet 8 1'18.984 0.885 0.033 90.702 7 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 10 1'19.016 0.917 0.032 90.665 8 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 12 1'19.064 0.965 0.048 90.610 9 47 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Chevrolet 10 1'19.129 1.030 0.065 90.536 10 54 Ty Gibbs Toyota 9 1'19.136 1.037 0.007 90.528 11 48 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 10 1'19.157 1.058 0.021 90.504 12 1 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 13 1'19.179 1.080 0.022 90.479 13 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 14 1'19.199 1.100 0.020 90.456 14 17 Chris Buescher Ford 12 1'19.266 1.167 0.067 90.379 15 8 Kyle Busch Chevrolet 10 1'19.325 1.226 0.059 90.312 16 12 Ryan Blaney Ford 10 1'19.353 1.254 0.028 90.280 17 7 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 12 1'19.358 1.259 0.005 90.274 18 6 Brad Keselowski Ford 11 1'19.515 1.416 0.157 90.096 19 23 Bubba Wallace Toyota 11 1'19.538 1.439 0.023 90.070 20 99 
Daniel Suarez Chevrolet 7 1'19.593 1.494 0.055 90.008 21 22 Joey Logano Ford 11 1'19.600 1.501 0.007 90.000 22 20 Christopher Bell Toyota 14 1'19.613 1.514 0.013 89.985 23 77 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 11 1'19.631 1.532 0.018 89.965 24 14 Chase Briscoe Ford 10 1'19.646 1.547 0.015 89.948 25 24 William Byron Chevrolet 10 1'19.653 1.554 0.007 89.940 26 2 Austin Cindric Ford 6 1'19.654 1.555 0.001 89.939 27 51 Todd Gilliland Ford 10 1'19.687 1.588 0.033 89.902 28 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 11 1'20.003 1.904 0.316 89.547 29 43 Erik Jones Chevrolet 7 1'20.047 1.948 0.044 89.497 30 38 Zane Smith Ford 13 1'20.053 1.954 0.006 89.491 31 41 Ryan Preece Ford 12 1'20.076 1.977 0.023 89.465 32 21 Harrison Burton Ford 7 1'20.099 2.000 0.023 89.439 33 78 Josh Bilicki Chevrolet 8 1'20.238 2.139 0.139 89.284 34 10 Aric Almirola Ford 14 1'20.368 2.269 0.130 89.140 35 42 Grant Enfinger Chevrolet 14 1'21.216 3.117 0.848 88.209 36 15 Andy Lally Ford 10 1'21.287 3.188 0.071 88.132
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Could NASCAR's iconic Daytona track host an NFL team?
Next article Denny Hamlin beats Reddick to NASCAR Cup pole at Sonoma
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jim Utter
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Erik Jones agrees to multi-year contract extension with Legacy Motor Club
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
Goodyear's option tires at Richmond "were like Mario Kart with a star"
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup
Richmond II
NASCAR: Austin Dillon move was "really close to crossing the line"
Latest news
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 10 min
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
39 min
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
Josh Pierson earns IndyCar license approval following IMS road course evaluation test
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 2 h
Josh Pierson earns IndyCar license approval following IMS road course evaluation test
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe