LOS ANGELES – Martin Truex Jr. set the early pace in opening practice for the Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota fastest in both the opening practices, setting the fastest lap of 67.360 mph on the quarter-mile track.
Toyota teammate Bubba Wallace, who drives the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota, was second fastest followed by Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe in the No. 14 Ford. Hendrick Motorsports driver Alex Bowman in the No. 48 Chevrolet and Ryan Blaney in the No. 12 Team Penske Ford rounded out the top five in practice.
Ty Gibbs’ No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was sixth fastest before the Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate had to park and make a quick exit as smoke poured out of his car. Gibbs was fine, the car taken to the garage and the team was able to make repairs so Gibbs could use it in qualifying later Saturday night.
“We have a very fast Monster Energy Toyota TRD and I’m very excited to be to here in L.A.,” Gibbs said. “The track is really cool. I feel like we have a lot of speed. Definitely sucks catching on fire but that’s part of it.”
Briscoe, who was also fast Saturday, but had an incident with the wall between Turns 3 and 4 in the final practice session. While racing hard alongside A.J. Allmendinger’s No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet for several laps, the two cars touched multiple times before Allmendinger nudged Briscoe’s No. 14 SHR Ford into the wall. There wasn’t any major damage and both cars continued.
All but one car among the 36 entered this weekend turned practice laps faster than the pole-winning speed in 2022.
Defending winner Logano was only 21st quickest in practice and spun out in the third session after contact with Tyler Reddick.
Qualifying to set the four Heat Races is set for 8:30 p.m. ET Saturday night.
Source: Holly Cain | NASCAR Wire Service
