Charlotte Roval Practice Report: Allmendinger and Gibbs Lead the Pack
In a competitive practice session ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race at the Charlotte Roval, AJ Allmendinger and Ty Gibbs emerged as frontrunners. Allmendinger clocked a top speed of 94.748 mph, completing a lap in 86.630 seconds, while Gibbs followed closely at 94.707 mph.
The top five included Daniel Suarez (94.545 mph), Kyle Busch (94.474 mph), and Zane Smith (94.415 mph), with Carson Hocevar rounding out the top six at 94.292 mph. Defending champion Kyle Larson, a key playoff contender, was the fastest among playoff drivers, recording a speed of 94.237 mph.
Practice saw additional playoff drivers positioned variably on the leaderboard: Justin Haley was eighth (93.997 mph), Christopher Bell ninth (93.957 mph), and Noah Gragson tenth (93.949 mph). Notably, Ross Chastain (16th), William Byron (20th), Chase Elliott (23rd), Ryan Blaney (24th), Tyler Reddick (25th), Bubba Wallace (27th), Joey Logano (28th), Denny Hamlin (30th), Chase Briscoe (32nd), and Austin Cindric (33rd) showed mixed results.
Elliott and Blaney are the only drivers already confirmed for the next round of the playoffs, while the four drivers currently below the cutline include Wallace, Reddick, Chastain, and Cindric.
The session was incident-free, with 37 teams set to compete in the upcoming race. Notably, Shane van Gisbergen dominated the best 10 consecutive lap average, joined by Gibbs, Chris Buescher, William Byron, and Bell in this metric. Van Gisbergen aims to secure his fifth victory on road courses this season.
The focus now turns to Sunday’s elimination race, where strategy and performance will be critical for playoff contenders.
