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Reddick paces Watkins Glen Cup practice

Regular season champion Tyler Reddick led the way in an extended NASCAR Cup Series practice from Watkins Glen International.

Reddck laid down a quick time of 72.018 seconds (122.469 mph) early in the opening session for Group A. Given this weekend’s tire falloff, that time stood as the quickest for the full 80 minutes of practice.

Ross Chastain was second fastest at 122.337mph. Kyle Larson followed at 122.296mph, with Shane van Gisbergen (122.267mph) and Denny Hamlin (122.015mph) capping off the top five. Joey Logano (121.963mph), Austin Cindric (121.778mph), Ryan Blaney (121.764mph), Corey LaJoie (121.759mph) and Noah Gragson (121.620mph) completed the top 10.

Road courses have been a specialty for Reddick, who earned his two wins at Road America and on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course in 2022. The 23XI Racing ace entered the weekend third in the playoff standings, 12 points behind points leader Blaney. He’ll be one of many drivers looking to end Hendrick Motorsports’ streak of five straight wins at The Glen.

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Cindric was the quickest driver in Group B. He was followed by Kyle Busch, who ended up 12th with a speed of 121.519mph. Playoff newcomer Ty Gibbs (121.280mp.) was third in the group and 17th overall, followed by teammate Martin Truex Jr. (121.219mph) in 18th. Rookie Zane Smith (121.172mph) rounded out the top-five in Group B and ended the session 20th overall.

Other playoff drivers included Brad Keselowski (121.217mph) in 19th, William Byron (121.088 mph) in 21st, Daniel Suarez (121.037mph) in 24th, Christopher Bell (120.855mph) in 25th, Alex Bowman (120.73mph) in 28th and Harrison Burton (120.595mph) in 30th.

Multi-disciplinary motorsports star Juan Pablo Montoya completed his first practice run in the Next Gen car to kick off a one-off run with 23XI Racing. The 2010 Watkin Glen winner ended the session in 15th, with a speed of 121.362mph.

Drivers were given extra practice time to test the new tire brought by Goodyear, which was anticipated to yield significant falloff. Each practice group was offered two 20-minute sessions. Reddick ran 16 laps and saw a difference of 2.568 seconds from his best lap to his final one in the opening session. Cindric fell off 3.061 seconds over his 15 laps in group B.

Both groups saw a lone incident in their opening sessions. Hamlin looped his No. 11 Toyota around at the entrance to Turn 1 in Group A, while Busch lost control of his No. 8 Chevrolet after crossing over the curbing at the exit of the Bus Stop. Neither driver hit anything or sustained damage in the accidents.

AJ Allmendinger went off-track through the esses just as the final practice session wrapped up.

Qualifying is up next.

Story originally appeared on Racer