NASHVILLE, Tenn. – William Byron led the way for Hendrick Motorsports in Friday’s practice session at Nashville Superspeedway.
Byron’s lap of 160.914 mph in the No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 put him fifth on the board. He enters this weekend leading or holding a share of the lead in the following statistical categories: wins (three), top-five finishes (seven), top-10s (nine), laps led (717) and stage wins (seven). The 25-year-old driver finished third at Nashville in 2021.
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Chase Elliott placed eighth in practice in the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet. He is the defending race winner at this track. During a media availability before practice, Elliott talked about last year’s victory.
"I remember it being really good for us," Elliott said. "We started the race last year and we were actually pretty bad. And usually when that happens – you start a race and you’re struggling, it doesn’t typically get better. With the rain, I think we ended up having a bad pit stop there at one point. We just decided we’re going to take some time – try to think through some adjustments and do some things that we wouldn’t necessarily do during a normal situation because you would lose a lot of time on pit road doing it.
"We just kind of – I don’t want to say swing for the fence... it was a thought-out process. We just took the time to do what we thought we needed to do and fortunately we hit the nail right on the head. I couldn’t really ask for much more after that. It was crazy – I’m not really sure I’ve ever been part of a race where we were that bad and then we were all of a sudden that good."
Kyle Larson ran the third-most laps in practice (56) in the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy. He is one of two drivers to finish in the top five in both races at the 1.33-mile track and his average finish (2.5) at this venue is the best among all drivers in Sunday’s field. He dominated the inaugural race at the Tennessee track in 2021.
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Alex Bowman made good use of the session as he and the No. 48 Ally Racing team went to work on making the balance of the car better for Sunday’s race. Bowman’s primary partner, Ally, is also the race sponsor for this weekend’s event in Nashville.
Tyler Reddick led all drivers in the 50-minute practice.
Byron (fourth), Larson (fifth) and Elliott (eighth) all placed in the top 10 for best 10 consecutive lap averages. Byron and Larson ranked third and fourth in the best 15 and 20 consecutive lap averages.
The Rick Hendrick-owned organization is a perfect two-for-two in Cup Series races at the concrete track. In last year's race, which finished under the lights due to a weather delay, Elliott took the checkered flag. In 2021, Larson earned the victory as part of a 10-win campaign en route to that season's championship. The team has led 53% (319 of 600) of the laps run at the Tennessee venue. Counting the last Cup Series race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway won by Geoff Bodine in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports has been victorious in the last three premier series events held in the Music City.
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Cup Series qualifying will take place on Saturday, June 24, at 1:05 p.m. ET on USA Network. The Ally 400, which is the 17th points-paying event of the 2023 season, will be on Sunday, June 25, at 7 p.m. ET on NBC, NBC Sports App, PRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).