NEWTON, Iowa – Alex Bowman showed the way for Hendrick Motorsports with the third-best time in Friday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Iowa Speedway.
In the only Cup practice of the weekend, Bowman’s No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 posted a single lap of 136.334 mph, which paced the Chevy camp. Chase Elliott was fifth overall, followed by Kyle Larson in 13th and William Byron in 24th. All four drivers landed inside the top 12 in 10-lap average.
The 50-minute practice came with some intrigue after five cars experienced flat tires. Although Hendrick Motorsports did not have issues, Larson said the situation would keep teams on their toes this weekend.
“The unknown of everything I think makes things exciting, competitive and all that,” he said. “Yeah, it’s going to be fun. I think teams are probably going to have to study a lot and not sleep a lot the next couple of nights.”
Iowa Speedway’s inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race will air Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on the USA Network, MRN Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Qualifying is slated for Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on USA.