RADIO
The NASCAR Cup Series ran a single practice session at Darlington Raceway on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the upcoming Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday evening.
The 37-car field was split into two groups for this practice session. Below you'll find the two practice groups, key notes from the practice session and the practice speeds for all drivers.
Track conditions were faster in Group A for single-lap speeds, but Group B had the advantage as far as long runs, so keep that in mind when analyzing the practice speeds this weekend.
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Important Practice Notes
Tyler Reddick - Reddick got into the wall during practice. He thought John Hunter Nemechek was going to go lower on the race track, but he didn't, which caused Reddick to check up and get into the wall.
This also caused the No. 45 team to not make a longer run in practice like a lot of other teams. Reddick had the best 10-lap average in his Group, though. The damage from hitting the wall isn't a concern.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr - The No. 47 Chevrolet got loose during Group A's time and went nose-first into the inside wall. Stenhouse will likely have to go to a backup car for the race and he didn't post a qualifying time later that day. He was third-fastest on the speed chart at the time.
Group A - When looking at long-run speeds this weekend, Group A is going to be hard to analyze. That's because of Stenhouse's issue, which was in the middle of most team's long runs. When looking at practice speeds this weekend, make sure you're comparing Group A with Group A and Group B with Group B.
2024 Darlington Cook Out Southern 500 Practice Speed Chart
Click here to download the PDF of the practice speed chart.
| Pos | Driver | Time | Speed | Fastest Lap | Laps Ran | Behind Leader |
| 1. | Erik Jones | 29.542 | 166.461 | 1 | 22 | ---.--- |
| 2. | Denny Hamlin | 29.598 | 166.146 | 2 | 30 | -0.056 |
| 3. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 29.603 | 166.118 | 1 | 8 | -0.061 |
| 4. | Ross Chastain | 29.626 | 165.989 | 1 | 24 | -0.084 |
| 5. | William Byron | 29.667 | 165.760 | 2 | 28 | -0.125 |
| 6. | Bubba Wallace | 29.734 | 165.386 | 1 | 32 | -0.192 |
| 7. | Tyler Reddick | 29.746 | 165.320 | 1 | 23 | -0.204 |
| 8. | John Hunter Nemechek | 29.798 | 165.031 | 1 | 28 | -0.256 |
| 9. | Carson Hocevar | 29.829 | 164.860 | 1 | 22 | -0.287 |
| 10. | Kyle Larson | 29.834 | 164.832 | 2 | 26 | -0.292 |
| 11. | Brad Keselowski | 29.856 | 164.711 | 2 | 32 | -0.314 |
| 12. | Harrison Burton | 29.857 | 164.705 | 2 | 26 | -0.315 |
| 13. | Christopher Bell | 29.872 | 164.622 | 1 | 36 | -0.330 |
| 14. | Chase Elliott | 29.923 | 164.342 | 1 | 32 | -0.381 |
| 15. | Chris Buescher | 29.941 | 164.243 | 2 | 30 | -0.399 |
| 16. | Alex Bowman | 29.942 | 164.238 | 2 | 28 | -0.400 |
| 17. | Ty Gibbs | 29.954 | 164.172 | 1 | 36 | -0.412 |
| 18. | Josh Berry | 30.000 | 163.920 | 2 | 28 | -0.458 |
| 19. | Corey LaJoie | 30.009 | 163.871 | 1 | 21 | -0.467 |
| 20. | Austin Dillon | 30.024 | 163.789 | 2 | 23 | -0.482 |
| 21. | Martin Truex Jr. | 30.040 | 163.702 | 1 | 26 | -0.498 |
| 22. | Daniel Suarez | 30.050 | 163.647 | 3 | 28 | -0.508 |
| 23. | Todd Gilliland | 30.055 | 163.620 | 2 | 34 | -0.513 |
| 24. | Michael McDowell | 30.113 | 163.305 | 1 | 24 | -0.571 |
| 25. | Zane Smith | 30.129 | 163.218 | 1 | 31 | -0.587 |
| 26. | Justin Haley | 30.134 | 163.191 | 2 | 24 | -0.592 |
| 27. | Kyle Busch | 30.159 | 163.056 | 1 | 28 | -0.617 |
| 28. | Noah Gragson | 30.174 | 162.975 | 1 | 36 | -0.632 |
| 29. | Ryan Preece | 30.176 | 162.964 | 2 | 25 | -0.634 |
| 30. | Joey Logano | 30.217 | 162.743 | 1 | 37 | -0.675 |
| 31. | Austin Cindric | 30.270 | 162.458 | 3 | 36 | -0.728 |
| 32. | Chase Briscoe | 30.279 | 162.410 | 2 | 31 | -0.737 |
| 33. | Ryan Blaney | 30.337 | 162.099 | 3 | 29 | -0.795 |
| 34. | Daniel Hemric | 30.380 | 161.870 | 2 | 31 | -0.838 |
| 35. | Kaz Grala | 30.750 | 159.922 | 3 | 32 | -1.208 |
| 36. | Shane Van Gisbergen | 30.787 | 159.730 | 2 | 21 | -1.245 |
| 37. | Timmy Hill | 32.106 | 153.168 | 4 | 20 | -2.564 |
2024 Darlington Cook Out Southern 500 10-Lap Average Chart
| Pos | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg Speed |
| 1. | Alex Bowman | 1 | 10 | 161.847 |
| 2. | Todd Gilliland | 1 | 10 | 161.529 |
| 3. | Noah Gragson | 1 | 10 | 161.314 |
| 4. | Josh Berry | 1 | 10 | 161.265 |
| 5. | Carson Hocevar | 1 | 10 | 161.125 |
| 6. | Ryan Blaney | 2 | 11 | 161.058 |
| 7. | Austin Cindric | 1 | 10 | 160.915 |
| 8. | Joey Logano | 1 | 10 | 160.739 |
| 9. | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | 10 | 160.655 |
| 10. | Kyle Busch | 1 | 10 | 160.579 |
| 11. | Ty Gibbs | 1 | 10 | 160.543 |
| 12. | Corey LaJoie | 1 | 10 | 160.493 |
| 13. | Chase Briscoe | 1 | 10 | 160.230 |
| 14. | Christopher Bell | 1 | 10 | 160.165 |
| 15. | Tyler Reddick | 11 | 20 | 159.875 |
| 16. | Justin Haley | 2 | 11 | 159.451 |
| 17. | Daniel Hemric | 1 | 10 | 159.262 |
| 18. | Denny Hamlin | 11 | 20 | 159.082 |
| 19. | Kyle Larson | 11 | 20 | 158.980 |
| 20. | Ryan Preece | 10 | 19 | 158.526 |
| 21. | Brad Keselowski | 11 | 20 | 158.482 |
| 22. | Chris Buescher | 11 | 20 | 158.432 |
| 23. | Daniel Suarez | 10 | 19 | 158.351 |
| 24. | William Byron | 11 | 20 | 158.318 |
| 25. | Chase Elliott | 11 | 20 | 158.299 |
| 26. | Bubba Wallace | 11 | 20 | 158.116 |
| 27. | John Hunter Nemechek | 8 | 17 | 157.978 |
| 28. | Harrison Burton | 10 | 19 | 157.817 |
| 29. | Kaz Grala | 1 | 10 | 157.441 |
| 30. | Ross Chastain | 11 | 20 | 157.250 |
| 31. | Zane Smith | 10 | 19 | 157.006 |
| 32. | Michael McDowell | 8 | 17 | 156.624 |
| 33. | Shane Van Gisbergen | 11 | 20 | 155.727 |
| 34. | Timmy Hill | 3 | 12 | 151.326 |
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