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The NASCAR Cup Series ran a single practice session at Darlington Raceway on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the Cook Out Southern 500 race on Sunday night.
The 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.
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Important Practice Notes
The Long Runs - One fast lap at Darlington doesn't mean anything. Make sure you're looking at what cars are fastest on the long runs. Darlington is a track that is very abrasive and it eats up tires like nobody's business. Some drivers will be fast for the first ten laps of a run and then fall off majorly because of the car setup or their inability to manage tire wear. The driver that wins this race on Sunday will be the one that has the best long-run speed in the race car.
Carson Hocevar - Hocevar will be making his second-ever Cup Series start this weekend and will be in the No. 42 Chevrolet for Legacy Motor Club. He previously made his first career Cup start at Gateway earlier this season in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports but only completed 91 of the 243 laps and finished in 36th-place.
Ryan Newman - "The Rocketman" Ryan Newman is back in the No. 51 Ford for Rick Ware Racing this weekend. He has an average finish of 29.0 in that car this season and finished in 28th-place here at Darlingotn back in May.
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. | Christopher Bell | 29.197 | 168.428 | 2 | 26 | ---.--- |
| 2. | Michael McDowell | 29.398 | 167.277 | 1 | 18 | -0.201 |
| 3. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 29.438 | 167.049 | 1 | 24 | -0.241 |
| 4. | William Byron | 29.510 | 166.642 | 2 | 25 | -0.313 |
| 5. | Bubba Wallace | 29.519 | 166.591 | 2 | 21 | -0.322 |
| 6. | Austin Cindric | 29.547 | 166.433 | 2 | 29 | -0.350 |
| 7. | Kyle Larson | 29.562 | 166.349 | 2 | 25 | -0.365 |
| 8. | Denny Hamlin | 29.581 | 166.242 | 2 | 35 | -0.384 |
| 9. | Chase Briscoe | 29.621 | 166.017 | 2 | 29 | -0.424 |
| 10. | Brad Keselowski | 29.629 | 165.973 | 1 | 21 | -0.432 |
| 11. | Martin Truex Jr. | 29.632 | 165.956 | 2 | 25 | -0.435 |
| 12. | Tyler Reddick | 29.632 | 165.956 | 2 | 27 | -0.435 |
| 13. | Chris Buescher | 29.685 | 165.659 | 2 | 35 | -0.488 |
| 14. | Harrison Burton | 29.715 | 165.492 | 4 | 27 | -0.518 |
| 15. | Kyle Busch | 29.739 | 165.359 | 2 | 21 | -0.542 |
| 16. | Ryan Blaney | 29.746 | 165.320 | 2 | 33 | -0.549 |
| 17. | Erik Jones | 29.754 | 165.275 | 2 | 19 | -0.557 |
| 18. | Ty Gibbs | 29.783 | 165.114 | 2 | 28 | -0.586 |
| 19. | Kevin Harvick | 29.788 | 165.087 | 2 | 24 | -0.591 |
| 20. | Justin Haley | 29.792 | 165.064 | 2 | 30 | -0.595 |
| 21. | Ryan Preece | 29.802 | 165.009 | 2 | 21 | -0.605 |
| 22. | Corey LaJoie | 29.814 | 164.943 | 2 | 22 | -0.617 |
| 23. | Ross Chastain | 29.822 | 164.898 | 2 | 29 | -0.625 |
| 24. | Aric Almirola | 29.841 | 164.793 | 1 | 26 | -0.644 |
| 25. | AJ Allmendinger | 29.865 | 164.661 | 2 | 25 | -0.668 |
| 26. | Joey Logano | 29.865 | 164.661 | 2 | 37 | -0.668 |
| 27. | Todd Gilliland | 29.869 | 164.639 | 2 | 21 | -0.672 |
| 28. | Ty Dillon | 29.930 | 164.303 | 2 | 20 | -0.733 |
| 29. | Carson Hocevar | 29.935 | 164.276 | 3 | 29 | -0.738 |
| 30. | Chase Elliott | 29.972 | 164.073 | 4 | 36 | -0.775 |
| 31. | Daniel Suarez | 29.992 | 163.964 | 3 | 34 | -0.795 |
| 32. | Alex Bowman | 29.995 | 163.947 | 4 | 34 | -0.798 |
| 33. | JJ Yeley | 30.044 | 163.680 | 2 | 18 | -0.847 |
| 34. | BJ McLeod | 30.064 | 163.571 | 2 | 10 | -0.867 |
| 35. | Austin Dillon | 30.119 | 163.272 | 3 | 29 | -0.922 |
| 36. | Ryan Newman | 30.157 | 163.067 | 1 | 16 | -0.960 |
Darlington Cook Out Southern 500 10-Lap Average Chart
| Pos | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg Speed |
| 1. | Austin Cindric | 1 | 10 | 164.167 |
| 2. | Ryan Blaney | 1 | 10 | 163.933 |
| 3. | Denny Hamlin | 1 | 10 | 163.828 |
| 4. | Martin Truex Jr. | 1 | 10 | 163.722 |
| 5. | Christopher Bell | 1 | 10 | 163.689 |
| 6. | Kyle Busch | 1 | 10 | 163.640 |
| 7. | William Byron | 1 | 10 | 163.635 |
| 8. | Kyle Larson | 1 | 10 | 163.542 |
| 9. | Brad Keselowski | 1 | 10 | 163.533 |
| 10. | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 1 | 10 | 163.351 |
| 11. | Bubba Wallace | 1 | 10 | 163.351 |
| 12. | Tyler Reddick | 1 | 10 | 163.343 |
| 13. | Chris Buescher | 1 | 10 | 163.252 |
| 14. | Chase Briscoe | 1 | 10 | 163.124 |
| 15. | Harrison Burton | 1 | 10 | 162.969 |
| 16. | Corey LaJoie | 1 | 10 | 162.924 |
| 17. | Joey Logano | 1 | 10 | 162.854 |
| 18. | Justin Haley | 1 | 10 | 162.747 |
| 19. | Kevin Harvick | 1 | 10 | 162.736 |
| 20. | Ty Gibbs | 1 | 10 | 162.726 |
| 21. | Chase Elliott | 1 | 10 | 162.619 |
| 22. | Aric Almirola | 1 | 10 | 162.576 |
| 23. | AJ Allmendinger | 1 | 10 | 162.484 |
| 24. | Ross Chastain | 1 | 10 | 162.345 |
| 25. | Daniel Suarez | 1 | 10 | 162.337 |
| 26. | Ryan Preece | 1 | 10 | 161.818 |
| 27. | Alex Bowman | 1 | 10 | 161.793 |
| 28. | Austin Dillon | 1 | 10 | 161.783 |
| 29. | Carson Hocevar | 2 | 11 | 161.568 |
| 30. | Ty Dillon | 5 | 14 | 159.469 |
| 31. | BJ McLeod | 1 | 10 | 159.457 |
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