Kansas NASCAR Cup: Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing top practice

The fastest speeds in Saturday’s practice came from the second 20-minute session with 23XI’s Tyler Reddick fastest overall with an average lap speed at 181.001 mph.

Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota team has won three of the last four races at Kansas, with Reddick himself winning last fall’s race in the playoffs.

“You know, those two races we had here last year, I wasn’t thrilled with the overall speed we had, necessarily. But we just stayed in the mix and got good finishes out of them,” Reddick said.

“Certainly, like last fall for example, we were pretty solid, but (Denny Hamlin) was a little bit better. Was nice to be that close, but yeah, the situation ended up unfolding and we had an opportunity to pit, and we were able to execute that late race caution and come away with a win.”

Hendrick MotorSports’ William Byron ended up second quick overall (180.222 mph) while Reddick’s teaMMAte, Bubba Wallace, ended up third (179.736 mph).

Noah Gragson was fourth overall and Hamlin – who won the spring race a year ago – was fifth.

Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Byron has the fastest average speed (178.229 mph). Kyle Larson and Reddick were second and third, respectively, in that category.

Group B

23XI Racing teaMMAtes Reddick and Wallace went right to the top of the leaderboard in the opening laps of the second 20-minute session.

Reddick led the way with an average lap speed of 181.001 mph, which came on his third lap on the track, while Wallace came in second fastest at 179.736 mph.

Kyle Busch was third (178.896 mph), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth and Kyle Larson rounded out the top five.

Seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, running a third entry for Legacy Motor Club this weekend, ended up slowest in Group B, and among all 38 drivers.

Group A

Byron led the way in the first 20-minute session with an average lap speed of 180.222 mph.

Gragson was second quick (179.366 mph) and Hamlin was third (179.146 mph).

Chase Elliott was fourth and Michael McDowell rounded out the top five.

Two Fords – Austin Cindric and Ryan Preece – struggled and were 17th and 19th-fastest, respectively.