By David Morgan, Associate Editor
AVONDALE, Ariz. – The NASCAR Cup Series took to the track on Friday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway for the lone practice session of the weekend in preparation for the season finale that will see a new champion crowned on Sunday.
Ty Gibbs led the way overall in his No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a lap of 27.300 seconds, 131.868 mph, ahead of Ryan Blaney, Austin Cindric, and Ryan Preece.
Among the Championship 4 drivers, Denny Hamlin was the fastest in fifth place on the timing sheet, also fastest in five-lap average speed.
Late in the session, Hamlin expressed concern with a vibration in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but was reassured by crew chief Chris Gayle over the radio that the team would inspect the car thoroughly to root out any possible issues for the remainder of the weekend.
“I don’t know much about it now other than the throw is a little off, and he’s having a hard time with it disengaging just because the throw gets so long it won’t disengage,” Gayle said after practice. “We’re looking into it now. I don’t know any more at this point.”
William Byron led the way early for the championship contenders, in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with the regular season champion ending practice in ninth place. Afterwards, Byron expressed his confidence in his team being able to carry the speed through the next two days of on-track activity.
Kyle Larson, the lone driver among the four that has won a championship previously, clocked in 11th fastest in practice in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsport Chevrolet, brushing the wall during the session, but was able to continue on without issue and would put up the fastest 10-lap average and fastest 15-lap average among the Championship 4.
Then there was Chase Briscoe, who ran into issues almost immediately out of the gate, with a tire failure on his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to bring out the first caution of the day, followed by other issues that would only allow him to run a total of 24 laps during the 50-minute session.
Briscoe would finish the session in 16th place.
The No. 19 slows in the middle of the corner!
A concerning start for @chasebriscoe in this lone #Championship4 practice. pic.twitter.com/bXAT4Z2n2h
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 31, 2025
“I guess it’s a good thing that it’s not just us, right? It’s unfortunate that it’s happening, but at least we’re not on an island by ourselves,” said Briscoe. “I’m sure James and everybody on our Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Toyota will figure out what we can do to help manage that on Sunday.
“But yeah, definitely alarming. It wasn’t a great practice for us just because we didn’t get to run a lot because of the issues. We’re gonna work on it and see what we can do.
“Luckily, it is one of those weekend where it is an hour-long practice and you can go change things. If this was a normal weekend, we’d be in a really tight box. I’m confident we’ll be just fine. Just got to figure out what’s going on.”
Despite everything, Briscoe’s crew chief James Small remained confident that his team would be able to put the problems from Friday in the past and get back in the fight on Saturday and Sunday.
“Too low on air, too much camber. Too aggressive, I guess. You saw it with a number of cars out there,” said Small.
“Don’t know if it’s been resolved there. We stopped running there. Had a little scare there at the end. We made a lot of changes through that session. We’ll have to look at it more, break these tires down and see.
“…Still feel good about it. The pace on the eight laps we did was actually really good. The car is feeling really good. Few things we need to clean up. Not worried one bit.”
Strange Things Are Afoot in the Arizona Desert
Along with Briscoe’s issue to start the practice session, a total of four red flags would halt the proceedings on the one-mile oval, with the majority of them being issues with a new left-side tire that Goodyear brought for the championship weekend. One that has been run at other short ovals earlier in the year, including most recently at Hampshire Motor Speedway.
The driver to get the worst of the problems was A.J. Allmendinger, who crashed hard off of Turn 4, with his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet making a bee-line into the outside wall and making a heavy impact.
Allmendinger would climb out gingerly and was evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center a short time later. The impact would be the second big hit for him in the last three weeks following his crash at Talladega Superspeedway.
Practice is halted at @phoenixraceway due to this incident involving @AJDinger. pic.twitter.com/WWqPMkIa9i
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) October 31, 2025
“Out of nowhere the right front blew getting off into the corner and killed the race car,” said Allmendinger. “I’m not sure what to think of the reasoning of why it’s happening. We’ll have to kind of figure it out. It doesn’t really matter, that car is killed. The rest of the weekend is just kind of getting through it and getting home.”
Asked about the overall tire issues, Byron’s crew chief Rudy Fugle chalked it up to the extra loads that are experienced at Phoenix Raceway and it would be something the entire garage area could get sorted out before race day.
“I think this place, it’s one of those that can be really tough when you get a tire that you’ve learned on a lot,” said Fugle. “You learn, understand on it at Richmond, Loudon, then you come here, and it’s hot, there’s more load here than there is the other two places. There’s definitely some things to learn.
“At the test, I think there were some right side failures. I think we were more concerned about those and what would happen in the left rears were kind of a surprise. But yeah, this is a track that’s tough on tires for what we’re trying to do to them, what we’re trying to do with our situation to make the cars go faster.”
Next up for the Cup Series will be qualifying to set the field for the championship race at 5:00 pm ET on Saturday, followed by Sunday’s main event at 3:00 pm ET.
