RCR drivers top NASCAR Cup practice at Texas

Group A

Tyler Reddick, who was eliminated from the playoffs last weekend, topped the speed charts among Group A drivers at 187.526mph.

Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top-five. Christopher Bell was the lowest playoff driver on the speed charts in this group, ranking tenth of the 18 drivers who had put down a time.

While Logano led the way in five and ten-lap averages, it was Reddick who led the 15 and 20-lap averages. Reddick also ran the most laps at 27.

Playoff driver Denny Hamlin complained of a "disconnect" between the two ends of the race track, explaining that he was tight through Turns 1 and 2 but fighting a loose condition in Turns 3 and 4. He was not alone in that struggle.

With just a few minutes remaining in the first group, Cody Ware drifted up the track and spun sideways. The car slid down the backstretch and slammed the inside wall, forcing a red flag.

NASCAR added three additional minutes of practice after to the stoppage. However, when the session went back green, Jones immediately spun after getting too high in Turn 4. He managed to avoid making any wall contact. "I think I'll just run the bottom in qualifying," he radioed afterwards.

Group B

It was Reddick's teammate Austin Dillon jumping to the top of the leaderboard in the second half of the session. Not only did he lead all Group B drivers, but he even eclipsed Reddick's time by 0.018s, lapping the speedway at 187.643mph.

He was followed by Alex Bowman, William Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Harrison Burton.

Bowman led the five and ten-lap averages, while his teammate Byron put up the best 15-lap average.

Austin Cindric was the lowest playoff driver in Group B, ranking 13th of the 18 drivers.

There were no incidents and zero stoppages during the second half of practice.