Teenager edges Roush pair of Wallace, Reed on leaderboard
RELATED: Practice results
Erik Jones topped the speed charts Friday in the lone NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Talladega Superspeedway.
Jones, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota, rose to the top of the leaderboard with a lap of 188.861 mph around the 2.66-mile track. The 18-year-old driver, who will make his Sprint Cup Series debut next weekend at Kansas Speedway, will be making just his 12th XFINITY start in Saturday’s Winn-Dixie 300 (3 p.m. ET, FOX).
Teammates Darrell Wallace Jr. and Ryan Reed tied for the second spot at 188.727 mph in a pair of Roush Fenway Racing Fords. Regan Smith, a former Talladega winner in the JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet, was fourth-best at 188.086 mph with rookie Daniel Suarez fifth at 187.621 mph in another Gibbs Toyota.
Series points leader Ty Dillon clocked the 26th-fastest lap in the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet. Defending race winner Elliott Sadler was 13th-best at 186.180 mph in the Roush Fenway No. 1 Ford. Chase Elliott, the defending series champion, was 15th-fastest at 185.924 mph in the JR Motorsports No. 9 Chevrolet.
Boris Said was 17th-fastest driving the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota in place of the injured Kyle Busch. Said, an occasional NASCAR competitor primarily at road-course events, will make his first start in the XFINITY Series since 2011.
The fastest laps were established early in the 2-hour, 20-minute session, when drivers grouped together in aerodynamic packs. Most of the latter stages were spent in single-car mock qualifying runs.
Several teams were docked 15 minutes of practice time because of inspection infractions the week before at Richmond International Raceway. Among them were the teams for Said, Sadler, Joey Logano, Brendan Gaughan and Brian Scott.
Coors Light Pole Qualifying is scheduled Saturday at 11 a.m. ET (FOX Sports 1). It will mark the first session with revised rules disbanding group qualifying at tracks where restrictor plates limit engine output.