RELATED: Practice 2 results
Justin Marks sped to the top of the leaderboard late in Friday’s final NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, piloting his No. 42 Chevrolet around the road course at 95.574 mph. That was just quick enough to unseat Ty Dillon from the top spot.
Dillon, who led Friday’s opening practice and was looking for a sweep, had a best speed of 95.538 mph, which looked like it would hold up. That ended up being good for second place.
Marks hasn’t raced an XFINITY Series car since the season-opening race at Daytona, in which he finished 34th in the No. 29 Toyota.
Alex Tagliani (95.205 mph) was third in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, followed by Chris Buescher (95.152 mph) and Elliott Sadler (94.965 mph).
Chase Elliott, who finished eighth in the final session, spent time in the garage so his team could swap his transmission after the driver reported a small vibration on his second run, according to JR Motorsports.
Next on the docket for the XFINITY Series is qualifying, which takes place Saturday at 11:15 a.m. ET. The Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 follows at 3:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).
Opening practice
RELATED: Practice 1 results
A late mock qualifying run vaulted Ty Dillon to the top of the leaderboard in Friday’s opening NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
In the No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, Dillon topped Brian Scott‘s best speed with approximately 90 seconds remaining in the opening 55-minute session with a pace of 95.660 mph. Scott, his Richard Childress Racing teammate, settled for second in the session at 94.937 mph.
In a practice session that saw its leaderboard get topsy-turvy as teams made late runs in qualifying trim, Boris Said piloted the No. 54 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota to third place (94.825 mph). Regan Smith was fourth at 94.755 mph and defending race winner and series points leader Chris Buescher taking fifth (94.736 mph).
Buescher enters Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (3:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) 24 points ahead of both Chase Elliott and Dillon. Elliott finished seventh in the first practice. Dillon, of course, was involved in a pit-road tussle with Smith following last week’s race at Watkins Glen. They avoided each other in Friday’s opening period of on-track activity.
RELATED: Smith, Dillon get physical post-Watkins Glen
Seven NASCAR XFINITY Series teams lost 15 minutes of on-track time as a result of recent minor infractions.
The following XFINITY Series teams served 15-minute practice time deduction penalties during the opening practice:Richard Childress Racing No. 2 (driver Brian Scott), Team Penske No. 22 (Alex Tagliani), JGL Racing No. 26 (Tomy Drissi), Richard Childress Racing No. 33 (Brandon Jones), Jimmy Means Racing No. 52 (Joey Gase), Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 (Boris Said) and JR Motorsports No. 88 (Ben Rhodes).
The seven teams were penalized for issues arising at Watkins Glen this past weekend (late exiting garage).