Daniel Suarez led all drivers in speeding around a chilly Texas Motor Speedway in Saturday’s early practice session, wheeling his No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota around the track at 198.998 mph.
Suarez’s JGR teammate Denny Hamlin was second-fastest in the No. 11 Toyota, driving 198.800 mph in preparation for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (2 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was third-fastest at 198.741 mph. Jimmie Johnson in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford rounded out the top five.
Drivers battled newly cold conditions Saturday when the temperature hovered around 35 degrees during the first practice session, as the forecast in Fort Worth called for a high of 53 degrees.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. scraped the right side of his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford when navigating Turn 4 with about 15 minutes remaining in the session. He will go to a backup car.
Harrison Rhodes in the No. 51 Chevrolet served at 15-minute hold at the end of the 55-minute practice session for being late to qualifying inspection.
Seven-time Texas winner Jimmie Johnson led a rain-shortened final practice Saturday afternoon when he wheeled his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet around the track at 198.143 mph.
Kevin Harvick was second-fastest after speeding around Texas Motor Speedway at 197.984 mph in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford. Daniel Suarez in the No. 19 Toyota, Kurt Busch in the No. 41 Ford and Martin Truex Jr. in the No. 78 Toyota rounded out the top five.
Rain and track-drying efforts delayed the start of practice that was scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. ET by 37 minutes. What was originally scheduled to be a 50-minute practice session was shortened to 23 minutes.
Ryan Newman served a 15-minute practice hold for his No. 31 Chevrolet failing qualifying inspection twice.