Christopher Bell bolts to top of Cup Series leaderboard in Brickyard 400 practice

Christopher Bell set the pace in NASCAR Cup Series practice, topping the leaderboard for a top-five Toyota sweep of Friday afternoon's first tune-up at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Bell's No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota posted a best lap of 183.512 mph in the first on-track activity ahead of Sunday's Brickyard 400 (2 p.m. ET, TNT Sports, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at the 2.5-mile oval. RELATED: Practice results | Weekend schedule: Indy John Hunter Nemechek was second-fastest in the No. 42 Legacy Motor Club Toyota, clocking in at 183.180 mph. Ty Gibbs ranked third in practice, with Erik Jones and Cup Series points leader Denny Hamlin completing the top five in that order. A handful of drivers encountered trouble early on in the 50-minute session. Defending Brickyard 400 winner Bubba Wallace was the first to find a snag with a scrape of the outside retaining wall in Turn 1. He took his No. 23 Toyota to the garage, where his 23XI Racing crew went to work on the car's right-side damage. Wallace was back on track with 20 minutes to go in practice, recording the 20th-fastest lap overall. Austin Cindric's Team Penske crew also spent extra time in the garage after the No. 2 Ford lost power. TNT Sports reported that the team addressed an electrical issue. Though Cindric returned to the track halfway through the session, he was back in with another power cut-off near the end of practice. Ryan Preece's No. 60 RFK Racing Ford also slowed when his left-rear tire went flat with 22 minutes left in practice. The Cup Series returns to the track for Busch Light Pole Qualifying on Saturday (1:30 p.m. ET, truTV, HBO Max, IMS Radio Network, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). This story will be updated.