Riley Herbst tops Chicago practice as 23XI sweeps top eight

Riley Herbst led Friday evening NASCAR Cup Series practice at Chicagoland Speedway, giving 23XI Racing the fastest start in the series’ return to the track for the first time since 2019. Herbst’s No. 35 Toyota posted a best lap of 30.326 seconds at 178.065 mph, and Bubba Wallace was second, 0.023 seconds back, as 23XI Racing put all four of its cars inside the top eight. Kyle Larson and Denny Hamlin each recorded 30.358-second laps to tie for third, Ty Gibbs was fifth, Corey Heim sixth and Tyler Reddick eighth, with Reddick turning the best 10-lap, 15-lap, 20-lap and 25-lap averages in longer-run pace.

Herbst set his fastest lap on his 41st of 43 laps in the 50-minute session, which was the only practice before Sunday’s race. The practice was mostly incident-free, though Erik Jones bottomed out after hitting the bumps and had to pull to the garage with damage. Several drivers also had trouble with pit road entries while practicing pit-ins.

Saturday qualifying was scheduled for 3 p.m. ET on truTV, and the eero 400 was set for Sunday at 6 p.m. ET in Joliet, Illinois.