INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Reddick, the 2022 winner of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard, topped the speed charts on Friday in the first and only practice session for Sunday's Brickyard 400.
Reddick set a speed of 182.582 mph on a fresh set of tires in his No. 45 Toyota for Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin's 23XI Racing. Last week's winner Ryan Blaney was second quick, clocking in at 181.928 mph.
There was one incident near the end of the session when Erik Jones lost control of his No. 43 Legacy Motor Club Toyota out of Turn 2. Jones did not hit anything and the car did not appear to be damaged.
Kyle Larson returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway following his 18th-place finish in the Indianapolis 500. Larson was sixth quickest, clocking in at 180.774 mph. He's notably driving the car he was supposed to drive during May's Coca-Cola 600 before rain in both Indianapolis and Charlotte prevented him from starting the race.
Carson Hocevar was the fastest rookie in the session, setting a speed of 180.520 mph in his No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet to place him tenth on the timing charts.
Rookie Josh Berry, carrying Caitlin Clark's likeness on the hood of his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang, slotted 13th quickest in his first ever trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's oval. Berry has competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on the IMS road course, but he's making his debut on the big oval this weekend.
It was a disappointing session for the only two Hoosiers in Sunday's field. Winamac's Justin Haley was 34th fastest with a speed of 177.918 mph while Mitchell's Chase Briscoe was 37th fastest with a speed of 177.117 mph.
Click here for the full results from the first Brickyard 400 practice session.
Brickyard 400 qualifying is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. Saturday.
