Shane van Gisbergen may be the favorite to win Sunday’s Grant Park 165, but Kyle Larson has other plans.
Larson led the charts in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session in Chicago, with van Gisbergen—the defending Grant Park 165 champion—coming in second.
While two veterans took the top spots, 21-year-old Ty Gibbs was third fastest in practice, followed by Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman rounding out the top five.
Bubba Wallace, known for his road-course struggles, was sixth fastest on Saturday, with road-course expert and 2020 series champion Chase Elliott in seventh.
Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick was eighth fastest in practice, with Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin completing the top ten.
Shane van Gisbergen may be the favorite to win Sunday’s Grant Park 165, but Kyle Larson has other plans.
Larson led the charts in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice session in Chicago, with van Gisbergen—the defending Grant Park 165 champion—coming in second.
While two veterans took the top spots, 21-year-old Ty Gibbs was third fastest in practice, followed by Daniel Suarez and Alex Bowman rounding out the top five.
Bubba Wallace, known for his road-course struggles, was sixth fastest on Saturday, with road-course expert and 2020 series champion Chase Elliott in seventh.
Wallace’s teammate Tyler Reddick was eighth fastest in practice, with Michael McDowell and Denny Hamlin completing the top ten.
Three-time 2024 winner Christopher Bell was surprisingly slow in practice, finishing 13th, despite his team being one of the fastest in NASCAR since late May.
Other notable practice results included Ryan Blaney in 16th, William Byron in 18th, A.J. Allmendinger in 23rd, Kyle Busch in 27th, and Nashville winner Joey Logano in 32nd.
Josh Bilicki of MBM Motorsports was the slowest, posting a lap over seven seconds slower than Larson’s.
No driver completed more than 12 laps in Saturday’s practice session, indicating that Sunday’s race could be unpredictable.
The Grant Park 165 will begin after 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with coverage on NBC, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.