Daniel Suarez paces NASCAR Cup Series practice at Phoenix

Daniel Suarez was the fastest man in the desert on Saturday morning. 

Suarez was fastest in the lone NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, laying down a fastest lap of 26.877 seconds. 

Suarez's Spire Motorsports teammate in Carson Hocevar was second on the speed chart, with Chase Briscoe, Ross Chastain and Austin Cindric rounding out the top five. Ty Gibbs, 2025 fall Phoenix winner Ryan Blaney, two-time defending Phoenix spring winner Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Michael McDowell completed the top 10. 

Reddick, who has won the first three races of the 2026 season, spun in turn 2 in the closing minutes of practice.

Other notable Phoenix practice results

Other notable practice results include rookie Connor Zilisch in 12th, Chase Elliott in 14th, Denny Hamlin in 15th, Bubba Wallace in 16th and William Byron in 21st. 

Both Chris Buescher and Riley Herbst suffered flat tires during the session, which was reminiscent of the 2025 championship race practice session that also saw multiple tire failures due to teams putting low air in the tires. Brad Keselowski also had a flat tire and told Fox Sports he would "likely" be going to a backup car.

Cup Series qualifying is next on Prime Video. The Straight Talk Wireless 500 will go green shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, with coverage on Fox Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.