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Practice Results: 2025 NCS Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway

Originally posted on Racing America on SI
By Joseph Srigley | Last updated Sep 20, 2025 4:07 PM ET

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs “Round of 12” is officially underway at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, and based on early results from practice, it appears that William Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team have turned a page.

Byron, a 15-time race winner in the NASCAR Cup Series, paced the practice session (despite being in the second group of cars), getting around the 1.018-mile oval in 29.795 seconds, a lap time equivalent to an average speed of 127.833mph.

A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, Byron has surprisingly never finished inside the top-10 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, recording a best finish of 11th at the racetrack on two separate occasions. Sunday’s Mobil 1 301 will serve as an opportunity to reverse those misfortunes.

AJ Allmendinger, driving the No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet for Kaulig Racing, was the second fastest driver in the practice session. The Los Gatos, California-native is looking for a repeat of last weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the 43-year-old driver came out of nowhere to collect his first pole position in more than a decade.

Ryan Preece was third quickest in the session, after waiting until a couple of minutes after the green flag dropped to post a lap, while NASCAR Cup Series rookie Riley Herbst put forward his best practice result of the season in fourth-place.

Cole Custer and Haas Factory Team rounded out the top five. More than a decade ago, Custer won a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at New Hampshire and thus became the youngest driver to ever win in one of NASCAR’s National Series.

The rest of the top-10 in Saturday’s combined practice session (which was made up of two groups each getting 25 minutes on-track) were NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs drivers Ryan Blaney and Bubba Wallace in sixth and seventh, the history-seeking Ty Gibbs in eighth, and non-playoff drivers Michael McDowell and Daniel Suarez rounding out the top-10.

Qualifying will take place at 4:10 PM ET on TruTV. The Mobil 1 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will air on USA Network on Sunday, September 21 at 2:00 PM ET. Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will have radio coverage of the first race in the NASCAR Playoffs "Round of 12".