Todd Gilliland, Michael McDowell Pace Cup Practices from Mexico City

When the NASCAR Cup Series field begins tackling the road courses – especially on brand-new circuits – there are destined to be some interesting characters at the top of the speed charts in practice.

That’s exactly what transpired during Friday’s two individual practice sessions at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, when Michael McDowell (Spire Motorsports) and Todd Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports) led the way for the 37-driver NASCAR Cup Series field.

McDowell led the first (and longest) practice session of the afternoon in Mexico City, as drivers and teams got up to speed with the 2.42-mile road course. The native of Avondale, Arizona laid down a lap time of 94.024 seconds, which equates to an average speed of 92.657 seconds.

The No. 71 B’laster Products Chevrolet turned 19 total laps in the 50-minute session, with the 14th circuit around Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez providing the chart-topping lap time.

McDowell is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series race-winner, the most recent of which came at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in the Summer of 2023, when the 40-year-old driver was still competing for Front Row Motorsports.

“It was a lot of fun,” McDowell said after the opening practice. “You always have a plan and you are going to try and execute your plan just right, and then you get out there and it’s a little bit different and you still have to find that rhythm and find that groove.”

Holding down the second and third-place spots in the opening practice session were Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Chase Briscoe and Ty Gibbs, whose lap times were just over a tenth of a second off of McDowell’s pace.

Austin Cindric, one of the series’ strongest road course drivers, was fourth quickest, while 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson completed the top-five.

Chris Buescher, winner of last September’s event at Watkins Glen International, was sixth-place overall in the session, with Joey Logano, Ross Chastain, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Todd Gilliland completing the top-10.

Despite there being numerous smaller mistakes throughout the course of the practice sessions on Friday, the only major incident came at the expense of Noah Gragson and the No. 4 Front Row Motorsports team.

Gragson was in line behind William Byron and Justin Haley when the driver of the Long John Silver’s-sponsored entry locked up the brakes heading into Turn 1, slapping the outside wall and causing extensive damage to his vehicle.

Front Row Motorsports has determined that Gragson will go to a backup car. While Gragson had his major struggles in the opening practice session, it was his teammate Todd Gilliland, in a similarly designed Long John Silver’s entry, that paced the final practice session.

Gilliland put down the fastest lap of the weekend, so far, maneuvering around the circuit in 93.496 seconds, which equates to an average speed of 93.180mph.

“Hopefully, I can just keep it between the walls of the racetrack and keep it on the blacktop,” Gilliland said after final practice. “That’s always my goal when we come to a road course, but we’ve had some good speed when we come to road courses, so it feels good to be in the ballgame with our Long John Silver’s Ford Mustang.”

Ross Chastain was second-quickest in the session, with Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, and Chris Buescher completing the top-five. Ryan Preece, Austin Cindric, Joey Logano, Daniel Suarez, and Shane Van Gisbergen completed the top-10.

Ryan Truex, who is subbing for Denny Hamlin this weekend in Mexico City, struggled to get up to speed in practice on Friday, ranking 36th and 35th in each respective practice, sitting anywhere from 1.75 to two seconds off the pace.

Qualifying for the Viva Mexico 250 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez will take place on Saturday at 2:05 pm ET on Prime Video, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

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