William Byron paces NASCAR Cup Series practice at Texas as Ford struggles

William Byron was the fastest man in the Lone Star State on Saturday morning. 

Byron, a two-time Daytona 500 champion, was the fastest driver in the lone NASCAR Cup Series practice session of the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, laying down a fastest lap of 28.527 seconds around the 1.5-mile oval. 

Byron won at Texas in 2023, but is still searching for his first win of 2026 after 10 races. He sits 11th in the series standings going into Sunday's Wurth 400. 

Michael McDowell, Corey Heim, John Hunter Nemechek and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top five, with Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson and Daniel Suarez completing the top 10. 

Cindric was the fastest Ford driver in practice and the only blue oval in the top 10. 

Defending Texas winner Joey Logano was 17th-fastest in practice, while Talladega winner Carson Hocevar was 22nd. 

Other notable Texas practice results

Other notable practice results include points leader and 2026 Daytona 500 winner Tyler Reddick in 11th, Connor Zilisch in 15th, 2024 Texas winner Chase Elliott in 16th, Ty Gibbs in 23rd and Ryan Blaney in 25th. 

Wallace crashed in practice and will not make a qualifying lap, while Austin Dillon (37th) also won't qualify due to an engine change. Chad Finchum was last (38th) of the cars to take time with a fastest lap of 30.892 seconds.