Ryan Blaney fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Gateway

Team Penske and Ford flexed their muscle in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Gateway on Saturday. 

Ryan Blaney, who enters Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 third in the series standings, 16 points back of leader Denny Hamlin, paced the practice session, with his Penske teammate in Joey Logano second on the speed chart and the Penske-affiliated No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford of Josh Berry in third. Berry was the fastest non-Chase driver in the session.

Blaney came within a lap of winning at Gateway in 2024 before running out of fuel on the final lap, which allowed his Penske teammate in Austin Cindric to scoot by and win the race. Blaney's fastest lap around the 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval was 33.170 seconds. 

Rookie Connor Zilisch and Daytona 500 champion Tyler Reddick rounded out the top five, with Carson Hocevar, Daniel Suarez, Chase Elliott, Todd Gilliland and William Byron completing the top 10. 

Notable practice results

Other notable practice results include Ryan Preece in 11th, Southern 500 winner Christopher Bell in 12th, Cindric in 13th, Bubba Wallace in 19th, Ty Gibbs in 24th, defending series champion Kyle Larson in 25th, Chase Briscoe in 29th, Hamlin in 30th and Chris Buescher in 35th. 

Riley Herbst was the slowest (36th) driver in the session, running a fastest lap of 33.888 seconds.

Cup Series qualifying is next on truTV, with Sunday's Enjoy Illinois 300 set for a 3 p.m. ET green flag on USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.