Chase Briscoe fastest in NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead

Chase Briscoe can't win the NASCAR Cup Series championship this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway, but he's looking for a win to close out the year and took the first step toward one on Friday evening.

Briscoe paced Cup Series practice at Homestead, running a fastest lap of 32.680 seconds around the 1.5-mile Florida track. 

Austin Cindric, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell and Ryan Blaney rounded out the top five, with Daniel Suarez, Ty Gibbs, Joey Logano, Michael McDowell and points leader Kyle Larson completing the top 10. Larson scrubbed the wall several times in practice. 

Larson only needs to score nine total points on Sunday to clinch the championship. Second-place Bell (-67) and third-place Hamlin (-70) essentially have to win and hope for a disastrous day from Larson, who is seeking his third title in six years. Neither Bell nor Hamlin have won a championship. 

"That was probably pretty excessive," Larson told truTV. "I didn't feel comfortable for the first few laps. I didn't have enough grip to run the wall. That was not a great practice."

Tyler Reddick, a six-time winner on the season, made heavy contact with Zane Smith coming to pit road at the end of the session, causing Reddick's team owner, basketball legend Michael Jordan, to throw his hands up in frustration. 

"Sums up our year," Reddick said. "Me and Zane were both coming to pit road hot. I saw he was really checking up big... he checked up, I guess it was cars coming in to turn into the garage. Just sucks."

Notable results

Other notable practice results include Bubba Wallace in 11th, Martinsville winner William Byron in 12th, Ryan Preece in 16th, Chase Elliott in 19th, Reddick in 20th, and Chris Buescher in 26th. Justin Haley, who is filling in for a suspended Carson Hocevar, was 31st-fastest.

Chad Finchum was last (40th) in the session, running a fastest lap of 34.396 seconds. 

Cup Series qualifying is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET Saturday (truTV, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), with Sunday's championship race going green shortly after 3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.