Brad Keselowski has strong feelings about NASCAR's reduced practice

Motorsport photo

In what felt like a throwback to a bygone era, the NASCAR Cup Series conducted a 90-minute practice session on Friday in advance of Sunday’s All-Star Race at Dover Motor Speedway.

For drivers who were part of the sport prior to COVID-19, when the Sanctioning Body first started consolidating race weekends, Friday was a time capsule of sports. Chase Elliott was around back then and turned the most laps around The Moster Mile during practice.

“To have more than one set of tires was kind of weird,” Elliott said. “I hadn’t had that in awhile but I don’t think it will change anything. We’ve been through this for years, and it gives us something to talk about, but it’s not going to change the results.”

And then there’s Ty Gibbs, who grew up in the sport but never participated in the two or three practice session era, who turned 86 laps on Friday.

“86,” Gibbs said with a laugh. “Oh my god. That was like the entire first stage of a race.”

How did that feel?

“Well, it was the most practice I have ever had in my Cup career, and it was fun to turn laps and I thought my team learned a lot,” he said.

Does he want to do this more?

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I’m good with 25 minutes, honestly. I really am. I think it shows how hard everyone works back at the shop. With our sim program, we unload really close, and I think what we have now really rewards that.”

Read Also:

Kyle Larson leads NASCAR All-Star Race practice at Dover