Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Flexes With Fastest Lap In Coca-Cola 600 Practice

Nobody was faster on Saturday afternoon at Charlotte Motor Speedway than Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the driver of the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest driver in practice for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. | Matt Marrie | Racing America On SI

CONCORD, N.C. -- Just as the decision had been made to build an arc at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Mother Nature finally offered a reprieve from the onslaught of rain that has pelted the 1.5-mile race track on Saturday afternoon.

With a break in the showers, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series were able to work out the kinks in their race cars during a combined practice session ahead of Sunday's Coca-Cola 600. At the end of the session, no driver had turned a faster lap time than Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the driver of the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet.

Stenhouse clocked in with a fast lap of 29.069 seconds, which equated to a 185.765 mph average speed at the 1.5-mile facility in Concord, NC. That lap was good enough, by a margin of 0.106 seconds, for Stenhouse to top the hungry field of 39 drivers for the fastest lap.

While it was a successful practice session for Stenhouse, due to NASCAR Cup Series qualifying being a washout earlier in the afternoon, he'll have to claw his way to the front in Sunday's race from the 32nd position on the starting grid. At least he knows he has a fast Chevrolet underneath him this weekend.

Slotting in at the second position on the speed chart was Stenhouse's bitter rival, Carson Hocevar, who drives the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. Hocevar achieved a fast lap of 185.090 mph.

Michael McDowell, Hocevar's Spire Motorsports teammate, was third-fastest, ahead of Ryan Blaney, and Corey Heim, who rounded out the top-five fastest drivers in the practice session.

Capping off the top-10 drivers in the session were Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Ty Gibbs, Erik Jones, and Josh Berry.

Tyler Reddick, who earned the top starting spot for Sunday's crown jewel event due to his performance metric rating from Watkins Glen International, was 24th-fastest in the practice.

While every NASCAR fan has their favorite driver and team, the collective NASCAR world will have a soft spot in their heart on Sunday for Richard Childress Racing, a storied organization that lost its star driver, Kyle Busch. Busch died on Thursday at the age of 41 following a bout with severe pneumonia that progressed to sepsis.

Austin Hill, a 15-time race winner in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, will fill in for Busch this weekend in the renumbered No. 33 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. Hill was 28th fastest in the practice, while Austin Dillon, the driver of the No. 3 RCR Chevrolet, was 30th fastest.

Dillon suffered a flat left rear tire during the practice session, but was able to avoid any major damage to his racecar.

Katherine Legge, attempting to become the first female competitor, and first internatonal driver, to ever complete the Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 double, was 38th-fastest behind the wheel of the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports Chevrolet. Legge was able to get 28 laps in during the session.

The NASCAR Cup Series Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for Sunday, May 24, at 6 PM ET. The race will be televised on Prime Video, and a radio broadcast of the race will be available on the Performance Racing Network an SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.