Penske dominates Homestead NASCAR Cup test with Cindric, Logano

The test offered drivers a rare chance to run their Next Gen machinery and gather data at the 1.5-mile speedway, which hosts a Round of 8 race – the Dixie Vodka 400 – on October 23.

Penske’s rookie Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric topped the field on Tuesday in his Ford Mustang at 165.548mph, ahead of teammate Joey Logano and the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin.

Logano stayed on track in Miami on Wednesday and improved his fastest lap to 167.126mph before rain curtailed the running towards the end of the day.

His former teammate Brad Keselowski, now co-owner/driver of RFK Racing, was second fastest on Wednesday at 167.033mph, ahead of Kyle Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro.

Homestead returns to the post-season roster for the first time since 2019, when it served as the season finale each year since 2002.

Former series champion Chase Elliott said: “It’s obviously different not being the last race, but there’s still a large amount of significance on the event, just like really all of the last 10 are.

“If you make it to the final one, that one’s a bit different. But the rest of them, you’re always trying to win, always trying to bank as many points as you can and you’re gonna do your part to get through the round.”

Tuesday’s test also marked the Petty GMS debut of Noah Gragson in its Chevy, who will race for the team in the Cup Series full-time next season. He was one of many drivers to graze the wall using the high line of the speedway…

Clearly we weren't kidding, zoom in 😂 https://t.co/VZsZCPXqzK pic.twitter.com/JZicBWoCCu

— Petty GMS (@PettyGMS) September 21, 2022

Wheel-force cars from each of NASCAR’s three manufacturers joined the action Wednesday and will continue to run on Thursday, allowing them to gather extra information.

Day 1 times:

Position	Car No.	Name	Make	Team	Best Speed	Laps Run
1	2	Austin Cindric	Ford	Team Penske	165.548	116
2	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Team Penske	165.497	124
3	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	165.320	117
4	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	RFK Racing	165.264	133
5	19	Christopher Bell	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	165.249	157
6	3	Tyler Reddick	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	165.122	143
7	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	164.916	115
8	7	Corey LaJoie	Chevrolet	Spire Motorsports	164.735	100
9	23	John Hunter Nemechek	Toyota	23XI Racing	164.419	120
10	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	Stewart-Haas Racing	164.399	178
11	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	164.149	159
12	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	JTG-Daugherty Racing	164.014	102
13	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	163.979	124
14	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	Kaulig Racing	163.800	76
15	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	Stewart-Haas Racing	163.676	111
16	1	Daniel Suárez	Chevrolet	Trackhouse Racing	163.626	189
17	43	Erik Jones	Chevrolet	Petty GMS	162.921	127
18	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	Wood Brothers Racing	162.206	63

Day 2 times:

Position	Car No.	Name	Make	Team	Best Speed	Laps Run
1	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Team Penske	167.126	200
2	6	Brad Keselowski	Ford	RFK Racing	167.033	159
3	24	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	166.641	171
4	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	Team Penske	166.569	181
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	166.441	58
6	23	Ty Gibbs/Bubba Wallace	Toyota	23XI Racing	166.113	160
7	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Chevrolet	JTG-Daugherty Racing	165.787	116
8	1	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	Trackhouse Racing	165.451	167
9	7	Corey LaJoie	Chevrolet	Spire Motorsports	165.401	124
10	21	Harrison Burton	Ford	Wood Brothers Racing	165.380	163
11	9	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	Hendrick Motorsports	165.173	143
12	19	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	165.173	127
13	31	Justin Haley	Chevrolet	Kaulig Racing	165.017	100
14	14	Chase Briscoe	Ford	Stewart-Haas Racing	164.800	135
15	34	Todd Gilliland	Ford	Front Row Motorsports	163.934	122
16	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Richard Childress Racing	163.915	122
17	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	Stewart-Haas Racing	163.320	65
18	43	Noah Gragson	Chevrolet	Petty GMS	161.007	145