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Kyle Larson made small contact with the outside wall during practice at Phoenix Raceway on Friday. The No. 5 team's crew chief, Cliff Daniels, downplayed the damage and said that teams rub the wall at short tracks when they are fast in practice in the new-gen cars.Larson, who qualified for the NASCAR Cup Championship 4 via points last weekend, ranked 11th at 27.489 during the single 50-minute practice session. Hendrick Motorsports driver also led the most laps (69) and topped the board in 15-lap speed. The championship weekend, which has 3 sets of tire options, also got off to a rough start for other drivers with multiple tire issues.Cliff Daniels pointed out a silver lining for Kyle Larson and told Fox Sports' Bob Pockrass that it's usually a good sign when they are scraping the wall because it means the car has speed."A little bit of scuff on the body. And we checked out all the suspension stuff, that checked out okay. So, here's a fun soundbite for you. In the next gen era, we've scuffed the wall at the mini tracks, you know, the Darlingtons, the Homesteads, places like that," Daniels said.."And finally I've started to realize there's a trend, if we're fast enough in practice, like, we'll move around and we'll scuff the wall. So I tell the guys every week, man, I just hope we're fast enough in practice to hit the wall," he addedMultiple other drivers suffered tire failures minutes into the session. Chase Briscoe and AJ Allmendinger were the first with flats. Christopher Bell, Daniel Suarez, and Riley Herbst also had had problems as about nine drivers faced tire issues.Meanwhile, Denny Hamlin was the fastest among playoff drivers and finished fifth overall. William Byron ranked ninth and Briscoe 16th.Only former Cup champion in 2025 NASCAR Cup Championship 4 Kyle Larson faces tough competitionKyle Larson, who has not won a Cup race in about six months, will have to beat Denny Hamlin, who leads all drivers in wins this season. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver also has the most Championship 4 appearances and tops the field with the best career average finish (10.6) at the 1-mile oval in Arizona.Kyle Larson has one previous win at Phoenix, which came during his dominant 2021 championship run. He has the second-highest average finish (10.1) in his last seven races at the track. Meanwhile, his Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron, who won at Martinsville to move into the final playoff round, tops playoff drivers with an average finish of 8 in his last seven starts. Byron has also led the most laps this season and won the regular season championship at Richmond.
