Ryan Preece fastest in Martinsville Cup practice for Xfinity 500

NXTbets Pro | Published On: November 1, 2026

A clear benchmark

Preece set the pace in final NASCAR Cup Series practice at Martinsville Speedway for the Xfinity 500, and he did it with a lap that separated him from the rest of the field. Preece turned 19.600 seconds at 96.612 mph in the No. 60 Ford, the quickest run in the session and the benchmark everyone else chased. The speed chart stayed crowded behind him. Josh Berry followed in second, while Todd Gilliland, Ty Gibbs and Ross Chastain rounded out the top five. That gave the session a clear front end, with several drivers close to the fastest lap but none able to match it. The margin was small enough to keep the order compact, yet large enough for Preece to finish the run with the best number on the board. In a practice session built around short-track feel and fine-tuning, that kind of lap mattered. It gave the driver and crew a clean reference point before the race weekend moved ahead. It also gave everyone else a time to measure against as the field kept searching for speed.

Martinsville field stays tight

The biggest story from the session was how little space sat between the top time and almost everyone else. Nearly the entire field was within about four-tenths of a second of Preece, which showed just how tight the practice sheet stayed from top to bottom. The tight spread made every lap important. There was no runaway speed edge and no wide gap that set one car apart from the pack. Instead, the session offered a narrow range of times that kept the drivers clustered together. That made the top five look strong, but it also showed how many teams left practice with a workable baseline. The closeness carried through the rest of the order, which kept the session from turning into a clear-cut statement run for any one team. It gave the field a fast but manageable reference point and left room for changes before race time. The pace chart suggested that small gains could move a driver several spots.

Playoff contenders log laps

Several playoff contenders also got their laps in during the session, giving their teams more data before the Xfinity 500. Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick were among the drivers who logged practice time, along with other playoff contenders working through their programs at Martinsville. Their presence added more weight to a session that already had a crowded top end and a narrow spread across the field. Denny Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Ryan Blaney and Joey Logano all finished in the top 13, which kept a group of major names near the front of the practice order. That kind of result gave the teams a clear read on where they stood relative to the fastest lap. It also showed how many contenders were able to stay inside the same tight band of speed. The session ended with Josh Bilicki as the slowest driver, another marker in a practice run where the field stayed compressed and the differences remained small. For the teams still sorting through notes, the message from the speed chart was plain. Preece set the pace, the top of the field stayed close and the rest of the lineup had a narrow window to improve. The practice run set a clear target.