Ryan Blaney tops Friday's practice session at Sonoma

Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney topped the leaderboard in Friday’s 50-minute practice session at Sonoma Raceway with a speed of 97.866 mph.

The No. 12 Ford was ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Ty Gibbs (97.829 mph) and Australian Supercars star Will Brown (97.617 mph), who’s making his NASCAR Cup Series debut with Richard Childress Racing.

Alex Bowman (97.576 mph) and Chase Elliott (97.477 mph) rounded out the top five.

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Michael McDowell (97.354 mph), Noah Gragson (97.333 mph), Zane Smith (97.307 mph), Ross Chastain (97.297 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (97.217 mph) completed the top 10.

All 38 drivers logged laps around the 1.99-mile California road course for the first time since the track was repaved over the offseason. The speeds were noticeably higher as each driver started building a notebook ahead of Sunday’s 110-lap road race.

Comparing last year’s top practice speed on the old pavement to Blaney’s 97.866 mph run on the new surface, Kyle Larson was the quickest a year ago at 91.730 mph.

Despite a caution-free practice, drivers Josh Berry and Daniel Hemric spun out. Both were able to continue after the quick spins.

However, RFK Racing’s Cam Waters went for the wildest ride of the session. The second Australian Supercars regular debuting in the Cup Series spun in Turn 1, barely missing the outside wall and tire barriers after looping it through the grass.

Waters was 35th fastest at 95.738 mph.

WATCH: Contrasting lap times at Sonoma compared to 2023 | Cam Waters goes for wild spin

The Cup Series will get back on track Saturday for qualifying (6 p.m. ET, FS2, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).