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Bubba Wallace tops Cup Series practice at Nashville

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Parker Kligerman takes a lap around what's new in the world of motor sports, from NASCAR returning to Nashville this weekend to why most race series should look at paring back their jam-packed schedules.

Bubba Wallace was quickest in NASCAR Cup Series practice Friday evening at Nashville Superspeedway.

Wallace turned a fast lap of 161.708 miles per hour in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota. Fellow Toyota driver Kyle Busch was second-fastest (160.936 mph) for Joe Gibbs Racing.

They were followed by the Chevy trio of Tyler Reddick (160.456 mph), reigning Cup champion Kyle Larson (160.418 mph), and William Byron (160.391 mph).

Wallace has struggled so far in 2022. He enters Nashville 25th in Cup points with just two top-10 finishes and four DNFs through the first 16 races.

As he looks for a reset, that’s included a change in mentality.

“I’ve just tried not to carry the bad luck with me - the bad luck mindset,” Wallace told NBC Sports. “I’m a very sarcastic person and that tends to rub people the wrong way. Even people on my team, but they know I’m joking.

"(I’m) just letting that go and focusing on the big picture at hand and knowing we have good race cars. It’s just circumstances that take us out. So, if we can just execute one step at a time - get through practice top of the board, it’s a good job, we’ll go into qualifying tomorrow - but it’s about our team here.

“We’ve been let down a lot and as a team, it’s frustrating. We all rally around each other and go to battle on Sunday.”

Cup Series qualifying is scheduled for tomorrow at 1 p.m. ET on USA Network. The Ally 400 is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. ET on NBC and streaming on Peacock.