Thomas Merrill Tops First Practice, Connor Mosack Fastest in Second Practice at Big Machine Music City Grand Prix

August 5, 2022

NASHVILLE (August 5, 2022) – The weekend’s two practice sessions are complete for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers Challenge presented by Race for RP at the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix.

In first practice, Thomas Merrill in the No. 26 BridgeHaul/HP Tuners/Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang, who is currently tied for the points lead, was fastest with a time of 1:33.284. Second fastest was Connor Mosack in the No. 28 Open Eyes/Franklin Road Apparel Ford Mustang with a lap time of 1:34.041. Carl Rydquist in the No. 80 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang was third with a time of 1:34.379. Rounding out the top five were Connor Zilisch in the No. 5 Silver Hare Racing Camaro and Road America winner Brent Crews in the No. 70 Trackhouse Ford Mustang, with times of 1:34.423 and 1:34.919, respectively.

Full practice 1 results can be found here.

Speeds in the second practice session were considerably faster than the first session. Mosack topped the charts with a time of 1:30.902, which was a faster lap than last year’s pole speed. Merrill was second with a lap time of 1:31.768, followed closely by Zilisch’s lap of 1:31.875. Rafa Matos in the No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Mustang, who is tied with Merrill for the points lead, was fourth with a 1:32.047. In fifth was Matos’ teammate Adam Andretti in the No. 86 3-Dimensional Services Group Mustang with a 1:32.477.

Full practice 2 results can be found here.

Qualifying for the TA2 race will take place on Saturday, August 6 at 9:10 a.m. CT.

The Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Cooler Challenge presented by Race for RP will be contested on Saturday, August 6, at 12:30 p.m. CT, and will be streamed live here.

The broadcast of the race, presented by Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers and Race for RP, will air on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, August 13 at 7:30 p.m. ET, with an encore presentation later that evening at 1:00 a.m. ET.