Chase Briscoe was the fastest driver in Friday's NASCAR Cup Series practice at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Briscoe, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, turned a fast lap time of 32.680 seconds (165.239 mph) on his 14th of 54 laps in the session.

Briscoe's lap time was good enough by 0.073 seconds to top Austin Cindric for the honors of fastest in practice for Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race.

While Denny Hamlin began the day by saying, "I don't have any optimism," in regard to his championship hopes, the driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the fastest championship contender in the session, as he clocked in third-fastest.

Right behind Hamlin on the speed charts was Christopher Bell, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, who is also still alive in the Chase.

Heading into Sunday's Championship Race, the Joe Gibbs Racing duo likely need a miracle if either of them hopes to hoist the Bill France Cup. Bell comes into the weekend 67 points behind championship leader Kyle Larson, while Hamlin is 70 points back.

If Larson scores nine points in Sunday's race, regardless of what Bell or Hamlin do in the race, he'll be the champion.

While it seems far-fetched to think Larson could bungle his shot at back-to-back NASCAR Cup Series titles, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet was only able to muster the 10th-fastest lap in the session, and Larson encountered the outside wall a few times during the practice.

"That's probably pretty excessive," Larson said of the damage incurred on the right side of his No. 5 Chevrolet following the practice.

In addition to the scrapes with the outside wall, Larson didn't come away from Friday's practice session feeling super optimistic about his race car, which could leave room for the tinyest sliver of hope for Bell or Hamlin on Sunday.

"Yeah, I just didn't feel very good," Larson said. "I didn't feel very comfortable for the first few laps, and then I would feel okay. I don't know, I just didn't have enough grip to run the wall like I wanted to."

Larson continued, "Just a disconnect in comfort from the first few laps to the end of, whatever."

Obviously, Larson will debrief with his crew chief Cliff Daniels, and the rest of his Hendrick Motorsports teammates after the session to see what changes they can make to dial in his No. 5 Chevrolet in for Sunday's race, but if they don't hit on the right changes, there's an outside shot that Bell and/or Hamlin could find them in an unexpected place at the end of Sunday night's race at Homestead.

There's a chance. A slim one, but a chance exists nonetheless.

Next up for the NASCAR Cup Series is qualifying for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race, which is set to take place on Saturday, November 7 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The qualifying session, which sets the starting lineup for Sunday's race, will be televised on TruTV, and TV coverage of the session is set to begin at 2:30 PM ET.