Kyle Busch pips Truex for fastest lap in opening Cup practice

Late in the session, Busch posted a lap of 172.695mph after completing just seven laps. Martin Truex Jr., was second-quick followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson, Denny Hamlin, Trevor Bayne, Jimmie Johnson, Michael McDowell, Kurt Busch and Daniel Suarez. 

Brad Keselowski, who suffered brake issues early on, had his calipers replaced after the first session. Chase Elliott’s 34 laps were the most completed.

Jimmie Johnson was the first car on the race track for first practice, but it was Martin Truex Jr., that set the early pace in qualifying trim—172.128mph (31.372-seconds)—after his first lap. Johnson ran second (170.181mph) followed by Hamlin (170.100mph), Earnhardt (169.646mph), McMurray (169.194mph), Elliott (168.945mph), Harvick (168.845mph), Almirola (168.624mph), Blaney (168.413mph) and Bayne (168.376mph) after the first 10 minutes. 

“He was one lane off the bottom in 1 and 2, third lane off the bottom in 3 and 4,” spotter Chris Lambert told Hamlin of Truex’s lap. Hamlin had a cut tire after his first run and elected to complete just five laps.

Just before the 20-minute mark, Kyle Busch bumped Johnson to third with his first lap—170.946mph. Brad Keselowski’s first lap was 10th-quick (168.466mph), but there was a brake issue with the No. 2 Ford and he returned to the pits.

Earnhardt reported 25-minutes into practice, “Something broke in the engine.” He was fifth on the speed chart at the time. 

After the first 30 minutes, Elliott’s 20 laps were the most completed. He was seventh-fast of the 36 cars to post a time. Erik Jones broke into the top 10 with the ninth-fastest lap (168.877mph) 40-minutes into the session. 

Clint Bowyer vaulted up to seventh on his 11th lap (169.173mph). Moments later, Kurt Busch’s mock qualifying run was fifth-fast (169.940mph) on his 12th lap during the 84-minute session. Keselowski returned to the track after the team worked on his brakes.

After the first hour, Truex maintained the top speed followed by Kyle Busch, Hamlin, Johnson, Kurt Busch, Earnhardt, McMurray, Bowyer, Larson and Blaney. Elliott, Keselowski, Jones, Harvick, Almirola, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ryan Newman, Bayne, Chris Buescher and Kasey Kahne completed the top 20 speeds.

Kyle Busch shot to the top of the chart at the one hour, 12-minute mark with a lap of 172.695mph. Harvick joined his fellow Championship 4 drivers with the third-best lap (171.865mph).

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	7	31.269			172.695
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	7	31.299	0.030	0.030	172.529
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	7	31.420	0.151	0.121	171.865
4	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	23	31.539	0.270	0.119	171.217
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	5	31.606	0.337	0.067	170.854
6	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	9	31.687	0.418	0.081	170.417
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	7	31.731	0.462	0.044	170.181
8	95	Michael McDowell	Chevrolet	7	31.748	0.479	0.017	170.089
9	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	14	31.776	0.507	0.028	169.940
10	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	7	31.795	0.526	0.019	169.838
11	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	27	31.819	0.550	0.024	169.710
12	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	9	31.826	0.557	0.007	169.673
13	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	11	31.831	0.562	0.005	169.646
14	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	12	31.831	0.562	0.000	169.646
15	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	34	31.852	0.583	0.021	169.534
16	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	23	31.894	0.625	0.042	169.311
17	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	9	31.903	0.634	0.009	169.263
18	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	16	31.916	0.647	0.013	169.194
19	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	15	31.920	0.651	0.004	169.173
20	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	9	31.958	0.689	0.038	168.972
21	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	31.968	0.699	0.010	168.919
22	77	Erik Jones	Toyota	20	31.976	0.707	0.008	168.877
23	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	18	32.009	0.740	0.033	168.703
24	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	23	32.079	0.810	0.070	168.334
25	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	33	32.083	0.814	0.004	168.313
26	22	Joey Logano	Ford	31	32.134	0.865	0.051	168.046
27	10	Danica Patrick	Ford	18	32.219	0.950	0.085	167.603
28	38	David Ragan	Ford	9	32.248	0.979	0.029	167.452
29	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	13	32.261	0.992	0.013	167.385
30	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	22	32.357	1.088	0.096	166.888
31	34	Landon Cassill	Ford	24	32.453	1.184	0.096	166.394
32	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	9	32.505	1.236	0.052	166.128
33	72	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	15	32.635	1.366	0.130	165.467
34	15	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	5	32.936	1.667	0.301	163.954
35	23	Corey Lajoie	Toyota	14	32.971	1.702	0.035	163.780
36	33	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Chevrolet	25	33.686	2.417	0.715	160.304
37	83	Joey Gase		8	33.692	2.423	0.006	160.275
38	66	David Starr	Chevrolet	15	34.293	3.024	0.601	157.467
39	51	Ray Black Jr.	Chevrolet	18	34.626	3.357	0.333	155.952