Practice report
NASCAR Cup Indianapolis
Denny Hamlin leads opening Cup practice at Indianapolis
Denny Hamlin picked up at Indy where he left off at New Hampshire — on top of the pylon.
Lee Spencer
Edited: Jul 22, 2017, 2:58 PM
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Hamlin posted the top single-lap speed of 187.414mph during his third of four race runs at the Brickyard during first practice on Saturday.
Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Larson, Kyle Busch, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Blaney, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10 in the 55-minute session.
Defending Brickyard 400 winner Kyle Busch was the first car on the track followed by 2003 Indy victor Harvick. But it was Kenseth setting the early pace with a lap of 185.200mph.
After the first 10 minutes of the session, Kenseth was atop the speed chart after three laps. Kahne, Larson, Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt Jr., Blaney and Keselowski, Ryan Newman and Joey Logano rounded out the top 10 single-lap speeds.
Martin Truex Jr. bumped Kenseth on his second lap with a speed of 185.559mph. Harvick also broke into the top 10 (ninth) with a speed of 184.188mph).
NASCAR released Jimmie Johnson from his 15-minute practice hold. The penalty stemmed from being late to pre-race inspection at New Hampshire. Corey LaJoie was also released. The No. 23 was penalized for the same infraction. The No. 48 was 13th-quick after its first three-lap run.
Hamlin vaulted over Truex on his second run with a lap of 186.959mph just before the 30-minute mark. Kenseth remained third followed Kahne, Kyle Busch, Earnhardt, Blaney, Harvick and Keselowski. Earnhardt’s 12 laps were the most completed at that point.
Newman dropped to 11th followed by Kurt Busch, Erik Jones and 2010 Brickyard winner Jamie McMurray.
Hamlin improved his single-lap speed to 187.414mph on his third run with less than 10 minutes remaining in the session.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 11 
Denny Hamlin Toyota 7 48.022 187.414 2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 15 48.502 0.480 0.480 185.559 3 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota 19 48.596 0.574 0.094 185.200 4 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 23 48.609 0.587 0.013 185.151 5 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 18 48.648 0.626 0.039 185.002 6 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 20 48.720 0.698 0.072 184.729 7 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 22 48.788 0.766 0.068 184.472 8 21 Ryan Blaney Ford 18 48.793 0.771 0.005 184.453 9 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 15 48.863 0.841 0.070 184.188 10 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 16 48.863 0.841 0.000 184.188 11 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 18 48.924 0.902 0.061 183.959 12 41 Kurt Busch Ford 14 48.990 0.968 0.066 183.711 13 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 14 49.032 1.010 0.042 183.554 14 77 Erik Jones Toyota 21 49.037 1.015 0.005 183.535 15 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 21 49.090 1.068 0.053 183.337 16 22 Joey Logano Ford 21 49.110 1.088 0.020 183.262 17 24 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 23 49.118 1.096 0.008 183.232 18 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 13 49.183 1.161 0.065 182.990 19 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 10 49.377 1.355 0.194 182.271 20 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 13 49.435 1.413 0.058 182.057 21 43 Aric Almirola Ford 7 49.482 1.460 0.047 181.884 22 10 Danica Patrick Ford 18 49.497 1.475 0.015 181.829 23 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 13 49.523 1.501 0.026 181.734 24 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 10 49.586 1.564 0.063 181.503 25 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 8 49.637 1.615 0.051 181.316 26 95 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 10 49.691 1.669 0.054 181.119 27 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 14 49.782 1.760 0.091 180.788 28 34 Landon Cassill Ford 16 49.790 1.768 0.008 180.759 29 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 16 49.981 1.959 0.191 180.068 30 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 18 50.001 1.979 0.020 179.996 31 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 14 50.266 2.244 0.265 179.047 32 38 David Ragan Ford 9 50.316 2.294 0.050 178.870 33 7 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 11 50.581 2.559 0.265 177.932 34 23 Corey Lajoie Toyota 10 51.164 3.142 0.583 175.905 35 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 7 51.207 3.185 0.043 175.757 36 51 B.J. McLeod Chevrolet 2 52.480 4.458 1.273 171.494 37 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Chevrolet 3 52.678 4.656 0.198 170.849 38 55 Gray Gaulding Toyota 6 52.971 4.949 0.293 169.904 39 66 Timmy Hill Chevrolet 4 53.423 5.401 0.452 168.467 40 15 Joey Gase Chevrolet 10 53.511 5.489 0.088 168.190
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