Blaney leads opening Kansas practice, Larson wrecks

Blaney, who is fighting to escape elimination from the 2018 playoffs, led the way with a 192.130mph lap. Kyle Busch trailed him by just 0.053 seconds with another title contender in Kevin Harvick third, just 0.001 seconds slower than Busch.

All three seemed to focus on qualifying runs with Blaney and Busch running just five laps and Harvick running three. A.J. Allmendinger and Darrell Wallace Jr. ran the most laps at 13 each.

During the session, Jimmie Johnson had a bit of a moment that sent him up the hill in Turns 1 and 2, but he got away with it. Later on, Kyle Larson wasn't so lucky. With 15 minutes to go, he started to lose the car while running the bottom line and slid up the track, slamming the wall and forcing the No. 42 team to a back-up car. 

"Just mad at myself ... made a mistake, got loose. I cracked it (the throttle), but its like the second the time I cracked it, I don't know if I got on the splitter or what but then it didn't turn and went straight," he told NBCSN.

"Hate it that I wrecked the primary car there. I'm sure our backup car will be fine ... we're always pretty good here at Kansas. Just dig deep and work hard and see what we can do on Sunday."

Larson's team was docked ten championship points earlier this week and finds themselves in a must-win situation entering Kansas.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	5	28.106			192.130
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	5	28.159	0.053	0.053	191.768
3	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	3	28.160	0.054	0.001	191.761
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	5	28.179	0.073	0.019	191.632
5	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	5	28.210	0.104	0.031	191.421
6	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	5	28.227	0.121	0.017	191.306
7	21	Paul Menard	Ford	5	28.253	0.147	0.026	191.130
8	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	5	28.279	0.173	0.026	190.954
9	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	4	28.299	0.193	0.020	190.819
10	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	5	28.304	0.198	0.005	190.786
11	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	5	28.322	0.216	0.018	190.665
12	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	7	28.327	0.221	0.005	190.631
13	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	7	28.338	0.232	0.011	190.557
14	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	7	28.405	0.299	0.067	190.107
15	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	3	28.408	0.302	0.003	190.087
16	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	28.438	0.332	0.030	189.887
17	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	7	28.452	0.346	0.014	189.793
18	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	4	28.456	0.350	0.004	189.767
19	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	5	28.469	0.363	0.013	189.680
20	6	Trevor Bayne	Ford	5	28.481	0.375	0.012	189.600
21	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	13	28.495	0.389	0.014	189.507
22	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	2	28.528	0.422	0.033	189.288
23	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	4	28.554	0.448	0.026	189.115
24	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	7	28.640	0.534	0.086	188.547
25	38	David Ragan	Ford	6	28.670	0.564	0.030	188.350
26	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	5	28.730	0.624	0.060	187.957
27	95	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	12	28.772	0.666	0.042	187.682
28	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	6	28.798	0.692	0.026	187.513
29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	13	28.831	0.725	0.033	187.298
30	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	7	28.951	0.845	0.120	186.522
31	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	11	28.956	0.850	0.005	186.490
32	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	7	29.816	1.710	0.860	181.111
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	3	29.827	1.721	0.011	181.044
34	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	5	29.879	1.773	0.052	180.729
35	99	Kyle Weatherman	Chevrolet	2	29.928	1.822	0.049	180.433
36	23	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	6	30.006	1.900	0.078	179.964
37	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	12	30.200	2.094	0.194	178.808
38	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	2	30.532	2.426	0.332	176.864
39	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	4	30.649	2.543	0.117	176.188
40	7	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	4	30.908	2.802	0.259	174.712

Take a virtual lap around Kansas Speedway, courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3: