Practice report
NASCAR Cup Chicagoland
Ryan Blaney tops first Cup practice at Chicagoland
Hendrick Motorsports led the way for the majority of Saturday's first practice, but a new name arrived at the top of the board in the closing moments.
Nick DeGroot
Edited: Jun 30, 2018, 7:02 PM
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Jimmie Johnson set the pace early in the session at 178.861mph, just ahead of young teammate Alex Bowman at 178.749mph.
But in the final seconds of the 50 minute practice, Team Penske's Ryan Blaney rocketed to the top of the charts on his 14th lap, putting up a 178.992mph lap.
Johnson also ran the most laps at 31, telling NBCSN afterwards, "really impressed with the way we unloaded and how this Chevrolet is driving."
Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Ryan Newman, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, and Jamie McMurray rounded out the top-ten.
Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. was down in 19th on the speed charts.
The session went incident-free. Two drivers -- Landon Cassill and B.J. McLeod -- were given 15-minute practice holds for being late to inspection.
Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 12 
Ryan Blaney Ford 14 30.169 178.992 2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 31 30.191 0.022 0.022 178.861 3 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 29 30.210 0.041 0.019 178.749 4 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 26 30.210 0.041 0.000 178.749 5 19 
Daniel Suarez Toyota 20 30.384 0.215 0.174 177.725 6 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 24 30.432 0.263 0.048 177.445 7 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 20 30.447 0.278 0.015 177.357 8 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 20 30.457 0.288 0.010 177.299 9 22 Joey Logano Ford 22 30.499 0.330 0.042 177.055 10 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 28 30.499 0.330 0.000 177.055 11 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 20 30.554 0.385 0.055 176.736 12 41 Kurt Busch Ford 20 30.578 0.409 0.024 176.598 13 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 22 30.627 0.458 0.049 176.315 14 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 23 30.664 0.495 0.037 176.102 15 21 Paul Menard Ford 17 30.664 0.495 0.000 176.102 16 10 Aric Almirola Ford 28 30.709 0.540 0.045 175.844 17 6 Trevor Bayne Ford 12 30.748 0.579 0.039 175.621 18 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 9 30.754 0.585 0.006 175.587 19 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 20 30.783 0.614 0.029 175.421 20 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 19 30.840 0.671 0.057 175.097 21 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 30 30.861 0.692 0.021 174.978 22 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 28 30.865 0.696 0.004 174.955 23 24 William Byron Chevrolet 24 30.896 0.727 0.031 174.780 24 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 19 30.944 0.775 0.048 174.509 25 20 Erik Jones Toyota 16 30.982 0.813 0.038 174.295 26 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 20 31.100 0.931 0.118 173.633 27 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 24 31.107 0.938 0.007 173.594 28 34 Michael McDowell Ford 20 31.133 0.964 0.026 173.449 29 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 13 31.266 1.097 0.133 172.712 30 38 David Ragan Ford 9 31.447 1.278 0.181 171.717 31 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 17 31.503 1.334 0.056 171.412 32 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 15 31.572 1.403 0.069 171.038 33 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 8 31.902 1.733 0.330 169.268 34 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 6 32.231 2.062 0.329 167.541 35 07 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 16 32.252 2.083 0.021 167.431 36 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 8 32.283 2.114 0.031 167.271 37 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 6 32.380 2.211 0.097 166.770 38 99 Kyle Weatherman Chevrolet 16 32.854 2.685 0.474 164.364 39 51 B.J. McLeod Ford
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