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Edition

Australia

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.

Ryan Blaney, Team Penske, Ford Fusion PPG

Russell LaBounty / NKP / Motorsport Images

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 united_states Ryan Blaney  Ford 14 30.169     178.992
2 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 31 30.191 0.022 0.022 178.861
3 88 united_states Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 29 30.210 0.041 0.019 178.749
4 9 united_states Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 26 30.210 0.041 0.000 178.749
5 19 mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 20 30.384 0.215 0.174 177.725
6 31 united_states Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 24 30.432 0.263 0.048 177.445
7 11 united_states Denny Hamlin  Toyota 20 30.447 0.278 0.015 177.357
8 42 united_states Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 20 30.457 0.288 0.010 177.299
9 22 united_states Joey Logano  Ford 22 30.499 0.330 0.042 177.055
10 1 united_states Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 28 30.499 0.330 0.000 177.055
11 4 united_states Kevin Harvick  Ford 20 30.554 0.385 0.055 176.736
12 41 united_states Kurt Busch  Ford 20 30.578 0.409 0.024 176.598
13 2 united_states Brad Keselowski  Ford 22 30.627 0.458 0.049 176.315
14 14 united_states Clint Bowyer  Ford 23 30.664 0.495 0.037 176.102
15 21 united_states Paul Menard  Ford 17 30.664 0.495 0.000 176.102
16 10 united_states Aric Almirola  Ford 28 30.709 0.540 0.045 175.844
17 6 united_states Trevor Bayne  Ford 12 30.748 0.579 0.039 175.621
18 18 united_states Kyle Busch  Toyota 9 30.754 0.585 0.006 175.587
19 78 united_states Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 20 30.783 0.614 0.029 175.421
20 37 united_states Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 19 30.840 0.671 0.057 175.097
21 43 united_states Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 30 30.861 0.692 0.021 174.978
22 3 united_states Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 28 30.865 0.696 0.004 174.955
23 24 united_states William Byron  Chevrolet 24 30.896 0.727 0.031 174.780
24 13 united_states Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 19 30.944 0.775 0.048 174.509
25 20 united_states Erik Jones  Toyota 16 30.982 0.813 0.038 174.295
26 47 united_states A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 20 31.100 0.931 0.118 173.633
27 17 united_states Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 24 31.107 0.938 0.007 173.594
28 34 united_states Michael McDowell  Ford 20 31.133 0.964 0.026 173.449
29 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 13 31.266 1.097 0.133 172.712
30 38 united_states David Ragan  Ford 9 31.447 1.278 0.181 171.717
31 95 united_states Kasey Kahne  Chevrolet 17 31.503 1.334 0.056 171.412
32 15 united_states Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 15 31.572 1.403 0.069 171.038
33 23 united_states Gray Gaulding  Toyota 8 31.902 1.733 0.330 169.268
34 72 united_states Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 6 32.231 2.062 0.329 167.541
35 07 united_states Reed Sorenson  Chevrolet 16 32.252 2.083 0.021 167.431
36 00 united_states Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 8 32.283 2.114 0.031 167.271
37 66 united_states Timmy Hill  Toyota 6 32.380 2.211 0.097 166.770
38 99 united_states Kyle Weatherman  Chevrolet 16 32.854 2.685 0.474 164.364
39 51 united_states B.J. McLeod  Ford        

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