Hamlin tops Friday Cup practice, teammate Suarez crashes

At the end of the 47-minute session, Denny Hamlin vaulted to the top of the speed laps for single-lap speeds followed by Busch, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman and Jamie McMurray.

In the first 10 minutes, the caution flag flew after brake smoke came out of the No. 13 of Ty Dillon. Track workers picked up debris and the shortened-session continued.

Paul Menard had posted the fastest single-lap speed at the time of the delay with a lap of 93.794mph followed by Clint Bowyer, Ryan Blaney, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney.

Joey Logano jumped to the top of the speed chart (19.983-sec) 15 minutes into the session after 36 drivers had posted a time. Denny Hamlin (19.999-sec.) moved up to second on his first run but complained his car was tight when he was on the throttle.

Twenty-five minutes in, Logano remained on top with Hamlin, Blaney, Menard and Kyle Busch rounding out the top five speeds.

Kyle Busch moved up to third-quick 30-minutes into the first session followed by Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Martin Truex Jr., Blaney, Menard, Jimmie Johnson and AJ Allmendinger.

Moments later, Daniel Suarez felt he wheel-hopped through Turn 3 and bounced the right-rear of the No. 19 Toyota off of the wall to bring out the red flag. The team went to work pulling out the backup car.

“It just wheel hopped," explained the Cup rookie. "I don’t know what was going on with my brakes. It was something weird. On the first run I felt something similar. Something was weird with my brakes and I just wheel hopped and here we are.”

Practice returned to green with less than 10 minutes remaining in the session. Just before the 40-minute mark, Bowyer rose to first on the board with a lap of 94.889mph in qualifying trim. Blaney moved up to second and radioed to the crew, “I think I have the brake figured out.”

Logano dropped to third followed by Hamlin and Kyle Busch. Busch bounced up to first 41-minutes into the session with a lap of 95.060mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr. climbed into the top-five speeds shortly after with a lap of 94.713mph.

Just before the 44-minute mark, Ryan Newman moved up to second (94.908mph). McMurray was third in qualifying trim (94.889mph). With a minute remaining, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Kyle Busch had secured the first and second spots on the board and last week’s winner, Larson, took over third.

Four drivers were scheduled to serve 15-minute penalties due to inspection infractions. However, with the shortened practice session, the holds were deferred for Blaney (late to qualifying inspection at Auto Club Speedway), Trevor Bayne and Denny Hamlin (for failing pre-race inspection). Jeffrey Earnhardt, whose No. 33 team earned penalties in both categories, deferred one penalty and serves the other.

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	19.879			95.256
2	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	19.920	0.041	0.041	95.060
3	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	19.952	0.073	0.032	94.908
4	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	19.956	0.077	0.004	94.889
5	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	19.956	0.077	0.000	94.889
6	21	Ryan Blaney	Ford	19.970	0.091	0.014	94.822
7	22	Joey Logano	Ford	19.983	0.104	0.013	94.761
8	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	19.993	0.114	0.010	94.713
9	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	19.993	0.114	0.000	94.713
10	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	20.016	0.137	0.023	94.604