Kyle Larson leads pre-qualifying practice at Las Vegas

Larson, who finished runner-up to Martin Truex Jr. in this race a year ago, posted an average lap speed of 190.658 mph, just edging last weekend’s race winner, Kevin Harvick (190.409 mph).

Paul Menard was third-fastest, Kyle Busch was fourth and William Byron completed the top-five.

“We had a good run here last year. I think we finished second in both races, Xfinity and Cup, which is better than I typically had run at Vegas,” Larson said Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“So, I was happy about that, but we were pretty good most everywhere last year. We tested here a couple of weeks before Daytona and were really fast. That was our first time with the new Camaro ZL1, so was happy about that.”

Rounding out the top-10 were Daniel Suarez, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Chase Elliott and Denny Hamlin.

Five of the top-seven drivers in practice – except Harvick and Busch – participated in the NASCAR organizational test at Las Vegas in January.

Five drivers had their lone practice session cut short on Friday.

Jeffrey Earnhardt, Elliott, Hamlin, Busch and Alex Bowman all lost the final 15 minutes of the 55-minute practice session for twice failing pre-race inspection last weekend at Atlanta.