Newman leads trio of non-Chasers in first Cup practice

With less than three minutes remaining in the 85-minute session, Ryan Newman bumped Martin Truex Jr. with a lap of 175.387mph. Truex was second-quick with a single-lap speed of 175.353mph, followed by Kyle Larson (175.256mph) and Chasers Joey Logano (175.165mph) and Jimmie Johnson (174.944mph).

“Good start to the weekend fellows,” Johnson told the crew after the session. “Keep it up.”

Keselowski (174.916mph) ended up sixth followed by AJ Allmendinger and the Joe Gibbs Racing cars of Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards.

Ten minutes into practice, Johnson topped the speed chart with a lap of 174.944mph. Brad Keselowski dropped to second and Carl Edwards (174.458mph) was third. Rookie Chase Elliott rounded out the top 10 single lap runs (174.267mph).

Logano served a 15-minute penalty then developed a left rear tire rub after his first lap of 172.491 mph among the top 40 drivers. Kyle Busch took to the track moments later and bumped Logano to 11th with a laps of 172.546mph. Logano returned at the 45-minute mark and completed four additional laps.

Just after the 35-minute lap, Allmendinger scraped the wall. He had posted the 17th-fastest lap prior to the incident and ended up seventh (174.791mph). Brian Scott, who is making his last run with Richard Petty Motorsports, brushed the wall earlier in practice. He ended up 26th.

The No. 19 JGR team put Edwards car into qualifying trim midway through the 85-minute session. He dropped to fifth after Truex Jr. posted his mock qualifying lap. Logano was second followed by Johnson. With six minutes remaining, Busch made his final Q-run but ended up sixth (174.514mph).

Alex Bowman completed the most laps (31) and ended up 14th-quick with a lap of 173.896mph.

Kevin Harvick was fastest in the Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average category with a speed of 168.283mph, followed by Casey Mears (166.757mph), Brian Scott (166.697mph) and Kyle Busch (163.957mph).

Cla	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	16	30.789			175.387
2	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	7	30.795	0.006	0.006	175.353
3	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	11	30.812	0.023	0.017	175.256
4	22	Joey Logano	Ford	9	30.828	0.039	0.016	175.165
5	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	9	30.867	0.078	0.039	174.944
6	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	5	30.872	0.083	0.005	174.916
7	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	23	30.894	0.105	0.022	174.791
8	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	27	30.943	0.154	0.049	174.514
9	19	Carl Edwards	Toyota	5	30.953	0.164	0.010	174.458
10	24	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	7	30.987	0.198	0.034	174.267