While one Richard Childress Racing teammate struggled, the other was the quickest on the track. Ryan Newman ran a lap time of 19.355 seconds to top the charts for the Sprint Cup Series’ lone Friday practice session.
He was joined by RCR affiliates AJ Allmendinger and Martin Truex Jr. in second and fifth, along with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson in third and fourth.
Joey Logano led Ford in sixth, while Denny Hamlin was the top Toyota in ninth.
While Newman set quick time, his teammate Austin Dillon struggled. Dillon had put down the 15th-fastest time and was riding through a final run when his motor blew in a display of smoke in the closing seconds of practice. The caution for Dillon’s motor brought an end to Friday’s practice.
Chase Elliott, son of legend Bill Elliott, ran in his first Sprint Cup practice session. After running 25 laps, Elliott ended the session 29th-fastest, good enough to get him into Sunday’s race if qualifying is rained out.
The practice session nearly didn’t occur. Rain early in the day forced the Camping World Truck Series to cancel their first of three Friday practice sessions at 10 a.m. ET. The Sprint Cup Series was scheduled to begin practice at noon, but was pushed back to a 2 p.m. start. The session lasted only 50 minutes.
The Sprint Cup Series is scheduled to return to the track at 6 p.m. ET for Coors Light Pole Qualifying.
2015 STP 500 FIRST PRACTICE SPEEDS
Aaron Bearden is a Frontstretch alumnus who’s come back home as the site’s Short Track Editor. When he isn’t working with our grassroots writers, he can be found talking about racing on his Morning Warmup newsletter, pestering his wife/dog or convincing himself the Indiana Pacers can win an NBA title.