Jimmie Johnson topped the lone Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session Friday afternoon at Texas Motor Speedway with a 189.747 mph lap. He led a trio of Hendrick Motorsports drivers inside the top five. Alex Bowman posted the second-quickest lap, followed by William Byron in fourth. Chase Elliott, the only HMS driver to run outside the top 10 was 20th-fastest at 186.593 mph.
Team Penske drivers Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski were third and fifth, respectively.
Michael McDowell was sixth but actually ran an identical speed to Keselowski at 188.147 mph. Chris Buescher ended the session seventh, followed by Kurt Busch. Bubba Wallace and Ty Dillon rounded out the top 10.
All 39 drivers ran at least one lap in the session, though none ran 10 consecutively.
In the relatively uneventful session, the caution flew only once for possible fluid coming from Reed Sorenson’s No. 27 Chevrolet, though reports from multiple teams throughout the garage on the radio indicated no fluid was left behind him.
MENCS FIRST PRACTICE RESULTS
Qualifying for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 will be held at 6:40 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1. It will be the debut of the changes NASCAR announced earlier this week. Kurt Busch holds the track qualifying record with a blistering 200.915 mph lap turned in November 2017.
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Kyle’s 31st. Better write him off.
Bubba’s 9th. He could win!