Defending winner Denny Hamlin fastest in first Darlington practice

Hamlin, who has yet to win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series this season, posted an average lap speed of 172.287 mph.

Late in the session, Kyle Larson bolted to the No. 2 spot, with an average lap speed of 172.034 mph – the only other drive to cross the 172 mph mark. Brad Keselowski was third (171.998 mph).

Alex Bowman was fourth and Ryan Newman completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Erik Jones, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Blaney, Aric Almirola and Paul Menard.

Just six minutes into the session, the engine on Jamie McMurray’s No. 1 Chevrolet let go as smoke poured from his car and fluid dropped on the track. Because he will change engines, McMurray will have to start Sunday night’s race from the rear of the field.

“The motor blew up and that was it,” McMurray said. “It was shaking violently. There were four or five gallons of oil sitting on the race track.”

It was nearly 15 minutes before the track could return to green following the cleanup from McMurray’s incident.

With about 12 minutes remaining in the session, Jones spun out while attempting to return to pit road. He did not hit anything and was able to continue on.

Five teams were penalized practice time for violations at the most recent race weekend, at Bristol.

David Ragan, Timmy Hill and Derrike Cope all had to sit out the final 15 minutes of practice for being late to pre-race inspection. Kyle Busch had to miss the final 15 minutes of practice for failing pre-race inspection at Bristol twice. Austin Dillon sat out the final 30 minutes for failing pre-race inspection three times at Bristol.

Cla	#	Driver	4506	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	18	28.543			172.287
2	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	11	28.585	0.042	0.042	172.034
3	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	21	28.591	0.048	0.006	171.998
4	88	Alex Bowman	Chevrolet	23	28.594	0.051	0.003	171.980
5	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	28	28.603	0.060	0.009	171.926
6	20	Erik Jones	Toyota	26	28.611	0.068	0.008	171.878
7	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	21	28.633	0.090	0.022	171.746
8	12	Ryan Blaney	Ford	23	28.640	0.097	0.007	171.704
9	10	Aric Almirola	Ford	21	28.666	0.123	0.026	171.548
10	21	Paul Menard	Ford	22	28.720	0.177	0.054	171.226
11	95	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	23	28.751	0.208	0.031	171.041
12	24	William Byron	Chevrolet	23	28.795	0.252	0.044	170.780
13	19	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	17	28.817	0.274	0.022	170.649
14	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.	Chevrolet	17	28.849	0.306	0.032	170.460
15	78	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	16	28.853	0.310	0.004	170.436
16	22	Joey Logano	Ford	24	28.881	0.338	0.028	170.271
17	41	Kurt Busch	Ford	18	28.897	0.354	0.016	170.177
18	9	Chase Elliott	Chevrolet	19	28.919	0.376	0.022	170.047
19	14	Clint Bowyer	Ford	24	28.943	0.400	0.024	169.906
20	4	Kevin Harvick	Ford	23	28.950	0.407	0.007	169.865
21	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	22	28.977	0.434	0.027	169.707
22	6	Matt Kenseth	Ford	17	29.033	0.490	0.056	169.380
23	13	Ty Dillon	Chevrolet	22	29.043	0.500	0.010	169.321
24	37	Chris Buescher	Chevrolet	20	29.044	0.501	0.001	169.316
25	34	Michael McDowell	Ford	17	29.101	0.558	0.057	168.984
26	32	Matt DiBenedetto	Ford	24	29.166	0.623	0.065	168.607
27	38	David Ragan	Ford	22	29.167	0.624	0.001	168.602
28	47	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	20	29.172	0.629	0.005	168.573
29	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	15	29.333	0.790	0.161	167.647
30	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	12	29.349	0.806	0.016	167.556
31	96	Jeffrey Earnhardt	Toyota	21	29.808	1.265	0.459	164.976
32	72	Corey Lajoie	Chevrolet	17	29.846	1.303	0.038	164.766
33	15	Ross Chastain	Chevrolet	14	30.055	1.512	0.209	163.620
34	52	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	1	30.112	1.569	0.057	163.310
35	00	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	15	30.537	1.994	0.425	161.037
36	66	Timmy Hill	Toyota	2	30.902	2.359	0.365	159.135
37	23	Joey Gase	Toyota	13	31.026	2.483	0.124	158.499
38	51	B.J. McLeod	Chevrolet	3	31.083	2.540	0.057	158.209
39	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	1	38.924	10.381	7.841	126.339
40	99	Derrike Cope	Chevrolet