Elliott tops New Hampshire Cup practice; Hamlin wrecks

Elliott, who finished a career-best fifth at New Hampshire in last year’s race, topped the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 137.086 mph.

Kyle Busch ended up second (136.874 mph) and Matt DiBenedetto was third (same speed, tie broken by points). Ryan Blaney was fourth and Daniel Suarez completed the top-five.

With about four minutes left in the 55-minute practice session, Denny Hamlin spun in Turn 3 and slammed into the wall, doing significant damage to his No. 11 Toyota.

“I just got loose,” Hamlin said about the incident. His Joe Gibbs Racing team will move to a backup car which means Hamlin will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

Practice restarted for a few minutes following Hamlin’s incident, only to see Ryan Newman tag the wall in Turns 3 and 4 with the right-rear of his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. 

Newman's team decided after practice that they are also moving to a backup car and will have to start Sunday's race from the rear of the field as well.

Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	12	27.784			137.086
2	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	10	27.827	0.043	0.043	136.874
3	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	10	27.827	0.043	0.000	136.874
4	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	9	27.839	0.055	0.012	136.815
5	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	9	27.844	0.060	0.005	136.791
6	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	13	27.849	0.065	0.005	136.766
7	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	9	27.853	0.069	0.004	136.746
8	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	11	27.869	0.085	0.016	136.668
9	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	13	27.904	0.120	0.035	136.497
10	22	Joey Logano		Ford	26	27.932	0.148	0.028	136.360
11	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	10	27.945	0.161	0.013	136.296
12	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	10	27.988	0.204	0.043	136.087
13	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	11	28.002	0.218	0.014	136.019
14	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	10	28.009	0.225	0.007	135.985
15	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	10	28.018	0.234	0.009	135.941
16	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	8	28.039	0.255	0.021	135.839
17	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	13	28.061	0.277	0.022	135.733
18	21	Paul Menard		Ford	13	28.066	0.282	0.005	135.709
19	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	11	28.070	0.286	0.004	135.689
20	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	11	28.107	0.323	0.037	135.511
21	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	10	28.110	0.326	0.003	135.496
22	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	18	28.179	0.395	0.069	135.164
23	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	13	28.212	0.428	0.033	135.006
24	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	12	28.247	0.463	0.035	134.839
25	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	17	28.325	0.541	0.078	134.468
26	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	24	28.409	0.625	0.084	134.070
27	38	David Ragan		Ford	10	28.438	0.654	0.029	133.933
28	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	10	28.447	0.663	0.009	133.891
29	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	13	28.607	0.823	0.160	133.142
30	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	11	28.636	0.852	0.029	133.007
31	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	7	28.772	0.988	0.136	132.379
32	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	3	28.874	1.090	0.102	131.911
33	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	21	28.890	1.106	0.016	131.838
34	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	5	29.539	1.755	0.649	128.941
35	51	Andy Seuss		Ford	12	29.945	2.161	0.406	127.193
36	77	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	18	30.144	2.360	0.199	126.354
37	52	Austin Theriault		Chevrolet	1	4'26.384	3'58.600	3'56.240	14.298