Hendrick teammates Byron and Elliott lead first Cup practice

William, who picked up some right-side damage early in the session, rebounded to post the fastest average lap speed at 134.594 mph late in the 50-minute session.

“You got to know where the wall’s at, you know. I nicked it a little bit,” Byron said. “The car is pretty good. We need a little more speed but I thought we were pretty good.”

Elliott ended up second (133.848 mph) and Brad Keselowski third (133.308 mph). Clint Bowyer and Kurt Busch rounded out the top-five.

In addition to Byron, Corey LaJoie also got into the wall during one of his practice runs.

Rounding out the top-10 speeds were Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney.

“I always feel a little better going into Phoenix just because I have so many good memories there and good runs,” said Jones, who has two Truck Series wins at the track. “We’ve come close to winning in Xfinity and Cup and have been in contention.

“At all the places you’ve won, you have a little bit extra in your notebook of what it actually takes to win a race.”

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	28	26.747			134.595
2	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	33	26.896	0.149	0.149	133.849
3	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	28	27.005	0.258	0.109	133.309
4	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	18	27.020	0.273	0.015	133.235
5	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	31	27.023	0.276	0.003	133.220
6	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	26	27.036	0.289	0.013	133.156
7	22	Joey Logano		Ford	34	27.055	0.308	0.019	133.062
8	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	31	27.076	0.329	0.021	132.959
9	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	24	27.115	0.368	0.039	132.768
10	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	27	27.141	0.394	0.026	132.641
11	41	Cole Custer		Ford	20	27.164	0.417	0.023	132.528
12	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	24	27.166	0.419	0.002	132.519
13	8	Tyler Reddick		Chevrolet	36	27.175	0.428	0.009	132.475
14	6	Ross Chastain		Ford	23	27.181	0.434	0.006	132.445
15	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	32	27.194	0.447	0.013	132.382
16	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	28	27.196	0.449	0.002	132.372
17	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	26	27.215	0.468	0.019	132.280
18	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	21	27.220	0.473	0.005	132.256
19	37	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	20	27.239	0.492	0.019	132.163
20	21	Matt DiBenedetto		Ford	26	27.247	0.500	0.008	132.125
21	95	Christopher Bell		Toyota	24	27.255	0.508	0.008	132.086
22	47	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Chevrolet	32	27.292	0.545	0.037	131.907
23	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	24	27.298	0.551	0.006	131.878
24	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	26	27.308	0.561	0.010	131.830
25	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	29	27.336	0.589	0.028	131.694
26	38	John Hunter Nemechek		Ford	25	27.343	0.596	0.007	131.661
27	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	31	27.389	0.642	0.046	131.440
28	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	31	27.392	0.645	0.003	131.425
29	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	7	27.477	0.730	0.085	131.019
30	17	Chris Buescher		Ford	15	27.538	0.791	0.061	130.728
31	96	Daniel Suarez		Toyota	18	27.731	0.984	0.193	129.819
32	52	J.J. Yeley		Ford	11	27.750	1.003	0.019	129.730
33	15	Brennan Poole		Chevrolet	20	27.880	1.133	0.130	129.125
34	00	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	13	28.317	1.570	0.437	127.132
35	51	Garrett Smithley		Chevrolet	9	28.522	1.775	0.205	126.218
36	53	Joey Gase		Chevrolet	14	28.529	1.782	0.007	126.187
37	77	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	1	30.968	4.221	2.439	116.249