Teammates Kyle Larson And Kurt Busch Top Opening Brickyard 400 Practice

Daniel Suarez stands in the garage during practice for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Vodka 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. [Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images]

Speedway, Ind., Sept. 7—The opening practice for the Big Machine Vodka 400 at the Brickyard powered by Florida Georgia Line concluded with Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch atop the leader board.

Larson turned in the fastest lap late in the session with a time of 48.642 seconds and an average speed of 185.025 mph while Busch spent the entire session near the top of the board and had the second fastest time of 48.711 seconds and an average speed of 184.763 mph.

Defending Brickyard 400 winner Brad Keselowski put his Penske Racing Ford third fastest with a time of 48.754 seconds for an average speed of 184.600 mph while Chase Elliot was fourth in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at a time of 48.832 seconds (184.305 mph).

The surprise of the opening practice session was the performance of Darrell “Bubba” Wallace in the Richard Petty Motorsports #43 Chevrolet who turned in the fifth fastest lap with a time of 48.997 seconds at an average speed of 183.685 mph.

Clint Bowyer is one of the drivers fighting for the final NASCAR Playoff spots and he was sixth fastest followed by Alex Bowman and Ryan Blaney in seventh and eighth respectively.

Four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson who needs to either win or get a lot of help to make the playoffs this year, had the fastest lap for most of the session before many late runs dropped him to ninth overall while William Byron rounded out the top ten in practice speeds.

Noticeably absent from the top ten speeds were the Toyota contingent of drivers as Joe Gibb Racing teammates Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, and Erik Jones were eleventh through thirteenth and Martin Truex Jr. was twentieth.

Daniel Suarez and Ryan Newman are currently tied for the final playoff spot and both found themselves down in the order following the first practice with Suarez clocking in 22nd and Newman ending the session 27th fastest.

Dan Margetta

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