BRISTOL, Tenn. -- After a delay of 3 hours for track drying following morning rain showers, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series hit Bristol Motor Speedway for practice on Friday afternoon.
Erik Jones did not waste any time showing the way, posting the fastest lap at 127.843 miles per hour in his No. 77 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.
Rounding out the top five on the speed chart for Fridays lone practice were Kyle Busch (127.090 mph), Ryan Blaney (126.989 mph), Martin Truex Jr. (126.964 mph) and Matt Kenseth (126.704 mph).
With more rain in the forecast that could wash out Saturdays two scheduled practices, Fridays session took on more importance than normal.
Im betting well get practice today and then maybe that will be it until the race, Danica Patrick said prior to Fridays session. I think well just work on our race car and maybe running the bottom will be a little bit more important. The effort is always the same.You try and go as fast as you can every single lap, no matter where youre running.
Patrick struggled to go as fast as most of the rest of the field on Friday, when he fastest lap time of 120.060 mph was nearly 8 miles an hour slower than Jones and ranked 38th of the 39 cars that made it onto the .526-mile short track.
See below complete results from Fridays practice.
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