MENCS: Jimmie Johnson leads opening Cup practice at Charlotte

Jimmie Johnson was fastest in NASCAR Monster Energy Cup Series opening practice from Charlotte Motor Speedway. Johnson turned a lap of 80.968 and with a speed of 103.152 mph.

The top five was completed by Kyle Larson (103.088 mph), William Byron (102.453 mph), Clint Bowyer (102.409 mph) and Matt DiBenedetto (102.401 mph).

Michael McDowell, who was scheduled to turn laps in his No. 34 Ford, was transported to a local hospital this morning due to abdominal pain. Austin Cindric filled in for McDowell in opening Cup practice and was 24th quickest. McDowell has been cleared by doctors to return for qualifying later this afternoon.

The first Cup practice session seen several wrecks throughout the session.

Parker Kligerman hit the wall in Turn 1 early on in the session and will go to a backup as a result.

Kyle Busch locked up the tires and missed the frontstretch chicane. Later on in the session, Busch would miss the backstretch chicane in order to miss the No. 66 of Timmy Hill.

Denny Hamlin spun and made contact with the tire barrier in Turn 5 with just under 30 minutes left in the session and would have to go to a backup, which means that driver No. 11 will start from the rear of the field on Sunday.

Joe Nemecheck brought out the red flag when he stalled in the backstretch chicane.

Bubba Wallace spun in Turn 5 late in the practice session.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Bank of America Roval 400 begins at 4:40 p.m. Eastern on NBCSN.

Matthew Jackson
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