Larson leads first Darlington practice

The No. 42 Chevrolet from SABCO Racing was fastest in first practice at Darlington Raceway.

Kyle Larson of Chip Ganassi Racing put his throwback paint scheme honoring team co-owner Felix Sabates at the top of the leaderboard Friday afternoon in the opening Bojangles' Southern 500 practice. Larson's best lap around the famed 1.366-mile speedway was 173.064 mph in an uneventful 1 hour, 25-minute session.

• Results

Denny Hamlin was second fastest at 172.644 mph. Hamlin was then followed by three Ford drivers. Brad Keselowski was third quickest at 172.584 mph, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was fourth at 171.896 mph and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five at 171.890 mph.

The rest of the top 10 were Kasey Kahne (171.848 mph), Chase Elliott (171.734 mph), Matt Kenseth (171.584 mph), Kurt Busch (171.494 mph), and Ryan Newman (171.363 mph). Busch ran the most laps in practice at 61.

Defending race winner Martin Truex Jr. was 18th fastest in the session at 170.377 mph.

All 40 cars entered made it out on track in the session and will make the field for Sunday's race.

Next up: Final practice at 3:30 p.m. ET.