Larson leads opening Dover practice

Kyle Larson was fastest in the first NASCAR Cup Series practice of the weekend at Dover International Speedway at 164.444mph.

Dover is the first race in the Round of 12. Larson is still one of the playoff drivers after a dramatic last lap in last weekend's race at Charlotte.

Results

Larson has been dominant at Dover over the past three races. In the spring, Larson started from the pole and finished 10th, and in this race last year he finished fifth after leading 137 laps. Larson also finished second in the 2017 spring race after leading 241 laps. He has started no worse than fifth in the previous three Dover races.

Second quickest was the most recent Dover winner, Kevin Harvick. Harvick’s fastest lap was 163.451mph.

Completing the top five were Kurt Busch at 163.362 mph, Chase Elliott at 163.236mph, and Ryan Blaney at 162.719mph.

Three of the drivers eliminated from the playoffs last weekend were sixth through ninth fastest. Austin Dillon clocked in at 162.712mph with Denny Hamlin behind him at 162.690mph and then Erik Jones at 162.675mph.

Brad Keselowski was ninth fastest at 162.572mph. Daniel Suarez completed the top 10 at 162.528mph.

Defending race winner Kyle Busch was 19th on the speed chart at 161.834mph.

Because it was the only practice scheduled for Friday, most of the attention during the 50-minute session was on making mock qualifying runs.

There were no practice holds and no incidents during the session.

UP NEXT: Qualifying at 3:40 p.m. ET.