FORT WORTH, Texas (November 2, 2012) – Martin Truex Jr., who the pole in April’s Samsung Mobile 500, posted the fastest lap in Friday’s opening NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice for the AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Truex Jr. (No. 56 Carlyle Tools by NAPA Toyota) ran a lap of 190.745 miles per hour (28.310 seconds) to top the 46 drivers that ran in the 90-minute practice session. Michael Waltrip Racing swept the top two spots as Mark Martin (No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota) was second at 190.449 mph.
Brad Keselowski (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), second in the Chase championship hunt, was third at 190.121 and was followed by Clint Bowyer (No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota) at 189.867 mph and Tony Stewart (No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet) at 188.805 mph to round out the top five.
Five-time Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson (No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet), the current leader in the Chase, was 27th at 185.867 mph.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the track at 3:40 p.m. CT today for SportsDay Qualifying Day Powered by The Dallas Morning News.
Frontstretch tickets for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500, the eighth race in the 10-event Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, are still available by visiting www.texasmotorspeedway.com or by calling (817) 215-8500.
| Pos | Car | Driver | Speed |
| 1 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | 190.745 |
| 2 | 55 | Mark Martin | 190.449 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 190.121 |
| 4 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 189.867 |
| 5 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 188.805 |
| 6 | 43 | Aric Alrmirola | 188.633 |
| 7 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | 187.963 |
| 8 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | 187.826 |
| 9 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | 187.748 |
| 10 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 187.735 |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 187.474 |
| 12 | 99 | Carl Edwards | 187.402 |
| 13 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | 187.272 |
| 14 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 187.149 |
| 15 | *21 | Trevor Bayne(i) | 187.052 |
| 16 | 31 | Jeff Burton | 186.696 |
| 17 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | 186.670 |
| 18 | 78 | Kurt Busch | 186.522 |
| 19 | 13 | Casey Mears | 186.503 |
| 20 | 42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 186.464 |
| 21 | 22 | Sam Hornish Jr.(i) | 186.361 |
| 22 | 27 | Paul Menard | 186.329 |
| 23 | 20 | Joey Logano | 186.091 |
| 24 | 39 | Ryan Newman | 186.027 |
| 25 | 38 | David Gilliland | 185.931 |
| 26 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | 185.918 |
| 27 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 185.867 |
| 28 | 51 | AJ Allmendinger | 185.790 |
| 29 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | 185.204 |
| 30 | *37 | JJ Yeley | 185.198 |
| 31 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | 184.944 |
| 32 | 34 | David Ragan | 184.881 |
| 33 | *30 | David Stremme | 184.653 |
| 34 | 10 | Danica Patrick(i) | 184.351 |
| 35 | *98 | Michael McDowell | 184.326 |
| 36 | *95 | Scott Speed | 184.244 |
| 37 | *79 | Kelly Bires | 183.880 |
| 38 | 83 | Landon Cassill | 183.767 |
| 39 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | 183.748 |
| 40 | *87 | Joe Nemechek(i) | 183.530 |
| 41 | *91 | Reed Sorenson(i) | 183.524 |
| 42 | *26 | Josh Wise # | 183.499 |
| 43 | *19 | Mike Bliss(i) | 183.492 |
| 44 | *33 | Stephen Leicht # | 182.667 |
| 45 | 36 | Dave Blaney | 182.186 |
| 46 | 32 | Ken Schrader | 180.138 |
| # Denotes
Rookie
* Required to qualify on time
(i) Ineligible for driver points in this series |