Almirola tops SHR 1-2 in opening Las Vegas Cup practice

LAS VEGAS — Seeking redemption from a good Daytona 500 run cut short, Aric Almirola topped first practice with a lap speed of 178.654 MPH with his no. 10 Smithfield Ford. Almirola was followed by teammate Clint Bowyer who posted a lap speed of 178.383 MPH in his no. 14 BlueDEF Ford.

Almirola and Bowyer were among the five Fords to be amongst the top 10 fastest in Cup practice. Chevrolet drivers made up the rest of the top 10 with Ty Dillon posting the third-fastest lap speed of 178.071 MPH with his no. 13 GEICO Chevrolet.

Toyota teams were shut out from being the top 10 fastest teams but not the top 15. Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch posted the 14th and 15th fastest lap speeds of 176.448 MPH and 176.378 MPH, respectively in their no. 19 Bass Pro Shops and no. 18 Snickers White Toyotas.

Ross Chastain posted the 18th fastest lap speed of 176.022 MPH in the no. 6 Wyndham Rewards Ford, in a fill-in effort for Ryan Newman.

Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin posted the 25th fastest lap speed of 175.120 MPH in his no. 11 FedEx Toyota.