Rusty Wallace has nine career victories at Bristol. Credit: Chris Stanford/Getty Images

Wallace leads practice, aims for 10th Bristol win

BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Casting wary eyes toward an ominous sky, Nextel Cup drivers took to the .533-mile concrete bullring at Bristol Motor Speedway about midday Friday for a two-hour practice.

With rain forecast for the afternoon, qualifying remains iffy -- and should the field for the Food City 500 be set by owners' points, Friday's practice is the only time the series' cars will be on the track until race day.

Bristol 2004A look back at the drama from last year's Food City 500 Bristol previewKasey Kahne and Carl Edwards look ahead to Bristol Weather reportCNN/Headline News forecasts Bristol's weekend weather Sign up for TrackPass now BUY YOUR NEXTEL DRIVER PHONE

Qualifying is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. ET, and then the cars will be impounded until Sunday morning.

Rusty Wallace's No. 2 Dodge was the fastest of the 49 cars in practice. He turned in a fast lap of 127.191, and he was one of only two drivers to top the 127-mph barrier. Jeff Gordon was second fastest (127.090), followed by Jeremy Mayfield (126.813), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (126.403) and rookies Kyle Busch (126.195) and Travis Kvapil (125.955).

"I've won here nine times," Wallace said after practice. "Ten [wins] sounds good."

Wallace won the first of his 55 career Cup victories at Bristol in the spring of 1986. Overall, Wallace -- in his final season in NASCAR's top stock car series -- has led at least one lap in 27 of 42 races at Bristol and has led 3,577 laps, more than any other active driver.

Rounding out the top 10 were Jamie McMurray, Kyle Petty, and Roush Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Matt Kenseth, the past two Nextel Cup champions.

	Jamie McMurray Credit: Autostock
	FOOD CITY 500 •   Practice Speeds •   Complete race coverage

McMurray, who has three top-10 finishes in four races at Bristol, said the weather would have little to do with preparations for Sunday's race. "We've run pretty much the same setup here the last four or five races and finished in the top 10 every time.

"The new setups people use aren't something you can do here. This place is a very conventional setup and it's very basic. I don't think [the weather] will be an issue."

Mike Wallace was fastest through the first 45 minutes of practice, posting an early speed of 124.299 mph. Casey Mears eclipsed Wallace with a fast-lap speed of 124.492, and for the first hour-plus they were the only cars to top 124 mph.

Then came Mike Bliss' 125.077 mph lap, which was bested by Kevin Harvick's 125.584 with less than 20 minutes remaining in practice.

Ryan Newman ran a practice-high 161 laps with a best-lap speed of 123.586 mph. Thirteen drivers ran at least 100 laps, including Wallace at 131.

Nextel Cup point standings leader Jimmie Johnson was 15th in practice at 125.330 mph, while second-place Greg Biffle was 44th at 123.269.