RELATED: Practice 1 results
Austin Dillon rose to the top of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaderboard in Friday’s opening practice at Auto Club Speedway.
Dillon drove the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet to a best lap of 188.511 mph on the 2-mile California track. His speed was slightly better than the track qualifying record of 188.425 mph, a benchmark established by Kyle Busch in February 2005.
Martin Truex Jr., piloting the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota, landed the second-fastest lap in early preparation for Sunday’s Auto Club 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM). Home-state favorite Kevin Harvick, last week’s winner by inches at Phoenix, pushed the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 4 Chevrolet to the third-fastest lap at 188.304 mph.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (188.289 mph) and Chris Buescher (187.829) completed the top five in a pair of Fords.
Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson, Hendrick Motorsports teammates, were sixth- and seventh-fastest, respectively. Defending race winner Brad Keselowski registered the 14th-fastest lap in the Team Penske No. 2 Ford.
No driver ran more than 10 consecutive laps in the opening 85-minute session.
RELATED: See at-track photos from Friday’s action
Opening practice was slowed once by debris in Turns 1 and 2. Stenhouse’s Roush Fenway Racing No. 17 Ford was held 15 minutes at the start of the session as punishment for difficulties passing through the laser inspection station last week at Phoenix.
Friday’s Coors Light Pole Qualifying for the Sprint Cup Series is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. ET (FS1).