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Defending champion Kyle Busch landed atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series leaderboard Friday afternoon in opening practice at Kansas Speedway.
Busch ripped off a lap of 194.595 mph around the 1.5-mile track in the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota. His speed slightly slower than the track qualifying record of 197.612 mph, set by Kevin Harvick in October 2014.
His brother, Kurt Busch, was second-fastest in the 70-minute session with a best lap of 194.119 mph in the Stewart-Haas Racing No. 41 Chevrolet. Carl Edwards was third-fastest at 194.098 mph in the Gibbs No. 19 Toyota in opening prep for Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400 (2:15 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the fifth of 10 races in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs.
Alex Bowman, scheduled for his sixth Sprint Cup start of the season in place of Dale Earnhardt Jr., was fourth-fastest in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 88 Chevrolet. Teammate Chase Elliott, a top Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidate, completed the top five in his No. 24 Chevy (194.056 mph).
The cars of Kyle Busch, a first-time Kansas winner in May, and Kyle Larson were both held in the garage for 30 minutes as a penalty for post-race actions in last weekend's Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. NASCAR competition officials had warned teams three weeks ago in the drivers' and crew chiefs' meeting at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to avoid taking measures on the cool-down lap that might circumvent the post-race Laser Inspection Station (LIS) platform.
"We told them then that we would look at our resources after the races and we've been doing that," said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior Vice President of Competition. "They swerved. That's about all there is to it."
The cars of Tony Stewart, Regan Smith, Paul Menard and Kasey Kahne were also held 15 minutes on pit road for an accumulation of written warnings and minor infractions.
The practice session began 20 minutes after its scheduled 1 p.m. ET start time because of persistent damp conditions after a morning rain. To allow teams more practice time, the end of the session was extended five minutes to 2:30 p.m. ET.
Martin Truex Jr., set to make his 400th premier-series start Sunday, was seventh-fastest in the Furniture Row Racing No. 78 Toyota (193.882 mph). Jimmie Johnson, last weekend's winner in Charlotte, was eighth-best on the early leaderboard in his No. 48 HMS Chevy (193.653 mph).