CUP: Vickers, Earnhardt Jr. Fastest In Practice

Sprint Cup

CUP: Vickers, Earnhardt Jr. Fastest In Practice

Brian Vickers is back in the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 this week…

Tom Jensen | Posted October 26, 2012 Martinsville, VA

Brian Vickers will pull double duty this weekend in Texas, competing in both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events. (Photo: Getty Images)

Brian Vickers led today’s only round of practice for Sunday’s Tums Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway. But the big story wasn’t who lead practice, but who was in second place.

Vickers, driving the No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota this week, posted the top speed at 97.679 miles per hour, tops among the 45 cars setting times.

Right behind Vickers was Dale Earnhardt Jr., back after missing the last two races because of a concussion. Earnhardt ran 97.488 mph in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, good enough for second place in the session.

Seven-time Martinsville winner Jeff Gordon was third in another Hendrick Chevy, going 97.778 mph. Then it was four-time Martinsville winner Denny Hamlin in a Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Paul Menard completed the top five in his Richard Childress Racing Chevy.

The second five consisted of Clint Bowyer, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Matt Kenseth. Series points leader Brad Keselowski was 15th.

Sunday’s race is the seventh of 10 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Keselowski leads points so far, with Jimmie Johnson (-7), Denny Hamlin (-20) and Clint Bowyer (-25) his closet pursuers.

SPEED will televise Sprint Cup qualifying today at 3:30 p.m. ET, as well as both practice rounds tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. and noon.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.

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Tom Jensen

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