NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Truex Fires First Salvo
Martin Truex Jr. won his only NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover in June 2007.
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 28, 2012   Dover, DE
Martin Truex Jr. made the Chase this year for the second time. (Photo: Getty Images)
New Jersey native Martin Truex Jr. led the first of two practice rounds for the AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Dover International Speedway on Friday, as Toyotas dominated early.

Truex lapped the 1-mile Monster Mile at 157.082 miles per hour, his No. 56 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota tops among the 48 cars entered in Sunday’s race.

Teammate Clint Bowyer, still very much in the championship hunt, was second fast at 156.597 mph in his No. 15 MWR Toyota.

Denny Hamlin went out in the first minute of practice and put down a lap of 156.522 mph in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. Hamlin began the practice in qualifying trim and his time stood for most of the session until Bowyer dropped him to second and then Truex pushed him back to third.

Mark Martin made it three MWR entries in the top four, as his fast lap was 156.325 mph.

Greg Biffle was the first of the Roush Fenway Racing Fords, running 156.311 mph, good enough for fifth.

Hamlin’s teammate Kyle Busch was sixth, followed by Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 12th, Tony Stewart 15th, Jimmie Johnson 25th and Brad Keselowski 29th. Danica Patrick was the slowest of the 48 cars.

With two races in the books in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, seven-time Dover winner Johnson comes into Sunday’s race with a lead of 1 point over Keselowski. Hamlin (-7) is third, followed by Stewart (-10).

Interestingly, the top four in points all have at least three race victories this season and collectively have won 15 of the 28 races contested so far.

SPEED will televise Happy Hour from Dover live this afternoon at 2:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and will also be on SPEED.

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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