CUP: Kenseth Claims Early Practice

Sprint Cup

CUP: Kenseth Claims Early Practice

Matt Kenseth is competing in his final race with Roush Fenway Racing…

Tom Jensen | Posted November 17, 2012 Homestead, FL

The first of Saturday's two practices at Homestead was marred by an accident. (Image: SPEED)

In his final weekend with Roush Fenway Racing, veteran Matt Kenseth led the first of Saturday’s two practices for the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Kenseth had a best lap of 169.279 miles per hour, enough to lead the session over teammate Greg Biffle, who ran 168.660 mph, the Toyotas of Mark Martin and Kyle Busch and the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet of four-time series champion Jeff Gordon.

But the big story was further back in the field.

In this practice, Brad Keselowski was faster than his championship rival Jimmie Johnson during the one-hour session. Keselowski ended the practice 14th, seven positions ahead of Johnson. In the first session on Friday, Johnson was faster than Keselowski, but in qualifying, Keselowski placed third and Johnson 10th.

There was an incident in Saturday’s practice, when Biffle and Denny Hamlin crashed on the frontstretch midway through the session, with both drivers forced to go to backup cars for the race.

The incident also collected pole-sitter Joey Logano, who like Biffle and Hamlin will go to a backup and start from the rear of the field. That means third-place qualifier Keselowski will move up and start from Row 1.

SPEED will televise today’s final Happy Hour round of practice at 3 p.m. ET.

Keselowski holds a 20-point lead over Johnson headed into the season finale, and will win the championship no matter where Johnson finishes if he can bring the No. 2 Penske Dodge home 15th or higher.

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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