Fresh off his pole at Richmond, Brian Vickers put his No. 83 atop the speed charts during Friday’s opening practice session at the Darlington Raceway with a lap of 28.235 seconds at a speed of 174.167 mph. After struggling at Bristol and Martinsville, Vickers has worked his way back to the sixteenth-spot in the series standings. In six previous starts at Darlington, the driver of the No. 83 Red Bull Toyota has led only one lap and his best finish is sixteenth.

Last year, Greg Biffle had one of the strongest cars in the field until an engine ruined the day. Despite leading 95 laps on the evening, Biffle was forced to watch the remainder of the event from the infield. Looking for a bit of redemption, the Washington-native posted the second-fastest time of Friday’s opening practice session.

Go-or-go-home driver David Gilliland was third-quick in his No. 71 TRG Motorsports Chevrolet, while Carl Edwards and David Stremme rounded out the top-5. Jamie McMurray, Joe Nemechek, Regan Smith, Kyle Busch and Scott Riggs made up the rest of the top-10.

A number of drivers earned their ‘Darlington Stripe’ during the weekend’s first practice session, including Tony Stewart. Scott Speed, Dave Blaney and David Reutimann spun during the session, with Speed and Reutimann receiving significant damage to their rides forcing them to back-ups.

The Cup cars are back on the track now for the second session of the day, with qualifying set for 5:10pm E.T.  Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com to follow along with all the action from the Darlington Raceway.

COMPLETE NASCAR CUP SERIES PRACTICE RESULTS

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