Just a few blocks from their team’s headquarters, teammates Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson made the boss proud by leading Thursday’s opening practice session for the Sprint Cup cars. Martin topped the charts with a fast-lap of 29.155 seconds at a speed of 185.217 mph. The 2002 Coca-Cola 600 winner is one of the strongest cars in the field week-in and week-out and Thursday efforts proved that once again.

Defending champion Jimmie Johnson was second fastest with a lap of 29.169 seconds at 185.128 mph. From 2003 to 2005 Johnson simply owned Lowe’s Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600. During that period, Johnson won five of six events held at the 1.5-mile facility and finished third in the other race. However, since then Johnson has been unable to find Victory Lane.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin ran only four laps in the session, but was still able to post the third fastest time. The driver of the No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota ran his fastest lap on his first lap, laying down a time of 29.263 seconds at 184.533 mph.

Juan Pablo Montoya and Brian Vickers rounded out the top-5.

Qualifying for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for 7:10pm E.T. later this evening. With no action on the track on Friday, the Cup cars will be back in action starting at 2:45pm E.T. on Saturday for the first of two practice sessions that day.

Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com for all of the latest from Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

COMPLETE PRACTICE RESULTS

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