Ryan Newman topped the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice charts at Kansas Speedway in his No. 39 U.S. ARMY Chevy with a quick time of 31.080 seconds at 173.745mph.

Newman currently sits 7th in the Cup point standings, only 110 points away from leader Mark Martin. A good showing for the No. 39 team could get them within shouting distance of the point leaders just in time to take on Fontana next weekend.

Defending Series champion, Jimmie Johnson, was 2nd to Newman in the session with a fast lap of 31.125 seconds at 173.494mph. Johnson is also second in the point standings.

Chase for the Sprint Cup contenders Juan Pablo Montoya and Tony Stewart were 3rd and 5th in the first practice session, sandwiching non-Chaser Clint Bowyer between them in 4th.

The rest of the top ten on the speed charts are all non-Chase drivers. David Ragan finished 6th followed by Martin Truex Jr., A.J. Allmendinger, David Stremme and Brad Keselowski, who will be in the Sprint Cup Series full-time next year.

Jeff Gordon was the next highest Chaser; he finished the session in 13th, followed by Chase contender Greg Biffle and points leader Mark Martin.

The other five Chasers were quite spaced out in the session.

Denny Hamlin ended up 19th, Brian Vickers was 23rd, Carl Edwards was 27th, while Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne finished 33rd and 45th, respectively.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will qualify for Sunday’s Price Chopper 400 later this afternoon. The qualifying session will broadcast on ESPN2 beginning at 4:30pm ET today.

                  PRICE CHOPPER 400 PRACTICE 1 RESULTS

 MORE NASCAR NEWS