The temperatures may have been in the low 30s Saturday morning, but Denny Hamlin was hot.
Hamlin, a four-time Sprint Cup winner at Martinsville Speedway, was the fastest in the first of two practice sessions, covering the .526-mile paperclip oval at 97.113 mph.
A pair of eight-time Martinsville winners were also pretty warm, as well: Jimmie Johnson was second-fastest (96.988 mph), followed by teammate Jeff Gordon (96.884). Another teammate, Kasey Kahne, was fourth-fastest (96.815) followed by Carl Edwards (96.711).
The second Sprint Cup practice of the day and the final happy hour session of the weekend in preparation for Sunday’s STP 500 will take place from 1 to 1:50 pm this afternoon.
Sprint Cup practice No. 2 speeds:
1 Denny Hamlin …. 97.113 … 53 laps
2 Jimmie Johnson … 96.988 … 53 laps
3 Jeff Gordon … 96.884 … 64 laps
4 Kasey Kahne … 96.815 … 63 laps
5 Carl Edwards … 96.711 … 58 laps
6 Paul Menard … 96.701 … 54 laps
7 Ryan Newman … 96.681 … 47 laps
8 Kyle Larson … 96.622 … 58 laps
9 Martin Truex Jr. … 96.612 … 50 laps
10 Kevin Harvick … 96.519 … 51 laps
11 Brad Keselowski … 96.489 … 67 laps
12 Kurt Busch … 96.484 … 66 laps
13 Aric Almirola … 96.470 … 46 laps
14 AJ Allmendinger … 96.381 … 37 laps
15 Joey Logano … 96.347 … 48 laps
16 Matt Kenseth … 96.337 … 44 laps
17 Tony Stewart … 96.322 … 67 laps
18 Dale Earnhardt Jr. … 96.176 … 59 laps
19 Josh Wise … 96.171 … 22 laps
20 Chase Elliott … 96.166 … 64 laps
21 Brett Moffitt … 96.151 … 73 laps
22 Austin Dillon … 96.127 … 63 laps
23 Jamie McMurray … 96.073 … 70 laps
24 David Ragan … 96.044 … 54 laps
25 Justin Allgaier … 95.942 … 40 laps
26 Casey Mears … 95.908 … 48 laps
27 Clint Bowyer … 95.864 … 43 laps
28 Danica Patrick … 95.762 … 62 laps
29 David Gilliland … 95.704 … 54 laps
30 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. … 95.690 … 38 laps
31 Sam Hornish Jr. … 95.670 … 31 laps
32 Greg Biffle … 95.656 … 43 laps
33 Michael Annett … 95.617 … 45 laps
34 Jeb Burton … 95.424 … 41 laps
35 Alex Bowman … 95.415 … 46 laps
36 Mike Bliss … 95.357 … 14 laps
37 Landon Cassill … 95.314 … 39 laps
38 Chris Buescher … 95.122 … 45 laps
39 Trevor Bayne … 95.113 … 91 laps
40 Cole Whitt … 95.060 … 29 laps
41 Alex Kennedy … 94.510 … 43 laps
42 Matt DiBenedetto … 94.195 … 24 laps
43 JJ Yeley … 94.064 … 39 laps
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