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Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch fastest in Friday Sprint Cup practice at Pocono

Harvick Pocono 2015 Getty

Kevin Harvick was fastest in Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice session at Pocono Raceway (Photo: Getty Images).

Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch were the fastest in Friday’s lone Sprint Cup practice at Pocono Raceway.

Harvick put in 17 laps around the 2.5-mile Tricky Triangle, with the fastest lap being 176.932 mph.

The younger Busch brother was second-fastest at 176.772 mph, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards (176.717 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (176.564) and Austin Dillon (176.561).

Denny Hamlin was sixth fastest (176.547), Brad Keselowski was the only Ford driver in the top 10 (176.509), followed by Martin Truex Jr. (176.363), Jimmie Johnson (176.339) and Jeff Gordon (176.305).

Qualifying for Sunday’s Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 takes place later Friday afternoon at 4:45 pm ET. There will be two additional Cup practices on Saturday morning.

One mishap of note occurred. Just after the midpoint of the 85-minute session, Tony Stewart lost control past Turn 2 and slid into a tire wall.

Stewart told Fox Sports 1, “I was already past the bump (from the tunnel turn), got loose on the exit of it and I couldn’t catch it. So, driver error.”

The damage was severe enough to prompt the team to immediately go to a back-up car for the remainder of the weekend.

But that could bode well for Stewart, if past history is any indication. In 2009, he started from the rear of the field in a back-up car and roared forward to earn the victory, the first win in Stewart-Haas Racing history.

All told, Stewart has two wins and 12 top-5 and 22 top-10 finishes in 32 career Cup Pocono starts.

Early in the session, Sam Hornish Jr. also took a solo-car spin, but did not suffer any damage to his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

Here’s how Friday’s solo practice session played out:

C1514_PRAC1

Follow @JerryBonkowski