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Carl Edwards fastest in opening Sprint Cup practice at Kentucky

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 - Practice

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - APRIL 07: Carl Edwards, driver of the #19 Stanley Toyota, talks to Kyle Busch, driver of the #18 Interstate Batteries Toyota, during practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 7, 2016 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Brian Lawdermilk/Getty Images)

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Carl Edwards led the way in the first and only practice session for the Sprint Cup Series on Thursday afternoon at Kentucky Speedway with a lap of 186.451 mph. He was followed by Toyota teammates Kyle Busch (186.181), Martin Truex Jr. (185.217), and Denny Hamlin (185.084) with Jimmie Johnson (184.989) rounding out the top five.

With Kentucky being newly paved, many teams spent the session scuffing tires they will carry over into Saturday night’s event.

The session was eventful for two drivers, Brad Keselowski and Kasey Kahne, as they discovered how slick the new surface is. Two-time Kentucky winner Keselowski scraped the Turn 4 wall just moments after the track opened for practice. Kahne later got into the wall coming off Turn 2. Both teams repaired their primary cars.

Here are the speeds from the first practice.

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