Keselowski Fast Again; Tops Charts in First Atlanta Practice Session

Keselowski stays in groove (Getty)

There is no cooling off period for Brad Keselowski as he paced the first Atlanta practice session with a lap of 187.722 mph. Fresh off of winning at Bristol and going four straight races of placing within the top-three, Keselowski looks to be formidable again for Sunday night's race.

Denny Hamlin, with a lap speed of 186.679 mph, was second on the charts which should be a good sign for the struggling No. 11 team trying to hold on to the final Chase spot with only two races remaining until the field is set.

Clint Bowyer is in a similar position to Hamlin -- fighting for his season -- where he has to take care of business with a win or finish in the top-five with hopes that Tony Stewart falters. So far, so good for Bowyer as he ran the third fastest lap (185.016).

Martin Truex, Jr. (184.911) was fourth fastest and Mark Martin (184.794) was fifth. Both of these drivers have looked much better of late and could be onto something for the rest of the season. Truex Jr. also led the way with the fastest 10 consecutive lap average.

Rounding out the top-ten fastest was Brian Vickers (184.223), Greg Biffle (184.125), AJ Allmendinger (184.113), Jimmie Johnson (184.107) and Kasey Kahne (184.058).

The teams will return on Saturday for their final practice session that will run from 1:30 PM – 3:00 PM (EDT) and then return later in the day for their 5:10 PM (EDT) scheduled qualifying session. Results from today's practice session will set the qualifying order.

First Practice Speeds