Daniel Hemric leads Thursday's first Cup practice at Charlotte

Hemric, who won the pole for the Monster Energy Open race last weekend, led the way in Thursday's first Cup Series practice session in preparation for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600.

Hemric’s set his fast average lap speed of 182.791 mph late in the 50-minute session, topping Chase Elliott (182.340 mph) and William Byron (182.211 mph).

“It would be pretty special to win the pole,” Hemric said. “The car feels even a little better than it did last week.”

Kyle Busch was fourth and Jimmie Johnson completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 were Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Alex Bowman, Austin Dillon, Clint Bowyer and Martin Truex Jr.

All four Hendrick Motorsports cars ended up in the top-seven, as Bowman charged into the top-10 late in the session.

Kyle Busch won the pole for last year’s 600 with an average lap speed of 191.836 mph.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	8	29.542			182.791
2	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	8	29.615	0.073	0.073	182.340
3	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	8	29.636	0.094	0.021	182.211
4	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	8	29.643	0.101	0.007	182.168
5	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	7	29.669	0.127	0.026	182.008
6	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	8	29.671	0.129	0.002	181.996
7	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	10	29.683	0.141	0.012	181.922
8	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	8	29.688	0.146	0.005	181.892
9	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	8	29.693	0.151	0.005	181.861
10	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	7	29.693	0.151	0.000	181.861
11	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	11	29.728	0.186	0.035	181.647
12	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	10	29.729	0.187	0.001	181.641
13	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	11	29.749	0.207	0.020	181.519
14	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	11	29.750	0.208	0.001	181.513
15	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	8	29.761	0.219	0.011	181.446
16	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	8	29.768	0.226	0.007	181.403
17	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	10	29.781	0.239	0.013	181.324
18	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	8	29.807	0.265	0.026	181.165
19	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	13	29.858	0.316	0.051	180.856
20	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	14	29.909	0.367	0.051	180.548
21	22	Joey Logano		Ford	10	29.919	0.377	0.010	180.487
22	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	11	29.930	0.388	0.011	180.421
23	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	8	29.938	0.396	0.008	180.373
24	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	8	29.958	0.416	0.020	180.252
25	21	Paul Menard		Ford	10	29.959	0.417	0.001	180.246
26	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	11	29.962	0.420	0.003	180.228
27	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	6	29.968	0.426	0.006	180.192
28	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	11	29.977	0.435	0.009	180.138
29	38	David Ragan		Ford	11	30.049	0.507	0.072	179.706
30	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	11	30.098	0.556	0.049	179.414
31	96	Parker Kligerman		Toyota	11	30.340	0.798	0.242	177.983
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	37	30.518	0.976	0.178	176.945
33	15	Ross Chastain		Chevrolet	2	30.601	1.059	0.083	176.465
34	53	B.J. McLeod		Chevrolet	2	30.952	1.410	0.351	174.464
35	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	9	30.992	1.450	0.040	174.239
36	52	Bayley Currey		Chevrolet	4	31.070	1.528	0.078	173.801
37	51	Cody Ware		Ford	4	31.381	1.839	0.311	172.079
38	27	Reed Sorenson		Chevrolet	6	31.463	1.921	0.082	171.630
39	77	Quin Houff		Chevrolet	8	31.801	2.259	0.338	169.806
40	66	Joey Gase		Toyota	10	32.236	2.694	0.435	167.515