Only minutes after finishing sixth in Truck Series practice, Kyle Larson jumped into his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for the first NASCAR Cup Series practice session at North Wilkesboro Speedway in 27 years.
He turned a fast lap of 20.615 seconds (109.144 mph), locking down the lead position in the 37-car field.
Larson is a two-time All-Star Race winner and most recently won the $1 million-to-win event at Texas Motor Speedway in 2021.
RFK Racing’s Brad Keselowski wheeled his No. 6 Ford to second on the leaderboard, logging a 20.755-second lap at 108.408 mph. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Denny Hamlin was third in his No. 11 Toyota. Chris Buescher was fourth in his No. 17 RFK Racing entry, while Stewart-Haas Racing’s Chase Briscoe put a third Ford car in the top five.
Martin Truex Jr., William Byron, Kevin Harvick, Chandler Smith and Ryan Preece completed the top 10.
Smith and Preece will both compete in the All-Star Open, as they are not locked into Sunday’s 200-lap race.
A.J. Allmendinger (11th in practice), Ty Gibbs (13th) and Noah Gragson (17th) also led the contingent of drivers entered in the Open. Remaining entries include Aric Almirola, J.J. Yeley, Harrison Burton, Justin Haley, Michael McDowell, Todd Gilliland, Josh Berry, Ryan Newman, Ty Dillon and Josh Bilicki.
The top two finishers in the Open on Sunday morning will transfer to the evening All-Star Race.