Teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson actually posted the same best average lap speed during Saturday’s 50-minute practice session at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway (161.081 mph).
Fellow Hendrick driver Chase Elliott ended up third (161.022 mph), while Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (159.600 mph) and Tyler Reddick (159.568 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Counting last weekend’s non-points All-Star Race, HMS drivers have won the past five races in the Cup series, with Larson leading the way during the stretch with three.
NASCAR is making its first return to this track in 10 years but the Cup series has never conducted a race on the 1.33-mile concrete oval.
Completing the top-10 in single-car speeds were Kurt Busch, Ross Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman and HMS driver Alex Bowman.
Among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Larson had the best average speed (157.488 mph). He was followed by Chastain and Kevin Harvick in that category.