Team Penske driver Joey Logano topped the speed charts in first practice for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers at Michigan International Speedway.

Logano put in a speed of 204.545mph in the Pennzoil #22 with only one minute to go in the 1hour 20minute session to jump over Carl Edwards in the #99 car and go quickest.

The Team Penske drivers time was only 2 thousands of a second slower than the track record at MIS and there will more than likely be a new track record today in qualifying for the Cup Series.

Brian Vickers in the #55, Kurt Busch in the #41 and Ricky Stenhouse Jr in the #17 rounded out the top five in the first practice session on the 2 mile oval.

It has been a busy week for the a Cup Series and NASCAR as a whole as it was announced that drivers must remain in their cars unless it is an extreme circumstance in a crash after the tragedy to Kevin Ward Jr.

Also the Wood Brothers announced that Truck Series points leader Ryan Blaney would drive a limited schedule for them next year after some impressive performances in NASCAR's third tier.

The day began with news of three driver changes for today's session for the Sprint Cup Series.

Jeff Burton will be in the #14 subbing for Tony Stewart this weekend, Camping World Truck Series champion Matt Crafton will be in the #78 car for Martin Truex Jr until Sundays race and Ryan Blaney is in the #21 car for Trevor Bayne who is running the Nationwide Series race at Mid-Ohio.

Burton was 25th quickest in the session as the #14 machine had a rear oil leak early on in the session, Blaney was 27th quickest in the Wood Brothers #21 and Crafton was 37th in the #78.

Six-time Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson struggled in the first practice as he could only go 39th on the speed charts in the #48.

The 1hour 20minute session began with Danica Patrick in the #10 GoDaddy car being quickest with a speed of 200.232mph as Burton in the #14 reported smoke coming from the rear-end of the #14 car.

Stewart Haas Racing were the fastest team early on as three of their drivers made up the top three positions, Patrick, Busch and Harvick, which will be promising for the team as their boss Stewart is away this weekend.

Kurt Busch in the #41 was the second driver to go over 200mph on his second run out on track with a 200.250mph to go 2nd after 18 minutes.

With 20 minutes elapsed in the session: Patrick, Busch, Logano, Edwards and Harvick made up the top five as Johnson was having problems in the #48.

The six time champion had been on track twice but only run one lap as he was complaining about a vibration in the car and was 41st out of the 41 drivers who had been on track with a 187.368mph.

With 27 minutes gone Roush Fenway driver Greg Biffle went top of the board with a 201.466mph in the #16 car.

After half an hour the track went quiet as teams brought the cars to the garage area to change the set-ups from race trim to qualifying trim to see how they will fare later on today.

There was a caution on track a minute later for some debris on the backstretch which lasted just ten minutes, as Biffles team had to change a cracked oil cooler on the #16 car under the yellow.

When the green flag came back out rookie Austin Dillon in the #3 went to 2nd on the chart with a speed of 200.485mph as Biffle cemented 1st place by going 202.817mph.

Five minutes later Paul Menard in the #27 was into 2nd on the board with a speed of 201.297mph but was quickly demoted to 3rd by last weeks runner-up Marcos Ambrose in the #9 who went 201.896mph.

Last weeks Watkins Glen winner AJ Allemdinger in the #47 went to 3rd on his second run on track with a speed of 201.794mph with 32 minutes of the session left.

With only half an hour to go in the practice session the top five were: Biffle, Ambrose, Allmendinger, Menard and Dillon.

Two minutes later Hendrick Motorsports driver Kasey Kahne was 2nd in the #5 car with a speed of 202.435mph as the speeds and times started to increase after the teams had made changes to the cars.

Birthday boy Edwards was top of the chart for the first time with 27 minutes to go with a speed of 204.111mph.

Just a few minutes later Stenhouse Jr in the #17 went into 3rd with a speed of 202.532mph to put Roush Fenway Racing 1-2-3 on the board for the first time in a long time in a practice session.

With 20 minutes to go eight out of the top ten drivers on the board were winless in the 2014 seasons and that could bode well for them in the race on Sunday if one of them can go to Victory Lane.

Kurt Busch was back into the top five in 2nd with 23 minutes left with a speed of 203.897mph in the Haas Automation #41.

Michael Waltrip Racing driver Brian Vickers jumped into the top five in 3rd for the first time with 16 minutes to go with a speed of 203.252mph in the #55.

With only ten minutes to go in the first practice session for the Cup Series drivers Edwards, Logano, Kurt Busch, Vickers and Stenhouse Jr made up the top five as some of the drivers were reporting vibrations on their cars.

With one minute to go in the session Logano out his #22 at the top of the board with a speed of 204.545mph which was just slightly slower than the track record.

A total of 27 drivers went over 200mph during the practice session and is sure to be a quick qualifying session later on today at 4:40pm ET and potentially one of the best races of the season on Sunday at 12:00pm ET.

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About the author
Mark Smith
Writer for VAVEL USA as a NASCAR writer in the Racing section. Contact me via Twitter @Marksmiggzy17 or email: [email protected]