In the first of three practice sessions for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series before the last race of the 2009 season Kurt Busch set the fastest lap time at 31.136 seconds at 173.433mph in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.

Juan Pablo Montoya was the second fastest in the session. He ran a 31.189 second lap at 173.138mph in the No. 42 Target Chevrolet.

Richard Childress Racing driver Clint Bowyer ended the session third after running a fast lap of 31.228 seconds at 172.922mph.

Ryan Newman and his teammate/car owner Tony Stewart sandwiched rookie Joey Logano at the end of the practice session with Newman finishing 4th, Logano in 5th and Stewart in 6th.

Carl Edwards, who will be pulling double-duty this weekend running both the Cup Series race and the Nationwide Series race, ended the session in 7th, just in front of the only Hendrick Motorsports driver to break into the top-10 in the session, Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Kevin Harvick and David Reutimann rounded out the top-10 in the first session.

The top three drivers in points, Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, ended up 21st, 14th and 17th, respectively.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series will qualify for Sunday’s Ford 400 today at 3pm ET. The qualifying session will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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