Kurt Busch, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin top Friday practice speed chart at Bristol

Being a five-time winner at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch has obviously learned a few things about getting around the nearly half-mile bullring.

And when it comes to putting those lessons into practice, what better way to do so than – what else – in practice itself.

Knocking on the door of a 130 mph lap, the elder Busch brother was the fastest in Friday’s early afternoon practice session at BMS, covering the .533-mile surface at 129.789 mph (at 14.784 mph).

Five other drivers exceeded 129 mph with their best efforts: Jeff Gordon (129.421), Denny Hamlin (129.351), Carl Edwards (129.317), Marcos Ambrose (129.238) and last week’s Las Vegas race winner Brad Keselowski (129.203).

Parker Kligerman, who has struggled in the first three races of his rookie Sprint Cup season, had a hard time finding speed, coming in second-slowest at 123.300 mph, followed by Timmy Hill, last on the practice grid at 119.010 mph.

Here’s how the practice session played out for the 45 drivers who will attempt to make the 43-car field later today in qualifying:

1 Kurt Busch 128.789 mph

2 Jeff Gordon 129.421

3 Denny Hamlin 129.351

4 Carl Edwards 129.317

5 Marcos Ambrose 129.238

6 Brad Keselowski 129.203

7 Ryan Newman 128.779

8 Casey Mears 128.589

9 Martin Truex Jr. 128.425

10 Joey Logano 128.417

11 Kevin Harvick 128.417

12 Paul Menard 128.279

13 Aric Almirola 128.253

14 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 128.168

15 Michael McDowell 128.116

16 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 128.031

17 AJ Allmendinger 127.920

18 Kasey Kahne 127.673

19 Kyle Busch 127.580

20 Clint Bowyer 127.563

21 Landon Cassill 127.529

22 David Gilliland 127.487

23 Austin Dillon 127.470

24 Cole Whitt 127.470

25 Brian Vickers 127.368

26 Jamie McMurray 127.317

27 Jimmie Johnson 127.250

28 Greg Biffle 127.199

29 Kyle Larson 127.064

30 Matt Kenseth 127.039

31 David Ragan 126.888

32 Tony Stewart 126.846

33 Michael Annett 126.829

34 Danica Patrick 126.495

35 Alex Bowman 126.478

36 Dave Blaney 126.470

37 David Reutimann 126.337

38 Josh Wise 126.013

39 Travis Kvapil 125.988

40 Ryan Truex 125.077

41 Reed Sorenson 124.436

42 Joe Nemechek 123.857

43 Parker Kligerman 123.300

44 Timmy Hill 119.010

45 Justin Allgaier – no speed/time recorded

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Bob Fernley will bring his experience as former deputy team principal at Force India F1 to McLaren Racing’s IndyCar effort in 2019.

Fernley will report directly to McLaren Racing’s CEO Zak Brown.

“Heading back to the Brickyard will be a very special experience for me,” Fernley said at IndyCar.com. “I am proud to be leading this McLaren project and team. The 500 is a hell of a challenge and we have incredibly strong competitors to overcome if we’re to be successful. We will need to prepare well for the month of May and that work starts now.”

Fernley’s appointing come of the heels of last week’s announcement that McLaren will create a brand new team to compete in the 2019 Indy 500.

MORE: Fernando Alonso to return to Indy 500 in 2019

For now, Fernley’s responsibility is to create an entry that is capable of allowing two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso to win the Indy 500 in just his second start. But speculation has been widespread that the entry will be a jumping off point for a much broader involvement in IndyCar.

In 2017, Alonso qualified on the middle of row two (fifth), led 27 laps and succumbed to mechanical failure. His effort was impressive enough to be name Rookie of the Year for the Indy 500.

“Bob is a fantastic operator and someone I respect greatly,” Brown said. “His experience and leadership will be essential for us on this project. He is particularly talented at putting effective teams together and extracting maximum performance with finite resources. The Indy 500 is no easy race and Bob’s is a key role, so I’m delighted he’s on board.”