Richard Petty Ford driver Aric Almirola was quickest in the final pre-season NASCAR Sprint Cup group test at Charlotte on Friday.
The test had been scheduled as two days of running, but persistent rain on Thursday and continued poor weather the following morning meant it was midday Friday before cars actually hit the track. NASCAR extended the test into the evening under floodlights to maximize running.
Almirola set the pace with a lap of 27.832sec as the top drivers beat last year's pole speeds at the track. Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, Germain's Casey Mears and Almirola's teammate Marcos Ambrose made it an all-Ford top four.
Former champion Jimmie Johnson was top Chevrolet driver in fifth, with Mark Martin completing the top six in the best of the Toyotas.
Denny Hamlin skipped the test due to the imminent birth of his first child. Michael McDowell sat in for him at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 27.832s
2. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 27.882s + 0.050s
3. Casey Mears Germain Ford 27.924s + 0.092s
4. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 27.938s + 0.106s
5. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 28.009s + 0.177s
6. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 28.032s + 0.200s
7. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 28.036s + 0.204s
8. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 28.063s + 0.231s
9. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 28.070s + 0.238s
10. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 28.075s + 0.243s
11. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.092s + 0.260s
12. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 28.095s + 0.263s
13. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.104s + 0.272s
14. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 28.108s + 0.276s
15. Joey Logano Penske Ford 28.123s + 0.291s
16. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.134s + 0.302s
17. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.158s + 0.326s
18. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 28.172s + 0.340s
19. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 28.194s + 0.362s
20. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 28.196s + 0.364s
21. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.214s + 0.382s
22. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 28.216s + 0.384s
23. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 28.241s + 0.409s
24. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 28.278s + 0.446s
25. Michael McDowell Joe Gibbs Toyota 28.315s + 0.483s
26. David Stremme Swan Toyota 28.332s + 0.500s
27. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.342s + 0.510s
28. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 28.355s + 0.523s
29. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 28.468s + 0.636s
30. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 28.469s + 0.637s
31. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 28.645s + 0.813s
32. David Ragan Front Row Ford 28.752s + 0.920s
33. Scott Speed Leavine Ford 28.882s + 1.050s