Virginia native Denny Hamlin led the opening Sprint Cup practice session of the weekend at the Martinsville Speedway as he bids to put the disappointment of Bristol behind him.
Hamlin, who looked on course for victory in the Food City 500 two weeks ago until running out of fuel during a green-white-chequered overtime finish, toured the half-mile paperclip shaped oval in a best time of 19.862-seconds (95.338mph) in his #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota as he bids to become the second driver to win a Cup Series race for the Japanese manufacturer.
Jimmie Johnson was second fastest for Hendrick Motorsports as he looks to add another of Martinsville's unique grandfather clock trophies to his collection while Chip Ganassi Racing's Reed Sorenson made it three different manufacturers in the top three places in his #41 Dodge.
Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, another noted Martinsville expert, was fourth fastest with Dale Earnhardt Jr fifth and Dave Blaney the best placed of those drivers not guaranteed a place on the Goody's 500 grid in sixth place on the timesheets.
Scott Riggs, Travis Kvapil, Kurt Busch and David Ragan completed the top ten with a nervous Jamie McMurray eleventh and Ken Schrader twelfth on his first run in BAM Racing's new Toyota.
Bristol winner Jeff Burton was 22nd fastest with Tony Stewart, another late race casualty at Thunder Alley, 26th, Cup Series debutant Michael McDowell 33rd and Scotland's Dario Franchitti a disappointing 43rd on a weekend where his qualifying run must be spot on.
![Denny Hamlin - FedEx Chevrolet [pic credit: GM media]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/288221.jpg)
