Elliott, who finished a career-best fifth at New Hampshire in last year’s race, topped the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 137.086 mph.

Kyle Busch ended up second (136.874 mph) and Matt DiBenedetto was third (same speed, tie broken by points). Ryan Blaney was fourth and Daniel Suarez completed the top-five.

With about four minutes left in the 55-minute practice session, Denny Hamlin spun in Turn 3 and slammed into the wall, doing significant damage to his No. 11 Toyota.

“I just got loose,” Hamlin said about the incident. His Joe Gibbs Racing team will move to a backup car which means Hamlin will have to start Sunday’s race from the rear of the field.

Practice restarted for a few minutes following Hamlin’s incident, only to see Ryan Newman tag the wall in Turns 3 and 4 with the right-rear of his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

Newman's team decided after practice that they are also moving to a backup car and will have to start Sunday's race from the rear of the field as well.

Rounding out the top-10 in practice were Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Joey Logano.