David Ragan jumped to the top of the speed charts with just one minute remaining in Thursday's lone Sprint Cup Series practice at Texas Motor Speedway and ended up No. 1 when the session concluded.
Ragan was among the drivers who switched over to qualifying trim late in the day after spending most of the 90-minute practice in race trim, and it paid off with a lap of 185.818 mph.
The top five continuously changed as the practice wound down, but it ended up with Tony Stewart in second (185.701), followed by Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray. Greg Biffle rounded out the top five.
The rest of the top 10 included Jeff Burton, Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer and Brad Keselowski.
It was unclear if the drivers toward the bottom of the practice charts didn't attempt mock qualifying runs, but the practice order switched dramatically late in the session.
There were no incidents during the practice. The Sprint Cup cars are scheduled to return on Friday for another 90-minute practice session, followed by qualifying on Friday evening.