Kyle Larson paces NASCAR Cup Series practice at Pocono

Kyle Larson's search for his first NASCAR Cup Series win in 39 races got off to an excellent start Sunday at Pocono Raceway. 

The defending Cup Series champion was the fastest driver in Saturday's Cup Series practice session, putting down a fastest lap of 52.722 seconds around the 2.5-mile "Tricky Triangle."

Larson nicked seven-time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin for the top spot by 0.133 seconds. 

Hamlin, Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar and Chris Buescher rounded out the top five, with Riley Herbst, Ty Gibbs, William Byron, Ross Chastain and defending Pocono winner Chase Briscoe completing the top 10. 

Buescher was the fastest driver over a 10-lap run, according to the Prime Video telecast. 

Notable Pocono practice results

Other notable practice results include points leader Tyler Reddick in 11th, rookie Connor Zilisch in 12th, Erik Jones in 14th, Bubba Wallace in 15th and Joey Logano in 20th. Meanwhile, Christopher Bell was 25th in his return to the track following a hard crash at Michigan on June 7. 

Veteran driver Casey Mears was last (38th) in the session, running a fastest lap of 55.688 seconds. 

The only incident in the session came when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. spun on the exit of turn 4. Stenhouse made only seven total laps and was 27th in the session. 

Cup Series qualifying is next, with coverage on Prime Video, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.