HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Martin Truex Jr. fired the first shot among the Championship 4 by turning the fastest lap during Friday’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice session at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway.

Truex was the first of the title contenders to hit the race track during the 80-minute session and posted the fastest lap of the early stages to begin with, but he went out a second time after being eclipsed by Kyle Busch and raised the bar yet again.

The defending Cup Series champion’s best lap of 31.035 seconds (173.997 mph) was more than a tenth of a second faster than Busch’s second-quick time and held through the end of practice.

Truex, who is carrying a throwback paint scheme to the matte-black livery that Furniture Row Racing was famous for over their tenure in NASCAR, hopes to become the first back-to-back champion at the top level of the sport since Jimmie Johnson won five straight titles from 2006-2010.

Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota was good, but not good enough to match Truex early on. The 2015 Cup titlist posted a time of 31.160 seconds (173.299 mph) on his first of seven laps turned in qualifying trim and never improved over the remainder of his time on-track.

Clint Bowyer and Chase Elliott, who were both eliminated from playoff contention last week at Arizona’s ISM Raceway, landed third and fourth on the scoring pylon, respectively.

The third of the four championship-eligible drivers, Kevin Harvick of Stewart-Haas Racing, completed the top five after sitting third on the speed charts for much of the 80-minute duration.

Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, Erik Jones, Jamie McMurray and Brad Keselowski rounded out the top 10.

Joey Logano was the slowest of the Championship 4 during Friday’s lone practice session, ending in 16th.