NCWTS: Alex Tagliani Tops First Chevrolet Silverado 250 Practice at CTMP

In the first practice ahead of Sunday’s Chevrolet Silverado 250, it’d be Alex Tagliani topping the charts with a lap of 80.584 seconds.

Tagliani is back behind the wheel of the No. 29 Cooper Standard Ford F-150 for Brad Keselowski Racing for the second consecutive season. The Montreal, Quebec, Canada native made his Camping World Truck Series debut in last year’s edition of the race, capturing the pole with a record lap of 80.558 seconds. Tagliani then finished the race in 16th following a late-race spin.

While this marks only his second career Camping World Truck Series start, Tagliani has been busy this year. He ran the XFINITY race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, leading 38 laps before being bumped out of the lead on the last lap by Regan Smith. He has also been running the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, scoring a dominating victory at Sunset Speedway in June for his first oval NCATS win.

Brad Keselowski Racing won the event last year with Ryan Blaney behind the wheel.

Alex @tagliani talks with @vincewelch after leading opening @NASCAR_Trucks practice at @CTMPOfficial:#NASCARonFS1 http://t.co/k0a4CwndJ9

— FS1 (@FS1) August 29, 2015

Erik Jones was second quickest, 0.693 seconds behind Tagliani. Jones finished third last season in his first trip to the road course. He enters this weekend sitting third in points. Matt Crafton was third quickest as he enters this weekend second in points, four points behind Tyler Reddick. Crafton is hoping to score his first top-five north of the border this weekend after finishing 10th and sixth in his first two trips. Ben Kennedy and Gray Gaulding rounded out the top-five. Gaulding posted a top-five finish in last year’s event.

Crafton’s ThorSport Racing teammate Johnny Sauter was sixth, followed by points leader Tyler Reddick as he makes his first career road course start. Timothy Peters, Daniel Hemric and Cole Custer rounded out the top-10. Notably, Alberta native Cameron Hayley was 14th quickest.

There was a quick red flag during the session for Ray Black Jr. stopping on the track.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will have one more practice this morning from 11:35 a.m. EST to 12:55 p.m. EST, before qualifying at 5:45 p.m. EST. The Chevrolet Silverado 250 is set to see the green flag fly at 1:30 p.m. EST on Sunday.