Kyle Busch (Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images for NASCAR)

Kyle Busch led the opening round of NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series practice for tonight's North Carolina Lottery 200 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, turning a fast lap of 178.547 miles per hour around the 1.5-mile oval.

Second fast was rookie Colin Braun in the No. 6 Con-way Freight Ford F-150 out of the Roush Fenway Racing stables. His best lap was 177.113 mph. Then it was Mike Skinner in the Toyota Tundra-sponsored Toyota from Bill Davis Racing, 176.373 mph, and Chad McCumbee, 176.188 mph, in the Malcolmson Construction Chevrolet Silverado.

Jack Sprague and the American Commercial Lines Chevrolet Silverado completed the top five in the sole round of practice prior to the race, which will be event No. 6 on the NCTS schedule.

Tonight's race figures to be a showdown between Busch, already a two-time winner this season in the Miccosukee Resorts No. 51 Toyota Tundra owned by Billy Ballew, and series points leader Ron Hornaday, Jr. and his No. 33 Camping World Chevrolet Silverado out of the Kevin Harvick Inc. stable. Hornaday was sixth-fastest in the session.

A total of 38 trucks took times during the session. Originally, there were two session scheduled, but morning rains moved the planned starting time of the first session from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., and NASCAR consolidated the two sessions into a single one that lasted two hours and 20 minutes.

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com.  He is the author of "Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED," and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.