DARLINGTON, S.C. -- A good first impression is important. And for several Sprint Cup rookies, Darlington Raceway made a first impression on both driver and car.

Like many cars in the garage following Thursday's first practice session, Sam Hornish Jr.'s No. 77 Dodge showed the tell-tale signs of a newly-acquired Darlington stripe. And in the second, Patrick Carpentier found the wall in his No. 10 Dodge.

"I was trying to be real careful and we were getting some pretty good lap times out of it and I felt like I had a really good lap so I drove it down into Turn 3 a little bit harder and the front end gave up and flat-sided the car," Hornish said. "I guess you've got to get that out of the way at some point in time.

"Coming here for the first time and not really having any kind of experience here, I was pretty happy with where we're at."

Hornish turned a lap of 172.535 mph during the heat of the day, best of the first-timers in attendance and 22nd on the speed chart behind Kyle Busch's 175.522 mph. When asked to compare a lap at Darlington to any other racing experience, Hornish had a difficult time coming up with description.

"It's not like anything else," Hornish said. "I've tested at Rockingham. I haven't raced there and that's about the closest thing I can compare to it. Not really layouts but just how the car feels going through the corner, how you want to enter low and the car just slides up and the drop off that the car has from one lap to the next. It's a pretty interesting place, that's for sure."

Hornish picked up more than a mile an hour in the twilight session but was listed 33rd.

Like Hornish, Thursday was Michael McDowell's first chance to introduce himself to the Lady in Black. He was 26th-quickest in the afternoon and one place behind Hornish under the lights.

"It's obviously a pretty intimidating place," McDowell said. "I've never been here but everyone talks about how abrasive it was and how bumpy it was and now it's super-smooth. It looks like everyone is running the same line that they normally did. You're definitely hauling the mail here getting into Turn 1 and not out of the gas very long, so it's pretty cool.

"It's definitely an intimidating place but when you've got a good race car underneath you and gives you a good sensation it makes it easy to go out there and push it a little bit harder."

McDowell said learning a new track is always difficult, but there is an added dimension to racing an oval like Darlington.

"The difference between road-course racing and running here at these ovals is just the speed," McDowell said. "It's easier to tell yourself to slide it around at 80, 90 miles per hour, but when you're going down into Turn 1 at 200, there's no room for error, where on a road course you can make a little mistake, slide off, no big deal.

"The oval is more daunting because of the speed and you've got concrete walls on each side but I think road racing definitely helps just being able to figure out a place quickly because there's so many more corners and every track is so different and surfaces are different. You go to all different types of places and I think that helps a little bit."

Carpentier found his first day at Darlington to be an adventure, to say the least. His best lap of 172.457 mph was 44th of the 45 cars entered for Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 500 -- and he crashed shortly thereafter.

"I was lost," Carpentier said. "I've never been on an oval in my life where you turn twice in the same corner. In the beginning, I was in everybody's way but as we kept running, it was good to see [where] those guys run and where I'm losing a bit of time.

"Most of it is in [Turns 1 and 2]. That's a trick corner there, just to go against the wall, down against the wall and back down against the wall again. It closes down very quickly at the end of [Turn] 2. It's just a matter of timing it right and getting used to it but at first, it was surprising. I was kind of zigzagging on the track so I don't think the guys enjoyed my presence there."

Regan Smith had the benefit of four previous starts at Darlington in what is now known as the Nationwide Series. But that didn't make the transition any easier, as Smith improved from 43rd to 40th in the second session. Still, he knows survival is more important than speed at a place like Darlington.

"They always say race the racetrack but you really have to race the racetrack," Smith said. "You're going to be against the wall all day long, you're going to be on the outside line all day long. Other guys are going to have problems. You've got to keep watching ahead but also just focus on putting your car on the track where it needs to be, in the right spots all the time.

"I don't know if it's going to be any easier to stay out of trouble now with the asphalt. I know off of Turn 2 always used to be really tough because it was so rough and it looks like it's perfectly smooth now. You've just got to be smart. It's just like any other race, except for the fact that the track is narrower and there's more places to get yourself in trouble."

There were several incidents in the final Nationwide Series practice -- including Steve Wallace and Mark Martin, who were both evaluated and released from the infield medical center -- something that McDowell is hoping to avoid.

"It's just one of those things where you know you're going to get up in it and some point or somebody is going to put you in it and that's just a part of being here but I'd rather not do it by myself in practice," McDowell said. "I've had enough spectacular moments with the wall. I don't need to add to them."