Final Practice at Toyota Owners 400
Friday, April 20 12:30 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
Air temp 55 degrees and track temp is 95 degrees with a light breeze
Penalized Drivers
No penalized drivers in this session either.
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 54 | 113.027 | 22.441 | 120.315 | 32 |
| 2 | 43 | Darrell Wallace Jr. # | Chevy | 34 | 119.348 | 22.509 | 119.952 | 31 |
| 3 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 11 | 119.904 | 22.518 | 119.904 | 11 |
| 4 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 29 | 119.211 | 22.518 | 119.904 | 24 |
| 5 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 31 | 119.893 | 22.52 | 119.893 | 31 |
| 6 | 8 | * Daniel Hemric(i) | Chevy | 24 | 117.755 | 22.527 | 119.856 | 19 |
| 7 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 11 | 119.179 | 22.554 | 119.713 | 10 |
| 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 39 | 114.723 | 22.559 | 119.686 | 25 |
| 9 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 39 | 119.644 | 22.567 | 119.644 | 39 |
| 10 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 29 | 118.084 | 22.575 | 119.601 | 26 |
| 11 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 16 | 118.927 | 22.582 | 119.564 | 12 |
| 12 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | 28 | 118.854 | 22.582 | 119.564 | 24 |
| 13 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 41 | 119.358 | 22.591 | 119.517 | 38 |
| 14 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 58 | 114.757 | 22.596 | 119.49 | 8 |
| 15 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 65 | 113.866 | 22.602 | 119.458 | 6 |
| 16 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 30 | 119.385 | 22.605 | 119.443 | 8 |
| 17 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 36 | 119.363 | 22.62 | 119.363 | 36 |
| 18 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 48 | 118.864 | 22.634 | 119.29 | 45 |
| 19 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 36 | 119.216 | 22.648 | 119.216 | 36 |
| 20 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 58 | 112.73 | 22.649 | 119.211 | 35 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Joey Logano made a mock qualifying run at the end of the first practice and so they will be in race trim for the entirety of the final session. They are still looking for just a bit more speed.
- Darrell Wallace Jr. stepped out a bit while trying to beat AJ Allmendinger off of Turn 4 with 45 minutes left and made contact with him. Not much if any damage however.
- To start the session a lot of drivers are making long race runs to start practice and should switch to qualifying trim towards the end of the session.
- With the fall race at Richmond now in the Chase playoffs this year, the teams will be taking more notes about the track in case it matters for them to advance in the playoffs.
- Jimmie Johnson made a quick run on sticker tires and he immediately came back in not liking something with the car.
- At Richmond, sticker tires take a few laps to find the grip once again as opposed to having better grip immediately like other tracks.
- With 33 minutes left in the session, Reed Sorenson and Denny Hamlin are the only drivers that haven’t practiced on track.
- Kevin Harvick appears to be happy with his car after making a long 25-lap run, the only driver to run that long so far this session.
- Denny Hamlin is dealing with a “major, major” issue that isn’t showing up in simulation. They are trying to guess what the issue is at the moment and he doesn’t think it will be ready for this session. They have to be in line for spec 50 minutes after practice. Hamlin feels like they will have to take a shot in the dark for tomorrow. – UPDATE- Five minutes later, Hamlin was on the track taking the car for a spin to see if they got the ride height/suspension issue sorted out.
- Team Penske and Joe Gibbs Racing have combined for six wins in the last eight Richmond races with three wins each.
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is very excited about his car for this week and he has re-upped a sponsorship deal this week.
- Denny Hamlin with 23 minutes left in practice ran a lap that is sixth-fastest but the car still appears to be rigid and not quite as good as it could be. His fastest lap this session was .75 seconds better than his fastest in the first session. It’s turning better.
- Erik Jones is happy with his car in race trim but has a tiny bit left to get better. He is swapping to qualifying trim with 18 minutes left in practice to make a few qualifying runs.
- Daniel Hemric and AJ Allmendinger jumped up to the top-five with 8 minutes left in practice
- Chase Elliott is having great communication with his backup Crew Chief again this week and they are sticking in race trim for the rest of this practice.
- With his last qualifying run, Darrell Wallace Jr. jumped to second fastest on the speed chart
- Kyle Busch says his car isn’t bad but isn’t quite as fast as he wants it to be and they are going to keep working on it a bit.
- Chevy overall dominated the final session with 12 of the top 20 including the top-three, five of the top-seven, and seven of the top-10.
First Practice at Toyota Owners 400
Friday, April 20 11:00 am ET
55 minutes in length
Weather
The temps are the end of this session were closest to what qualifying temps should be later this evening.
Penalized Drivers
No drivers served a penalty in this session.
Top-20 Speeds(one lap)
| Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 9 | Chase Elliott | Chevy | 29 | 121.327 | 22.254 | 121.327 | 29 |
| 2 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 17 | 120.919 | 22.3 | 121.076 | 6 |
| 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | 29 | 116.289 | 22.359 | 120.757 | 5 |
| 4 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 61 | 112.14 | 22.369 | 120.703 | 4 |
| 5 | 22 | Joey Logano | Ford | 33 | 119.538 | 22.377 | 120.66 | 6 |
| 6 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Ford | 24 | 120.654 | 22.378 | 120.654 | 24 |
| 7 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 35 | 115.183 | 22.412 | 120.471 | 6 |
| 8 | 95 | Kasey Kahne | Chevy | 30 | 116.57 | 22.413 | 120.466 | 7 |
| 9 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 29 | 120.139 | 22.474 | 120.139 | 29 |
| 10 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 37 | 115.306 | 22.486 | 120.075 | 8 |
| 11 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 31 | 119.899 | 22.489 | 120.059 | 8 |
| 12 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Ford | 32 | 119.485 | 22.493 | 120.037 | 13 |
| 13 | 38 | David Ragan | Ford | 33 | 115.637 | 22.511 | 119.941 | 10 |
| 14 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 43 | 115.261 | 22.52 | 119.893 | 6 |
| 15 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 67 | 114.869 | 22.532 | 119.83 | 8 |
| 16 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 18 | 116.435 | 22.576 | 119.596 | 5 |
| 17 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 37 | 114.616 | 22.587 | 119.538 | 10 |
| 18 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 31 | 115.9 | 22.608 | 119.427 | 7 |
| 19 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | Ford | 43 | 115.237 | 22.627 | 119.326 | 20 |
| 20 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 34 | 114.996 | 22.654 | 119.184 | 13 |
Best 10-lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Kyle Busch has 25 career starts at Richmond and that amounts to 10,027 laps run. He’s completed all but one of those laps in his career.
- The turns a big and sweeping and more down force and aero is needed to get around those turns. Plus they are wide and have three+ grooves to race in.
- Brad Keselowski likes his car overall but is looking for more bite getting into the corners but is happy overall.
- Daniel Hemric(making his Cup debut) is darting a bit in and out of the corners with 34 minutes left in practice. –Update (5 minutes left) he is working on long run speed and he said that his car gets tight the longer the run is. They have changed the two front shocks and Hemric is now back on the track seeing if the adjustments worked
- Most drivers are in race trim to start this first practice and are making longish runs on the track thus far. With both practices before qualifying, expect Q trim to be brought out later in the second practice.
- Denny Hamlin ran three laps early in practice and brought it to the garage because the car was on the splitter and driving it into the track. With 31 minutes left in practice he came back out and made one lap before going back in complaining it was “plowing tight” in the corners.
- This practice is in the morning and the race will be at night so it will be imperative for the Crew Chiefs to figure out how the car is changing throughout the session, and the afternoon session. Notebooks will be key.
- Gray Gaulding with 28 minutes left nearly got into the wall coming off Turn 2 but saved it without damage after the tail end snapped around on him.
- Chad Johnston, Kyle Larson’s Crew Chief, says setting up a car for Richmond Is tricky to do because of how it changes over a long run. Keeping it rolling through the corner is the key to making speed around the track. It’s also one of the most sensitive tracks from day to night that’s on the schedule in terms of changing and grooves coming in or not.
- Jimmie Johnson came push loose coming off of Turn 4 with 22 minutes left in the session but didn’t hit anything.
- Cllint Bowyer is having trouble with his car not wanting to turn coming off the corner and the splitter is on the ground. They are fixing to make some major changes to the 14-car with 21 minutes left in the session.
- Kyle Larson and teammate Jamie McMurray are P1 and P3 with 20 minutes left in the session.
- 18 minutes left in practice and two Chevys, two Toyotas, and one Ford make up the top-five.
- There are only three sets of tires to practice on this week so several drivers are just doing 6-10 lap runs to gauge changes. Kevin Harvickmade one 19-lap run at the very beginning of practice and hasn’t been out since.
- Denny Hamlin is still having trouble with ride height in his car and he knows it’s a chassis issue. He says it’s driving terribly and just doesn’t have the speed he wants.
- In the first session the RCR cars (31, 3, 8) are between P20-P23 with 10 minutes left on the clock.
- Jamie McMurray is just trying to fine tune the balance in the 1-car as the breaking into the corners makes him a bit unstable but that’s about all of his issues with it.
- Late in the session, Chase Elliott went to the top of the chart with a lap .05 seconds faster than Larson’s while running a mock qualifying run.