Through Qualifying
Final Practice for Federated Auto Parts 400
Richmond Raceway
Friday, September 20th 1:35 pm ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
76 degrees with 6 mph wind
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized this session
Top-20 Speeds (Single laps)
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Erik Jones says they are focusing on trying to get 40-45 points a race in the next two races to try and move ahead in the playoffs. That means top-five runs all night on Saturday.
- Joey Logano is planning on doing two 45-lap runs in this session.
- Denny Hamlin is in the middle of a long run early in the session and said he wants to run this run out to see how the balance changes as opposed to bringing it to the garage to make adjustments.
- Drivers are going a bit higher in the corners so far this session than they were in the first practice.
- Brad Keselowski was trying to figure out where the racing groove was early in the session so he can compare his lap times against others that were in the groove during their runs.
- Kevin Harvick has a car that is rolling the center of the corner the best on the track 12 minutes into the session and he’s been able to gain ground in the turns over cars that are on the same tires and same laps.
- Martin Truex Jr. went out and ran a mock qualifying lap right off the bat in this session which is still the fastest lap halfway through the session.
- Alex Bowman feels like they are going in the right direction but they are still off on entry and drive off in the turns.
- Kyle Busch said his car is finally off the splitter which got him to turn better in the middle of a long run but he still thinks the car is a bit too loose.
- William Byron got a bit loose and put the right rear into the wall with minimal damage. He was in the garage for just a couple of minutes.
- Late in the session it got pretty racy with multiple guys driving in multiple grooves for consecutive laps.
Opening Practice for Federated Auto Parts 400
Richmond Raceway
Friday, September 20 11:35 am ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
73 degrees with 5 mph wind
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were penalized for this session
Top-20 Speeds (Single laps)
Best Lap Averages
Items of Note:
- Joey Logano has said he will start with the same package in the car as they had in it in April.
- Alex Bowman says his car won’t drive off like he wants and it’s not rolling the center either.
- Kurt Busch said he’s on the splitter in the front left corner of the car it won’t stop digging into the track.
- The fastest laps early in the session were run a half a car up from the yellow line around the track.
- After adjustments Bowman got back on the radio and said his car rolled through the corner much better but his entry is falling off faster than any other part of the corner.
- Kyle Larson said the longer he ran the worse the car got in drive off and rolling the corner.
- Several cars are having trouble with handling while applying the throttle.
- Brad Keselowski said that once the air came into the tires the car got really loose.
- Chase Elliott said his car won’t really drive off the right front like he wants it to and that makes his center and drive off worse than he expects because the entry needs to be adjusted.
- Denny Hamlin says the most recent adjustments made the center of the corner worse for him after driving a long run.
- The question remains if the track will widen out this weekend or will it stay a one groove track on the bottom.
- Kurt Busch wants the team to take out some of the front grip so they can get more short run speed. The car comes in well after about 15 laps but they aren’t good before that.
- Late in the session drivers were making mock qualifying runs.
- Handling questions were the theme of this session but overall the fastest cars on the runs were the ones that were stuck to the yellow line in the corners.
- With five minutes left, Larson is still staying on the radio that his car doesn’t want to turn at all, a recurring problem for him this session.
- Denny Hamlin says his car had no front grip on the first lap of a mock Q run and it wasn’t until his Turns 3 & 4 on the second lap that the grip came in.