Practice report

NASCAR Cup Richmond II

Brad Keselowski tops Truex in final practice at Richmond

Brad Keselowski, looking for his fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory, was fastest in final practice.

Jim Utter

Published: Sep 21, 2018, 6:51 PM

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Brad Keselowski, Team Penske, Ford Fusion Reese/DrawTite

Keselowski, who is already locked in the playoffs’ second round thanks to his win last week at Las Vegas, posted the fastest average lap speed (120.224 mph) in the final practice session at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

Keselowski is the third driver this season to win three consecutive races. In 18 career Cup starts at Richmond, he owns one win – the 2014 fall race, when he also started on the pole.

Martin Truex Jr. was second fastest (120.133 mph) and Austin Dillon was third (119.458 mph). Ty Dillon and Ryan Newman completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Kyle Larson and Clint Bowyer.

“It was OK for us,” Blaney said of his final practice. “We learned a lot in the first practice. It’s hard testing here in the afternoon when it’s a night race.

“We made a couple mock (qualifying) runs. Hopefully, we can get a good solid run Saturday night. We’ve had our share of bad ones.”

Suarez ended the session with the top average lap speed among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps (118.141 mph). Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick and Erik Jones completed the top-five in that category.

Take a virtual lap around Richmond Raceway, courtesy of NASCAR Heat 3, which you can order now:

Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph 1 2 United States Brad Keselowski Ford 52 22.458 120.224 2 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 58 22.475 0.017 0.017 120.133 3 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet 49 22.602 0.144 0.127 119.458 4 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 52 22.615 0.157 0.013 119.390 5 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 60 22.631 0.173 0.016 119.305 6 12 United States Ryan Blaney Ford 48 22.657 0.199 0.026 119.168 7 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 34 22.693 0.235 0.036 118.979 8 19 Mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 66 22.695 0.237 0.002 118.969 9 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 54 22.699 0.241 0.004 118.948 10 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 32 22.708 0.250 0.009 118.901 11 51 United States Cole Custer Ford 46 22.745 0.287 0.037 118.707 12 20 Erik Jones Toyota 52 22.749 0.291 0.004 118.687 13 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 47 22.755 0.297 0.006 118.655 14 4 Kevin Harvick Ford 61 22.771 0.313 0.016 118.572 15 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 40 22.795 0.337 0.024 118.447 16 41 United States Kurt Busch Ford 65 22.827 0.369 0.032 118.281 17 34 Michael McDowell Ford 36 22.845 0.387 0.018 118.188 18 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 65 22.876 0.418 0.031 118.028 19 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 35 22.881 0.423 0.005 118.002 20 24 William Byron Chevrolet 51 22.891 0.433 0.010 117.950 21 10 United States Aric Almirola Ford 78 22.921 0.463 0.030 117.796 22 22 Joey Logano Ford 83 22.925 0.467 0.004 117.775 23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 51 22.929 0.471 0.004 117.755 24 32 Matt DiBenedetto Ford 28 22.952 0.494 0.023 117.637 25 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 44 22.954 0.496 0.002 117.627 26 6 United States Matt Kenseth Ford 49 22.955 0.497 0.001 117.621 27 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 65 22.962 0.504 0.007 117.586 28 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 78 22.988 0.530 0.026 117.453 29 9 Chase Elliott Chevrolet 52 22.988 0.530 0.000 117.453 30 21 Paul Menard Ford 63 23.026 0.568 0.038 117.259 31 38 United States David Ragan Ford 46 23.046 0.588 0.020 117.157 32 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 44 23.145 0.687 0.099 116.656 33 72 Corey Lajoie Chevrolet 32 23.203 0.745 0.058 116.364 34 95 Regan Smith Chevrolet 36 23.316 0.858 0.113 115.800 35 96 Jeffrey Earnhardt Toyota 38 23.400 0.942 0.084 115.385 36 99 United States Landon Cassill Chevrolet 29 23.494 1.036 0.094 114.923 37 23 Israel Alon Day Toyota 41 23.685 1.227 0.191 113.996 38 52 Gray Gaulding Ford 21 23.731 1.273 0.046 113.775 39 00 Joey Gase Chevrolet 14 23.905 1.447 0.174 112.947 40 66 Timmy Hill Toyota 29 24.081 1.623 0.176 112.122

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