Practice report

NASCAR Cup Richmond

Chase Elliott leads first Cup practice at Richmond

Chase Elliott bolted to the top of the speed chart in the final minutes of Friday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

Jim Utter

Edited: Apr 20, 2018, 4:11 PM

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Chase Elliott, Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet Camaro NAPA Auto Parts

Kyle Larson was leading the way most of the 50-minute session until Elliott’s went out with less than three minutes remaining to post an average lap speed of 121.327 mph.

Larson ended up second (121.076 mph) while reigning series champion Martin Truex Jr. was third (120.757 mph). Jamie McMurray was fourth-fastest and Joey Logano completed the top-five.

Elliott has struggled somewhat at Richmond since his debut in the Cup series. He’s never started better than ninth and his best finish was 10th – both coming in last fall’s race.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Chris Buescher and Brad Keselowski.

“Regardless, I think the race track will be different when it gets dark (on Saturday night), Harvick said after the session. “Our car started off fairly good in race trim and both of our qualifying laps got impeded somewhat.

“I think we’ll be OK.”

Denny Hamlin, who has typically performed well at his home track, struggled during the session and ended up 29th fastest.

“Throttle is really tight, pushing against the wall. Something is really out of sorts. The car feels like it goes dead straight,” Hamlin said over his team radio at one point.

“The front tires aren't doing anything at all. Entry is fine. Just real bad tight.”

Kyle Busch was forced to sit out the final 15 minutes of the first practice session since his No. 18 Toyota failed pre-race inspection twice last weekend at Bristol, Tenn.

Daniel Hemric, who is making his Cup series debut this weekend at Richmond, was 23rd fastest.

Cla#DriverManufacturerLapsTimeGapIntervalMph 1 9 united_states Chase Elliott Chevrolet 29 22.254 121.327 2 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet 17 22.300 0.046 0.046 121.076 3 78 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 29 22.359 0.105 0.059 120.757 4 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 61 22.369 0.115 0.010 120.703 5 22 Joey Logano Ford 33 22.377 0.123 0.008 120.660 6 4 united_states Kevin Harvick Ford 24 22.378 0.124 0.001 120.654 7 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 35 22.412 0.158 0.034 120.471 8 95 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 30 22.413 0.159 0.001 120.466 9 37 Chris Buescher Chevrolet 29 22.474 0.220 0.061 120.139 10 2 Brad Keselowski Ford 37 22.486 0.232 0.012 120.075 11 12 united_states Ryan Blaney Ford 31 22.489 0.235 0.003 120.059 12 41 Kurt Busch Ford 32 22.493 0.239 0.004 120.037 13 38 David Ragan Ford 33 22.511 0.257 0.018 119.941 14 21 Paul Menard Ford 43 22.520 0.266 0.009 119.893 15 88 Alex Bowman Chevrolet 67 22.532 0.278 0.012 119.830 16 48 united_states Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 18 22.576 0.322 0.044 119.596 17 47 A.J. Allmendinger Chevrolet 37 22.587 0.333 0.011 119.538 18 20 Erik Jones Toyota 31 22.608 0.354 0.021 119.427 19 14 Clint Bowyer Ford 43 22.627 0.373 0.019 119.326 20 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 34 22.654 0.400 0.027 119.184 21 3 united_states Austin Dillon Chevrolet 43 22.661 0.407 0.007 119.147 22 13 Ty Dillon Chevrolet 49 22.661 0.407 0.000 119.147 23 8 Daniel Hemric 30 22.666 0.412 0.005 119.121 24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ford 30 22.679 0.425 0.013 119.053 25 10 Aric Almirola Ford 41 22.685 0.431 0.006 119.021 26 19 mexico Daniel Suarez Toyota 32 22.695 0.441 0.010 118.969 27 6 united_states Trevor Bayne Ford 20 22.698 0.444 0.003 118.953 28 24 William Byron Chevrolet 43 22.714 0.460 0.016 118.869 29 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 30 22.729 0.475 0.015 118.791 30 34 Michael McDowell Ford 28 22.742 0.488 0.013 118.723 31 43 Darrell Wallace Jr. Chevrolet 42 22.749 0.495 0.007 118.687 32 32 united_states Matt DiBenedetto Ford 33 22.801 0.547 0.052 118.416 33 23 Gray Gaulding Toyota 30 22.970 0.716 0.169 117.545 34 15 Ross Chastain Chevrolet 15 23.123 0.869 0.153 116.767 35 72 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 17 23.145 0.891 0.022 116.656 36 00 Landon Cassill Chevrolet 34 23.270 1.016 0.125 116.029 37 55 united_states Reed Sorenson Chevrolet 9 23.436 1.182 0.166 115.207 38 51 Harrison Rhodes Chevrolet 12 23.450 1.196 0.014 115.139

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