Early Friday afternoon rain forced the first 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) practice session at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) to be cut short (by around 20-minutes), and it was Kevin Harvick – with a lap speed of 129.069 MPH – who was the quickest in the shortened Toyota Owners 400 practice.
Joey Logano was second quickest in the session with a lap speed of 128.694 MPH, and he was followed by Jimmie Johnson (128.187) who was third, last week’s winner Carl Edwards (128.181) fourth and Denny Hamlin (128.156) was fifth.
Rounding out the top-10 quickest drivers in the session were Brad Keselowski (128.011 MPH) who was sixth, Kurt Busch (127.799) seventh, Kasey Kahne (127.334) eighth, Kyle Busch (127.298) ninth and AJ Allmendinger (127.220) posting the 10th-quickest lap speed.
Weather permitting, the teams will return to the track at 4:15 p.m. (ET) on FOX Sports 1 for qualifying to determine the starting lineup for Sunday’s race, and it was Jeff Gordon – on Sept. 7, 2013 – that currently holds the series’ RIR qualifying track record speed of 130.599 MPH. If qualifying is rained out, then the starting lineup will be based upon this practice session’s speeds.
On Saturday, the teams will have two more practice sessions in the morning beginning with a 8:30 a.m. – 9:25 a.m. (ET) on FOX Sports 1 session, and then their “Happy Hour” (final) practice from 11:00 a.m. – 11:55 a.m. (ET) on FOX Sports 1.
The 62nd annual Toyota Owners 400 is scheduled to get underway around 1:20 p.m. (ET) Sunday afternoon on FOX.
| Toyota Owners 400 First Practice Results | ||||||
| Pos. | Car # | Driver | Best Speed | Best Time | Behind | # Laps |
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 129.069 | 20.919 | Leader | 9 |
| 2 | 22 | Joey Logano | 128.694 | 20.980 | -0.061 | 35 |
| 3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 128.187 | 21.063 | -0.144 | 8 |
| 4 | 19 | Carl Edwards | 128.181 | 21.064 | -0.145 | 7 |
| 5 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 128.156 | 21.068 | -0.149 | 9 |
| 6 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 128.011 | 21.092 | -0.173 | 26 |
| 7 | 41 | Kurt Busch | 127.799 | 21.127 | -0.208 | 10 |
| 8 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | 127.334 | 21.204 | -0.285 | 18 |
| 9 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 127.298 | 21.210 | -0.291 | 14 |
| 10 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | 127.220 | 21.223 | -0.304 | 25 |
| 11 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 127.208 | 21.225 | -0.306 | 11 |
| 12 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 125.517 | 21.511 | -0.592 | 22 |
| 13 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | 125.307 | 21.547 | -0.628 | 12 |
| 14 | 31 | Ryan Newman | 124.913 | 21.615 | -0.696 | 11 |
| 15 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 124.861 | 21.624 | -0.705 | 23 |
| 16 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | 124.775 | 21.639 | -0.720 | 14 |
| 17 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | 124.775 | 21.639 | -0.720 | 22 |
| 18 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 124.700 | 21.652 | -0.733 | 38 |
| 19 | 16 | Greg Biffle | 124.527 | 21.682 | -0.763 | 15 |
| 20 | 44 | Brian Scott # | 124.516 | 21.684 | -0.765 | 19 |
| 21 | 10 | Danica Patrick | 124.487 | 21.689 | -0.770 | 15 |
| 22 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | 124.481 | 21.690 | -0.771 | 13 |
| 23 | 24 | Chase Elliott # | 124.464 | 21.693 | -0.774 | 37 |
| 24 | 43 | Aric Almirola | 124.064 | 21.763 | -0.844 | 15 |
| 25 | 13 | Casey Mears | 123.734 | 21.821 | -0.902 | 20 |
| 26 | 27 | Paul Menard | 123.598 | 21.845 | -0.926 | 16 |
| 27 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | 123.553 | 21.853 | -0.934 | 13 |
| 28 | 38 | Landon Cassill | 123.125 | 21.929 | -1.010 | 8 |
| 29 | 21 | Ryan Blaney* # | 122.566 | 22.029 | -1.110 | 15 |
| 30 | 23 | David Ragan | 122.266 | 22.083 | -1.164 | 11 |
| 31 | 30 | Josh Wise* | 121.995 | 22.132 | -1.213 | 13 |
| 32 | 95 | Michael McDowell | 121.990 | 22.133 | -1.214 | 7 |
| 33 | 34 | Chris Bueshcher # | 121.891 | 22.151 | -1.232 | 24 |
| 34 | 7 | Regan Smith | 121.469 | 22.223 | -1.304 | 9 |
| 35 | 55 | Reed Sorenson* | 121.250 | 22.268 | -1.349 | 10 |
| 36 | 83 | Matt Dibenedetto | 121.131 | 22.290 | -1.371 | 8 |
| 37 | 93 | Ryan Ellis* (i) | 120.182 | 22.466 | -1.547 | 21 |
| 38 | 98 | Cole Whitt* | 119.660 | 22.564 | -1.645 | 14 |
| 39 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt # | 119.458 | 22.602 | -1.683 | 14 |
| 40 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | 117.842 | 22.912 | -1.993 | 6 |
| 41 | 46 | Michael Annett | 0.000 | 0.000 | 20.919 | 0 |
# – Rookie
* – Required to qualify on time
(i) – Ineligible for Driver Points in this Series
| Best 10 Consecutive Lap Average | |||||||
| Pos | Car | Driver | From Lap | To Lap | Avg. Speed | Behind | Gap |
| 1 | 14 | Tony Stewart | 8 | 17 | 120.327 | Leader | Leader |
| 2 | 13 | Casey Mears | 6 | 15 | 120.298 | -0.029 | -0.029 |
| 3 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | 9 | 18 | 120.021 | -0.306 | -0.277 |
| 4 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 13 | 22 | 119.499 | -0.828 | -0.522 |
| 5 | 24 | Chase Elliott # | 14 | 23 | 119.454 | -0.873 | -0.045 |
| 6 | 34 | Chris Bueshcher # | 1 | 10 | 118.822 | -1.505 | -0.632 |
| Car must run 10 consecutive laps on track to be included in the above chart. | |||||||
Annoyed Race Fan 