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Kyle Busch leads first Cup practice at Richmond

Kyle Busch, Richmond (Va.) Raceway’s most recent Cup series race winner, was fastest in Friday’s first practice session.

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's

Kyle Busch, Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota Camry M&M's

Nigel Kinrade / NKP / Motorsport Images

Busch posted the fastest average lap speed of 121.190 mph at the very beginning of the 50-minute session.

“Richmond is getting a little trickier, it seems like, just with the asphalt kind of getting older and the way the cars are. The consensus at Richmond is, of course, just trying to get your car to turn, but also having really good forward bite,” Busch said.

“You have to be able to get off the corners at Richmond. You have to have good brakes, as well, and be able to turn the center. All of it correlates. Everything you want as a race car driver, you’ve got to have most all of it and, if you don’t, then you better hope you have more forward bite than the rest of them.”

Aric Almirola ended up second-fastest (120.968 mph) and Erik Jones was third (120.697 mph). Ty Dillon and A.J. Allmendinger completed the top-five.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman. Bowman completed the most laps (58).

On his first run on the track, Truex had to take his No. 78 Toyota back to the garage after he developed a tire rub and issue with his right-front tire. He returned to the track with about 16 minutes remaining in the session.

Several drivers also had an issue during practice with the reconfigured entrance/exit to pit road from the garage, which resulted in one near-miss between Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick.

 

Four drivers – Jamie McMurray, Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – had to sit out the final 15 minutes of the practice session.

McMurray and Bowyer were late to pre-race inspection last week, Busch failed pre-race inspection twice last week and Stenhouse failed pre-race inspection three times last week.

Cla # Driver 4506 Laps Time Gap Interval Mph
1 18 United States Kyle Busch  Toyota 35 22.279     121.190
2 10 United States Aric Almirola  Ford 36 22.320 0.041 0.041 120.968
3 20 United States Erik Jones  Toyota 40 22.370 0.091 0.050 120.697
4 13 United States Ty Dillon  Chevrolet 54 22.404 0.125 0.034 120.514
5 47 United States A.J. Allmendinger  Chevrolet 28 22.449 0.170 0.045 120.273
6 19 Mexico Daniel Suarez  Toyota 44 22.478 0.199 0.029 120.117
7 41 United States Kurt Busch  Ford 28 22.489 0.210 0.011 120.059
8 78 United States Martin Truex Jr.  Toyota 36 22.489 0.210 0.000 120.059
9 42 United States Kyle Larson  Chevrolet 44 22.517 0.238 0.028 119.909
10 88 United States Alex Bowman  Chevrolet 58 22.558 0.279 0.041 119.691
11 21 United States Paul Menard  Ford 33 22.558 0.279 0.000 119.691
12 38 United States David Ragan  Ford 34 22.558 0.279 0.000 119.691
13 51 United States Cole Custer  Ford 19 22.564 0.285 0.006 119.660
14 2 United States Brad Keselowski  Ford 38 22.566 0.287 0.002 119.649
15 9 United States Chase Elliott  Chevrolet 48 22.569 0.290 0.003 119.633
16 14 United States Clint Bowyer  Ford 31 22.570 0.291 0.001 119.628
17 4 United States Kevin Harvick  Ford 38 22.574 0.295 0.004 119.607
18 3 United States Austin Dillon  Chevrolet 51 22.595 0.316 0.021 119.495
19 17 United States Ricky Stenhouse Jr.  Ford 28 22.600 0.321 0.005 119.469
20 11 United States Denny Hamlin  Toyota 57 22.629 0.350 0.029 119.316
21 31 United States Ryan Newman  Chevrolet 44 22.638 0.359 0.009 119.268
22 12 United States Ryan Blaney  Ford 36 22.643 0.364 0.005 119.242
23 24 United States William Byron  Chevrolet 46 22.655 0.376 0.012 119.179
24 22 United States Joey Logano  Ford 37 22.662 0.383 0.007 119.142
25 48 United States Jimmie Johnson  Chevrolet 37 22.665 0.386 0.003 119.126
26 43 United States Darrell Wallace Jr.  Chevrolet 40 22.666 0.387 0.001 119.121
27 6 United States Matt Kenseth  Ford 22 22.675 0.396 0.009 119.074
28 1 United States Jamie McMurray  Chevrolet 43 22.691 0.412 0.016 118.990
29 37 United States Chris Buescher  Chevrolet 42 22.725 0.446 0.034 118.812
30 34 United States Michael McDowell  Ford 35 22.790 0.511 0.065 118.473
31 32 United States Matt DiBenedetto  Ford 24 22.881 0.602 0.091 118.002
32 95 United States Regan Smith  Chevrolet 36 23.034 0.755 0.153 117.218
33 15 United States Ross Chastain  Chevrolet 32 23.035 0.756 0.001 117.213
34 96 United States Jeffrey Earnhardt  Toyota 25 23.091 0.812 0.056 116.929
35 72 United States Corey Lajoie  Chevrolet 25 23.112 0.833 0.021 116.822
36 99 United States Landon Cassill  Chevrolet 21 23.364 1.085 0.252 115.562
37 23 Israel Alon Day  Toyota 34 23.718 1.439 0.354 113.838
38 52 United States Gray Gaulding  Ford 15 23.732 1.453 0.014 113.770
39   United States Joey Gase  Chevrolet 14 23.747 1.468 0.015 113.699
39 00 United States Joey Gase  Chevrolet 14 23.747 1.468 0.000 113.699
40 66 United States Timmy Hill  Toyota 5 24.492 2.213 0.745 110.240

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