Chase Elliott leads first Cup practice at Richmond

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	#	Driver	Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	9	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	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	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	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	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	Daniel Suarez	Toyota	32	22.695	0.441	0.010	118.969
27	6	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	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	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