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Practice report
NASCAR Cup Richmond II

NASCAR Cup Richmond: Austin Dillon leads practice with option tire

Austin Dillon, who needs a win to qualify for the 2024 NASCAR Cup playoffs, was a surprise to top Saturday’s practice session at Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

Because of NASCAR’s decision to give teams the ability to use an “option” tire in Sunday’s night’s race, all teams got an extended practice session on Saturday afternoon.

Teams had three sets of regular and one set of softer “option” tires for practice. All teams had to use regular tires in qualifying.

Dillon, started on the option (softer) tire and then moved to the regular tire later in the session, but his early average lap speed at 118.953 mph held up for the entire 45-minute session.

With about 17 minutes remaining in the session, Dillon’s Richard Childress Racing teammate, Kyle Busch, appeared to brush the wall with his No. 8 Chevrolet but did not suffer significant damage.

Following Dillon were three Toyotas – Bubba Wallace, Christopher Bell and Martin Truex Jr. – and rookie Zane Smith rounded out the top five.

Truex appeared to have a win in the spring Richmond race well in hand until a late-race caution sent everyone down pit road and Denny Hamlin beat Truex off pit road and then on the restart to take the win.

Completing the top 10 in average single-lap speeds were Carson Hocevar, Chris Buescher, Michael McDowell, Daniel Suarez and Ty Gibbs.

Among the drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps, Ross Chastain had the top average speed (116.741 mph). Buescher and Suarez were second and third, respectively, in that category.

CLA DRIVER # MANUFACTURER LAPS TIME INTERVAL MPH
1 A. DillonRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 3 Chevrolet 69

22.698

  118.953
2 B. Wallace23XI RACING 23 Toyota 80

+0.018

22.716

0.018 118.859
3 C. BellJOE GIBBS RACING 20 Toyota 86

+0.037

22.735

0.019 118.760
4 M. Truex JrJOE GIBBS RACING 19 Toyota 83

+0.047

22.745

0.010 118.707
5
Z. SmithSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
71 Chevrolet 74

+0.048

22.746

0.001 118.702
6
C. HocevarSPIRE MOTORSPORTS
77 Chevrolet 73

+0.081

22.779

0.033 118.530
7 C. BuescherRFK RACING 17 Ford 79

+0.095

22.793

0.014 118.457
8 M. McDowellFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 34 Ford 83

+0.139

22.837

0.044 118.229
9 D. SuarezTRACKHOUSE RACING 99 Chevrolet 86

+0.144

22.842

0.005 118.203
10
T. GibbsJOE GIBBS RACING
54 Toyota 85

+0.175

22.873

0.031 118.043
11 D. HamlinJOE GIBBS RACING 11 Toyota 86

+0.186

22.884

0.011 117.986
12 C. BriscoeSTEWART-HAAS RACING 14 Ford 90

+0.187

22.885

0.001 117.981
13 C. LajoieSPIRE MOTORSPORTS 7 Chevrolet 63

+0.205

22.903

0.018 117.888
14 J. HaleyRICK WARE RACING 51 Ford 49

+0.228

22.926

0.023 117.770
15 R. ChastainTRACKHOUSE RACING 1 Chevrolet 80

+0.234

22.932

0.006 117.739
16 E. JonesLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 43 Toyota 53

+0.250

22.948

0.016 117.657
17 T. GillilandFRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS 38 Ford 87

+0.333

23.031

0.083 117.233
18 J. LoganoTEAM PENSKE 22 Ford 87

+0.362

23.060

0.029 117.086
19 R. HerbstRICK WARE RACING 15 Ford 69

+0.364

23.062

0.002 117.076
20 K. BuschRICHARD CHILDRESS RACING 8 Chevrolet 67

+0.389

23.087

0.025 116.949
21 T. Reddick23XI RACING 45 Toyota 74

+0.396

23.094

0.007 116.913
22 J. NemechekLEGACY MOTOR CLUB 42 Toyota 84

+0.398

23.096

0.002 116.903
23 N. GragsonSTEWART-HAAS RACING 10 Ford 80

+0.420

23.118

0.022 116.792
24 R. Stenhouse JrJTG DAUGHERTY RACING 47 Chevrolet 91

+0.433

23.131

0.013 116.726
25 R. BlaneyTEAM PENSKE 12 Ford 81

+0.467

23.165

0.034 116.555
26 B. KeselowskiRFK RACING 6 Ford 95

+0.476

23.174

0.009 116.510
27 A. BowmanHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 48 Chevrolet 77

+0.486

23.184

0.010 116.460
28 D. HemricKAULIG RACING 31 Chevrolet 60

+0.494

23.192

0.008 116.419
29 T. DillonKAULIG RACING 16 Chevrolet 59

+0.517

23.215

0.023 116.304
30 H. BurtonWOOD BROTHERS RACING 21 Ford 79

+0.517

23.215

0.000 116.304
31 A. CindricTEAM PENSKE 2 Ford 77

+0.533

23.231

0.016 116.224
32 K. LarsonHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 5 Chevrolet 76

+0.555

23.253

0.022 116.114
33 J. BerrySTEWART-HAAS RACING 4 Ford 37

+0.574

23.272

0.019 116.019
34 R. PreeceSTEWART-HAAS RACING 41 Ford 65

+0.625

23.323

0.051 115.766
35 W. ByronHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 24 Chevrolet 76

+0.712

23.410

0.087 115.335
36 C. ElliottHENDRICK MOTORSPORTS 9 Chevrolet 65

+0.808

23.506

0.096 114.864
37
P. RetzlaffMBM
66 Ford 36

+1.910

24.608

1.102 109.720

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