Truex tops Friday's final Cup practice at Richmond

Truex, who won the 2019 playoff opener last weekend at Las Vegas, was fastest in Friday’s final practice session at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, where he also won the spring race.

Truex’s average lap speed of 121.885 mph was set early in the 50-minute session and remained atop the leaderboard the whole time.

In 27 career Cup starts at Richmond, Truex has one win, four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes and has won one pole.

“Richmond has been a great track for us the past few years. Obviously getting the win in the spring was huge because it was our first with (Joe Gibbs Racing) and kind of got us going for the rest of the season,” Truex said.

“We just need to keep it up and do all that we can to give ourselves the best chance possible for the rest of the playoffs and not just take it easy.”

Chase Elliott ended up second (119.861 mph) and Daniel Hemric was third (119.268 mph). Denny Hamlin was fourth and Austin Dillon completed the top-five.

Rounding out the top-10 were Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman.

Kyle Larson ended up fastest among those drivers who ran at least 10 consecutive laps. Erik Jones and Clint Bowyer ended up second and third, respectively, in that category.

Cla	#	Driver		Manufacturer	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	19	Martin Truex Jr.		Toyota	61	22.152			121.885
2	9	Chase Elliott		Chevrolet	53	22.526	0.374	0.374	119.861
3	8	Daniel Hemric		Chevrolet	59	22.638	0.486	0.112	119.268
4	11	Denny Hamlin		Toyota	74	22.649	0.497	0.011	119.211
5	3	Austin Dillon		Chevrolet	72	22.690	0.538	0.041	118.995
6	4	Kevin Harvick		Ford	70	22.696	0.544	0.006	118.964
7	2	Brad Keselowski		Ford	73	22.701	0.549	0.005	118.937
8	12	Ryan Blaney		Ford	86	22.721	0.569	0.020	118.833
9	18	Kyle Busch		Toyota	79	22.748	0.596	0.027	118.692
10	6	Ryan Newman		Ford	76	22.770	0.618	0.022	118.577
11	10	Aric Almirola		Ford	63	22.80	0.648	0.030	118.421
12	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.		Ford	40	22.810	0.658	0.010	118.369
13	34	Michael McDowell		Ford	52	22.815	0.663	0.005	118.343
14	13	Ty Dillon		Chevrolet	48	22.822	0.670	0.007	118.307
15	22	Joey Logano		Ford	82	22.826	0.674	0.004	118.286
16	20	Erik Jones		Toyota	72	22.828	0.676	0.002	118.276
17	14	Clint Bowyer		Ford	70	22.829	0.677	0.001	118.271
18	41	Daniel Suarez		Ford	76	22.835	0.683	0.006	118.240
19	42	Kyle Larson		Chevrolet	79	22.836	0.684	0.001	118.234
20	37	Chris Buescher		Chevrolet	44	22.847	0.695	0.011	118.177
21	95	Matt DiBenedetto		Toyota	87	22.849	0.697	0.002	118.167
22	88	Alex Bowman		Chevrolet	59	22.853	0.701	0.004	118.146
23	47	Ryan Preece		Chevrolet	61	22.863	0.711	0.010	118.095
24	21	Paul Menard		Ford	76	22.868	0.716	0.005	118.069
25	48	Jimmie Johnson		Chevrolet	75	22.868	0.716	0.0	118.069
26	1	Kurt Busch		Chevrolet	78	22.883	0.731	0.015	117.992
27	24	William Byron		Chevrolet	54	22.955	0.803	0.072	117.621
28	32	Corey Lajoie		Ford	24	23.087	0.935	0.132	116.949
29	38	David Ragan		Ford	53	23.099	0.947	0.012	116.888
30	36	Matt Tifft		Ford	53	23.130	0.978	0.031	116.732
31	43	Darrell Wallace Jr.		Chevrolet	65	23.175	1.023	0.045	116.505
32	00	Landon Cassill		Chevrolet	71	23.414	1.262	0.239	115.316
33	51	Austin Theriault		Chevrolet	27	23.511	1.359	0.097	114.840
34	52	J.J. Yeley		Ford	20	23.756	1.604	0.245	113.655
35	53	Spencer Boyd		Chevrolet	14	23.929	1.777	0.173	112.834