Rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session for the Richmond 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway. As a result, the 40-car field for Sunday’s 400-lap event around the .75-mile oval was set by taking the fastest lap each driver posted during Friday’s practice session, per the NASCAR rulebook.
Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Busch Light Chevrolet for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), posted the fastest time and will start first. Harvick’s fast lap in practice was 20.919 seconds at 129.069 mph.
Joining Harvick on the outside of row one is Joey Logano, who timed in at 20.980 seconds at 128.694 mph. Jimmie Johnson (21.063 seconds at 128.187 mph), Carl Edwards (21.064 seconds at 128.181 mph) and Denny Hamlin (21.068 seconds at 128.156 mph) comprised the remainder of the top-five.
The race, which traditionally has been run on Saturday night, was moved to Sunday afternoon this year and will be the second in a row in the spring at Richmond run on a Sunday. Last year’s race was rained out on Saturday night, and Harvick and Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kurt Busch battled for the victory, with Busch prevailing. Harvick would love to see a repeat this time, with one modification.
Harvick ran only nine laps in practice before the rain came.
Logano turned 35 laps and credited his team with playing the weather just right.
TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!
