Final Practice for First Data 500
Martinsville Speedway
Saturday, October 27th 11:30 am ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
57 degree air temp I Winds are calm I Sunny and minimal cloud cover
Penalized Drivers
No drivers were given penalties this session
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 80 | 90.331 | 19.785 | 95.709 | 4 |
| 2 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | Chevy | 77 | 90.899 | 19.951 | 94.913 | 4 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch (P) | Toyota | 83 | 90.846 | 19.978 | 94.784 | 4 |
| 4 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 74 | 90.92 | 20.036 | 94.51 | 10 |
| 5 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 62 | 91.35 | 20.093 | 94.242 | 4 |
| 6 | 14 | Clint Bowyer (P) | Ford | 77 | 91.412 | 20.1 | 94.209 | 9 |
| 7 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 62 | 90.244 | 20.101 | 94.204 | 6 |
| 8 | 13 | Ty Dillon | Chevy | 54 | 92.429 | 20.108 | 94.171 | 5 |
| 9 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. (P) | Toyota | 77 | 90.547 | 20.118 | 94.125 | 9 |
| 10 | 4 | Kevin Harvick (P) | Ford | 69 | 91.815 | 20.12 | 94.115 | 40 |
| 11 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 88 | 91.003 | 20.135 | 94.045 | 3 |
| 12 | 88 | Alex Bowman | Chevy | 54 | 94.041 | 20.136 | 94.041 | 54 |
| 13 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 89 | 90.473 | 20.138 | 94.031 | 9 |
| 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 82 | 85.409 | 20.139 | 94.027 | 5 |
| 15 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Ford | 86 | 91.082 | 20.148 | 93.985 | 8 |
| 16 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 74 | 85.178 | 20.156 | 93.947 | 9 |
| 17 | 41 | Kurt Busch (P) | Ford | 64 | 90.947 | 20.165 | 93.905 | 6 |
| 18 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 57 | 93.354 | 20.195 | 93.766 | 55 |
| 19 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Chevy | 64 | 89.676 | 20.2 | 93.743 | 63 |
| 20 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | 54 | 93.553 | 20.213 | 93.682 | 7 |
Best Average Laps
Items of Note:
- Aric Almirola said he was focused on Q trim in the first practice and said he was lucky in the first session that when the tie rod broke that it didn’t hit or break anything else.
- Kyle Busch has won five of the last eight short tracks run and has seven top-10s in that span as well. He is my top cash play on both sites.
- With 35 minutes left in practice the track has changed and is taking more rubber in the corner than it was previously. Changing the setup to keep up with the changing track is one of the toughest things a Crew Chief will be tasked with during the race.
- Denny Hamlin counts this track as one of his home tracks being from Virginia and he is still looking to nab a win this year to extend his streak to 13 straight seasons with at least one win.
- Kevin Harvick had a tire lock entering Turn 3 with about 20 minutes left in the session, wasn’t a major issue though
- Daniel Suarez has a lot of rumors surrounding him and his crew chief change that happened this season
- Paul Menard has seven top-10s this season and three of them have come from the last seven races this season
- Bubba Wallace has a Truck Series win at Martinsville but finished P34 in the March race but has looked decent this week
- William Byron will have a completely new team around him next year including Crew Chief Chad Knaus coming over from Jimmie Johnson
- Chase Elliott was wrecked in this race a year ago and is still bitter about that and is looking hungry this weekend.
- Jimmie Johnson says that entering the corner his car wants to get loose as he goes from asphalt to concrete and his rear wheels don’t want to grip as well and being loose in is not good for the race
- Erik Jones had the best average finish of any driver in the last round at 5.0 despite not being in the playoffs any longer
- Drivers that aren’t in the playoffs may race harder than drivers in the playoffs because they don’t have anything on the line and they have a chip on their shoulder from no longer being in the hunt for a championship
- Several drivers complained of being loose in which will cause problems with trying to get on the brakes into the corner if it’s not fixed by race time
- Clint Bowyer says he likes his car and is just comparing his car this week to what he had in the Spring race when he won here and led the most laps. He said he felt he was a bit freer in this weekend but the track conditions were different.
Opening Practice for First Data 500
Martinsville Speedway
Saturday October 27th, 9:00 am ET
50 minutes in length
Weather
It is cool (47 degrees) but dry. Friday saw a ton of rain in the area
Penalized Drivers
No drivers served penalties this session
Top-20 Speeds (one lap)
| Pos | Car | Driver | Make | Laps | Last Lap | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | 33 | 93.345 | 19.784 | 95.714 | 13 |
| 2 | 41 | Kurt Busch (P) | Ford | 24 | 94.567 | 19.798 | 95.646 | 17 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch (P) | Toyota | 37 | 92.213 | 19.809 | 95.593 | 9 |
| 4 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | Ford | 20 | 92.997 | 19.858 | 95.357 | 7 |
| 5 | 10 | Aric Almirola (P) | Ford | 36 | 89.456 | 19.874 | 95.28 | 35 |
| 6 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. (P) | Toyota | 36 | 92.642 | 19.879 | 95.256 | 15 |
| 7 | 14 | Clint Bowyer (P) | Ford | 39 | 95.137 | 19.904 | 95.137 | 39 |
| 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 38 | 87.247 | 19.906 | 95.127 | 11 |
| 9 | 20 | Erik Jones | Toyota | 33 | 94.609 | 19.937 | 94.979 | 9 |
| 10 | 47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevy | 36 | 92.624 | 19.986 | 94.746 | 11 |
| 11 | 4 | Kevin Harvick (P) | Ford | 45 | 91.593 | 19.998 | 94.689 | 12 |
| 12 | 21 | Paul Menard | Ford | 37 | 92.91 | 19.999 | 94.685 | 11 |
| 13 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Chevy | 38 | 92.833 | 20.004 | 94.661 | 8 |
| 14 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevy | 29 | 92.824 | 20.013 | 94.618 | 6 |
| 15 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chevy | 45 | 89.833 | 20.017 | 94.6 | 7 |
| 16 | 9 | Chase Elliott (P) | Chevy | 53 | 89.833 | 20.019 | 94.59 | 7 |
| 17 | 37 | Chris Buescher | Chevy | 48 | 91.963 | 20.027 | 94.552 | 11 |
| 18 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevy | 31 | 92.947 | 20.028 | 94.548 | 5 |
| 19 | 19 | Daniel Suarez | Toyota | 15 | 93.331 | 20.032 | 94.529 | 9 |
| 20 | 22 | Joey Logano (P) | Ford | 53 | 90.525 | 20.035 | 94.515 | 7 |
Best Average Laps
Items of Note:
- Because it rained on Friday and no trucks were on track the race track is a very clean or green track for the start of practice which makes this first one an interesting one to follow
- Early in practice several drivers did mock pit road speed testing.
- Hendrick Motorsports has won 24 times at Martinsville which is the most by team at a this track including Jimmie Johnson’s nine wins
- Goodyear has changed the composition of the tire so that the on track temperature to make grip is lower and thus the tire grips better. That means it takes less time to get grip in the car than it used to.
- Better tires here are older tires which is reverse from elsewhere and during qualifying teams want the sun on the track to heat the tires faster to give them better times which is also reverse from elsewhere.
- Aric Almirola had a minor issue 40 minutes into the session in which a tie rod broke on the front end of the car but it won’t be a problem going forward this weekend.
- It’s been since 2010 that Joey Logano has had his best finish here which was a second place finish
- Clint Bowyer was working on making his car turn quick lap times by hugging the curb in the turns because its much harder to pass if you can’t get on the inside of someone on the curb.
- Brad Keselowski was running a slightly higher line around the track in the corners but he was still making great time not running quite as close to the curb as some others
- Denny Hamlin is running a higher line than both Bowyer and Keselowski and there is about a half a car gap between he and the curb at this point.
- Late in practice the track was very full with traffic and the final 2 minutes held the most relevant race trim laps than earlier in the session.
- Kyle Busch had the fastest lap early in the session and had the best average laps run but finished P3 on the overall speed charts for one lap.