Crown Royal Presents Dan Lowry 400 Qualifying Update

Richmond International Raceway -- 05/03/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Friday May 2 2008 9:57pm

It's a rather strange schedule for the Saturday night impound race at Richmond this weekend. There was just one practice session for the Cup series, which took place Friday just hours before qualifying.

The practice was lengthened to two hours to give teams a little extra time on the track. As always, there were different agendas for the top-35 teams that were focused primarily on race set-ups, and the "go or go home" cars that had to prepare for their qualifying runs while still staying close enough to race trim to be competitive in the early going if they make the field.

Crew chiefs faced an additional challenge with the practice being held in the heat of the day under quite different weather and track conditions than will be present for the actual race.

One of the biggest surprises in practice was the unimpressive performance of the Ford teams, with only one Ford driver listed among the top 25 - Roush-Fenway's David Ragan (+5000) at 18th. His teammate Matt Kenseth (+2550) was the only other Ford driver to practice in the top 30, running 27th.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+605) led all drivers in practice with a lap speed of 123.412 miles per hour, followed by Mark Martin (+1215), Kasey Kahne (+2150), Denny Hamlin (+425), and Elliott Sadler (+4000).

Earnhardt Jr. also had the fastest average speed with all laps counted at 119.863 miles per hour.

Patrick Carpentier was the fastest rookie in practice at 12th, while some of the contenders further down the speed chart included Tony Stewart (+1185) at 31st, Greg Biffle (+3550) at 37th, and Carl Edwards (+1185) at 40th.

Not surprisingly, seven of the top 10 drivers in practice also qualified in the top 10, including pole sitter Denny Hamlin, who practiced 4th and ran a 126.198 mile per hour lap for P1. Hamlin won the Nationwide race Friday evening and said winning on his home track was his number one goal and was more meaningful to him than a victory at Daytona or Indy would have been.

Mark Martin practiced and qualified 2nd, while Martin Truex Jr. (+1185), Kyle Busch (+625), Elliott Sadler, Kasey Kahne (+2150), and Ryan Newman (+3150) were in the top 10 in both categories (practice and qualifying).

The three drivers who practiced but did not qualify in the top 10 were Earnhardt Jr., who paced practice but qualified 22nd; Jeff Gordon (+1115), 8th in practice and 28th in qualifying; and Scott Riggs, 9th in practice, 30th in time trials. Earnhardt Jr. seemed please with his car most of the day Friday, while Gordon expressed ongoing concern with his.

Rookie Patrick Carpentier, with that impressive 12th-place practice time, was even more impressive in qualifying and will start 4th on Saturday.

Reed Sorenson, who practiced 11th, qualified 5th, while Juan Pablo Montoya (+6050), who practiced 33rd, starts 6th.

Current points leader Jeff Burton (+3150) practiced 22nd and qualified 33rd.

Along with Hamlin and Earnhardt Jr., drivers to watch Saturday include Kevin Harvick (+1085), who qualified 11th, Jimmie Johnson (+605), 12th, and Tony Stewart, 15th.

Earnhardt Jr. and Stewart have the most wins here among active drivers with three a piece. Harvick and Stewart both have very good records at Richmond, while Johnson not only won both races here last year, but also won the night race at Phoenix a few weeks ago - a track often compared to RIR.

Track position is extremely important at Richmond. Historically, more than 80% of the races here have been won from a starting spot within the top 10.

Ken Schrader, Scott Wimmer, John Andretti and Jon Wood missed the cut for Saturday's race.