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.
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Motorsport.com – NASCAR – Stories…