Rain throughout the day would result in a soaked track and therefore resulting in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying being rained out. As a result, the starting line-up for the Toyota Owners 400 was set based on first practice speeds.
Kyle Larson will start first after setting the quick time in first practice with a lap of 21.280 seconds, 126.880 mph. Due to qualifying not taking place in an official qualifying session, Larson will not be credited with an entry into the Sprint Unlimited as a result of his pole.
“We were debating before practice started to start in qualifying trim or go to race trim and do that,” Larson said. “I wanted to start out in qualifying trim and was able to kind of talk Shine (crew chief Chris Heroy) into doing it. I wasn’t sure what to expect on my lap, but we came here and tested last year for Goodyear and had a good baseline. I was pretty confident with going out in qualifying trim without getting used to the car yet. Was able to lay down a fast lap and then we switched over to race trim and we were good in that too.
“Excited about the AXE Peace Chevy, I think it should be a good race tomorrow. It’s nice starting off from the pole. I don’t know if I will count it as my first career pole, but it’s still pretty cool to start on the front row.”
2012 Sprint Cup Series Champion Brad Keselowski will start second, followed by Clint Bowyer. Bowyer enters the weekend looking for redemption at Richmond International Raceway after last year’s Chase scandal. Kasey Kahne and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five.
Brian Vickers will start sixth, followed by Jamie McMurray, Ryan Truex, Paul Menard, and Jimmie Johnson.
Prior to the weekend, an online betting review site, TopBettingReviews.com, sent us the odds for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race. Below are the odds:
Kevin Harvick – 6/1
Kyle Busch – 13/2
Jimmie Johnson – 7/1
Denny Hamlin – 15/2
Brad Keselowski – 8/1
Jeff Gordon – 9/1
Clint Bowyer – 10/1
Matt Kenseth – 12/1
Dale Earnhardt Jr. – 14/1
Joey Logano – 14/1
Kasey Kahne – 14/1
Carl Edwards – 16/1
Tony Stewart – 18/1
Kurt Busch – 20/1
Kyle Larson – 22/1
Ryan Newman – 28/1
Greg Biffle – 33/1
Brian Vickers – 50/1
Jamie McMurray – 66/1
Paul Menard – 66/1
Austin Dillon – 75/1
Marcos Ambrose – 75/1
Martin Truex Jr. – 75/1
Aric Almirola – 100/1
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – 100/1
A.J. Allmendinger – 150/1
Casey Mears – 300/1
Danica Patrick – 300/1
Justin Allgaier – 300/1
David Ragan – 500/1
Landon Cassill – 500/1
Dave Blaney – 750/1
David Gilliland – 750/1
David Reutimann – 750/1
Parker Kligerman – 750/1
Alex Bowman – 1000/1
Cole Whitt – 1000/1
David Stremme – 1000/1
J.J. Yeley – 1000/1
Joe Nemechek – 1000/1
Josh Wise – 1000/1
Michael Annett – 1000/1
Michael McDowell – 1000/1
Reed Sorenson – 1000/1
Ryan Truex – 1000/1
Travis Kvapil – 1000/1
