Kyle Larson turned in the fastest lap in the opening practice for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway.
Larson, driving his No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro, put down a lap of 22.815 besting the time of Virginia-native Denny Hamlin by 0.004 seconds. A few surprise names were atop the leaderboard with Chris Buescher third and David Ragan fifth. Kyle Busch was fourth fastest.
Joey Gase may have the most talked about/photographed car this week as he drives the No. 66 Toyota honoring former NASCAR artist Sam Bass. He was 36th fastest of 37 cars.
The MENCS will qualify later Friday and run the Toyota Owners 400 on Saturday at 7:30 pm ET.
MENCS Opening Practice Speeds Richmond
| RaceRank | No | Driver | BestLapTime | BestSpeed | BestLap | Laps |
| 1 | 42 | Kyle Larson | 22.185 | 121.704 | 6 | 25 |
| 2 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | 22.189 | 121.682 | 5 | 43 |
| 3 | 37 | Chris Buescher | 22.197 | 121.638 | 6 | 42 |
| 4 | 18 | Kyle Busch | 22.202 | 121.611 | 4 | 55 |
| 5 | 38 | David Ragan | 22.219 | 121.518 | 4 | 33 |
| 6 | 41 | Daniel Suarez | 22.224 | 121.49 | 37 | 41 |
| 7 | 19 | Martin Truex Jr | 22.232 | 121.447 | 5 | 29 |
| 8 | 1 | Kurt Busch | 22.246 | 121.37 | 6 | 42 |
| 9 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | 22.26 | 121.294 | 6 | 28 |
| 10 | 22 | Joey Logano | 22.274 | 121.218 | 8 | 44 |
| 11 | 12 | Ryan Blaney | 22.285 | 121.158 | 4 | 45 |
| 12 | 20 | Erik Jones | 22.366 | 120.719 | 4 | 51 |
| 13 | 10 | Aric Almirola | 22.372 | 120.687 | 8 | 49 |
| 14 | 47 | Ryan Preece # | 22.395 | 120.563 | 6 | 37 |
| 15 | 88 | Alex Bowman | 22.42 | 120.428 | 8 | 41 |
| 16 | 13 | Ty Dillon | 22.433 | 120.358 | 7 | 58 |
| 17 | 43 | Bubba Wallace | 22.441 | 120.315 | 4 | 37 |
| 18 | 34 | Michael McDowell | 22.453 | 120.251 | 4 | 51 |
| 19 | 21 | Paul Menard | 22.454 | 120.246 | 19 | 49 |
| 20 | 24 | William Byron | 22.46 | 120.214 | 8 | 55 |
| 21 | 95 | Matt DiBenedetto | 22.464 | 120.192 | 6 | 42 |
| 22 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | 22.47 | 120.16 | 12 | 49 |
| 23 | 3 | Austin Dillon | 22.473 | 120.144 | 12 | 53 |
| 24 | 9 | Chase Elliott | 22.484 | 120.085 | 13 | 68 |
| 25 | 36 | Matt Tifft # | 22.538 | 119.798 | 15 | 44 |
| 26 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | 22.538 | 119.798 | 19 | 59 |
| 27 | 6 | Ryan Newman | 22.551 | 119.729 | 12 | 28 |
| 28 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | 22.644 | 119.237 | 10 | 49 |
| 29 | 00 | Landon Cassill | 22.649 | 119.211 | 6 | 39 |
| 30 | 8 | Daniel Hemric # | 22.674 | 119.079 | 10 | 48 |
| 31 | 14 | Clint Bowyer | 22.698 | 118.953 | 22 | 38 |
| 32 | 15 | Ross Chastain(i) | 22.719 | 118.843 | 13 | 34 |
| 33 | 32 | Corey LaJoie | 22.912 | 117.842 | 6 | 25 |
| 34 | 51 | Jeb Burton(i) | 23.153 | 116.616 | 10 | 16 |
| 35 | 52 | Bayley Currey(i) | 23.192 | 116.419 | 9 | 15 |
| 36 | *66 | Joey Gase(i) | 23.535 | 114.723 | 13 | 13 |
| 37 | 77 | Quin Houff | 23.568 | 114.562 | 5 | 44 |
