Two-Miler to the Paperclip: Truex Fastest in First Practice at Martinsville

Martin Truex Jr. was fastest in the first practice for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway. He ran a lap around the one-half-mile track in 19.776 seconds with an average speed of 95.752 MPH. Truex won last week at Auto Club Speedway, and looks for more success at the Paperclip. All 38 cars entered turned a lap and the session wasn’t slowed for any incidents.

The main concern during the section was the cold. With temperatures in the high 30s, brakes and tires took as many as 10 or 15 laps to get warmed up, and so times were shuffling quite a bit for the first five or so minutes of the session. Teams ran a mix of qualifying and race runs, but favored race runs, since qualifying looks likely to be rained (or snowed) out.

The final practice for the STP 500 at Martinsville Speedway 12:30 PM eastern Saturday. Qualifying will be at 5:10 PM eastern time on Saturday (weather permitting), and the STP 500 will take place at 2:00 PM eastern time on Sunday afternoon.

Below are the full results of the first practice for the STP 500 at Martinsville.

1. Martin Truex Jr.
2. Brad Keselowski
3. Kyle Busch
4. Ryan Newman
5. Kurt Busch
6. Chase Elliott
7. Kyle Larson
8. Denny Hamlin
9. Joey Logano
10. Ryan Blaney
11. Clint Bowyer
12. Ty Dillon
13. AJ Allmendinger
14. Daniel Suarez
15. Kevin Harvick
16. Jamie McMurray
17. Erik Jones
18. William Byron (Rookie)
19. Aric Almirola
20. Jimmie Johnson
21. Austin Dillon
22. Chris Buescher
23. Paul Menard
24. Alex Bowman
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
26. Trevor Bayne
27. David Ragan
28. Darrell Wallace Jr. (Rookie)
29. Kasey Kahne
30. Michael McDowell
31. Gray Gaulding
32. Cole Whitt
33. Matt DiBenedetto
34. Ross Chastain
35. JJ Yeley
36. Landon Cassill
37. D.J. Kennington
38. Harrison Rhodes