Martin Truex Jr. paced the extended NASCAR Cup Series practice Saturday at Martinsville Speedway while one of his championship-eligible teammates crashed due of a hung throttle.
Truex was fastest at 95.070mph (19.918s). He was the only driver who cracked 95mph.
Corey LaJoie was second fastest at 94.989mph and Denny Hamlin (P) was third at 94.884mph. Hamlin, however, did not complete the session.
A piece of rubber got stuck in the throttle body, causing it to hang wide open, and it sent Hamlin for a spin in Turn 3. He had previously set the fastest lap when the incident occurred. The rear of his Toyota was heavily damaged, however the team is repairing the car for Hamlin to race Sunday.
Christopher Bell (P) was fourth fastest at 94.856mph; Chase Elliott (P), fifth at 94.837mph; Ty Gibbs, sixth at 94.789mph; Chase Briscoe, seventh at 94.690mph; Todd Gilliland, eighth at 94.685mph; Austin Dillon, ninth at 94.482mph and Daniel Suarez, 10th at 94.463mph.
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William Byron (P) was 11th fastest at 94.392mph. The remaining playoff drivers were outside the top 20.
Joey Logano (P) ran 25th at 94.008mph, Ryan Blaney (P), the defending race winner, was 29th at 93.957mph and Kyle Larson (P) was 30th at 93.905mph. The slowest playoff driver was Tyler Reddick (P) in 34th place. Reddick ran 93.775mph.
Cup Series teams were given an extended practice because of the softer tire brought to Martinsville Speedway. All drivers were able to get on track together during the 45 minutes (as opposed to the traditional groups).
There are 37 drivers entered in the Xfinity 500.
P denotes playoff driver.