Rain showers hit the Richmond area on Friday afternoon, hitting the pause button on NASCAR’s on-track activity at Richmond Raceway and forcing the sanctioning body to cancel final Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice. NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying also fell victim to the wet weather and the lineup for Friday’s race will be set in accordance to the NASCAR Rule Book. The schedule got back on track with Cup qualifying at 5:45 p.m. ET. The Xfinity Series ToyotaCare 250 also got underway at 7 p.m. ET; the second race of the four-race Dash 4 Cash in the Xfinity ranks. Cup Series teams were scheduled to practice on the 0.75-mile short track from 1:05-1:55 p.m. ET. Rain started falling around 12:15 and NASCAR officials put everything on hold and announced it would be scrapping practice shortly before 1 p.m. MORE: Weather updates from Richmond | Full Richmond schedule Scattered thunderstorms and rain are in the forecast for the rest of the evening. Race officials have a full fleet of track-drying equipment on hand. Stationed at Richmond are eight Air Titan dryers, four conventional jet dryers, one track blower, one Elgin sweeper and one track vacuum.<doc-sep>There’s a lot of NASCAR inspection failures for tonight’s event at Richmond Raceway Update: 8 cars fails inspection on the first pass; Multiple cars fail multiple attempts to pass pre-race/post-qualifying inspection; Three crew members ejected. Yesterday, Richmomd Raceway hosted NASCAR qualifying. However, this is an impound race which places inspection the day after qualifying. View the list of Richmond inspection failures below. Following qualifying, the cars were locked up. The garage area opened at 1:30pm ET and inspection is currently underway. Kevin Harvick set the pole for tonight’s race at Richmond Raceway. He’s clear of pre-race inspection and will start from the pole. 8 cars failed inspection on the first pass through the tech line. That’s 22% of the field that will line up at the back by owner points. View the updated Richmond Raceway starting lineup here. NASCAR inspection issues Richmond Raceway April 13, 2019 Here’s the list of NASCAR inspection failures so far at Richmond Raceway: Erik Jones (2nd): However, the same cannot be said for Erik Jones. He was scheduled to start alongside Harvick on the front row. He will not. Erik Jones has failed pre-race/post-qualifying inspection at Richmond Raceway. He’ll go to the back. Kurt Busch will move up to the 2nd position. Chase Elliott (7th): Chase Elliott was scheduled to start 9th, he has failed pre-race tech and will go to the back. Chase Elliott was scheduled to start 7th. -Elliott failed on the second pass through the inspection line. He’ll see a crew member ejected from Richmond Raceway. Barnes, the race engineer will be ejected. Daniel Suarez (9th): Stewart-Haas Racing driver Daniel Suarez has failed tech ahead of the race. He’ll join them at the rear. Jimmie Johnson (10th): We’re not done yet. Jimmie Johnson has also failed pre-race tech. He’ll go to the rear for tonight’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Aric Almirola (15th): Almirola will join the others at the rear. Denny Hamlin (18th): Hamlin is set for the green at his home racetrack. He was scheduled to start 18th but has failed pre-race tech. He’s the second Joe Gibbs Racing machine to fail tech. -Hamlin just failed on the second pass through inspection. The #11 team will see a crew member ejected by NASCAR officials. Race engineer Roy McCauley will be the ejected crew member. Matt Tifft (20th): Matt Tifft failed inspection on the first pass through. -Tifft also failed on the second attempt through inspection. He’ll see a crew member ejected. Race engineer Bob Osborne will be removed ahead of the race. Joey Gase (36th): Gase was scheduled to start in the second to last starting spot. He failed inspection and will now start in the very last starting position. NASCAR inspection rules: Pre-race/post-qualifying inspection NASCAR updated the inspection violation penalties at the start of the 2019 season. They are also different for a race weekend featuring an enhanced weekend with an impound following qualifying. The NASCAR inspection penalties for Richmond Raceway are as follows: 1 NASCAR Inspection failure: The team’s time from qualifying is disallowed. They will start from the rear, behind all other cars that pass inspection. They also lose their pit stall selection. 2 NASCAR inspection failure: If a team fails twice, NASCAR will eject a crew member of their choosing. In addition, they are forced to the start the race in the rear. 3 NASCAR inspection failures: If a team failed three times then they lose a crew member. They have to start at the rear. In addition, the car has to serve a pass through penalty on pit lane at the start of the race. A points penalty is also added to the list. Note: This story will be updated upon any additional failures. More Richmond Raceway Starting Lineup Richmond Raceway TV Schedule Bristol Motor Speedway inspection issues Links Richmond Raceway | NASCAR<doc-sep>NASCAR starting lineup for Richmond Raceway Update: Eight cars failed pre-race/post-qualifying inspection ahead of tonight’s race. Since it’s an impound race, those cars will be sent to the rear of the field. The Richmond starting lineup has been adjusted below. Today, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series will set the grid for the Toyota Owners 400. Qualifying is next at Richmond Raceway. View the full 2019 Richmond starting lineup below. The series got one practice in this morning. Final practice was a rain out. That’s left some guessing heading into qualifying. “Our car was pretty good in race trim. Now, this is a bad old guess,” Harvick tells Fox Sports ahead of qualifying. “Maybe you’ll see a few of them mad at each other and rolling on the ground. We’ve seen that before,” Brad Keselowski says ahead of the session. New qualifying rules for Richmond: NASCAR has adjusted the rules ahead of this weekend. The first round has been reduced from 10 to just 5 minutes, ame for round two. The final round remains 5 minutes. Richmond Qualifying Round 1 – Report Duration: 5 minutes (Top 24 advance) The session is green. Every driver leaves their pit stall instantly. They aren’t waiting at the edge of the pit lane. Straight to the race track they go. Kyle Larson was quickest in the opening round of NASCAR practice earlier today. He was the first car on track in round one. He sits at the top of the board with 15 cars setting a time. Most of the field is making runs at three laps in duration. Any less and the time won’t be good enough. Kyle Larson is upset with Daniel Suarez. The #41 was on a cool down lap on the outside lane. Larson came with speed as they met off turn four. Larson was pinched on the exit of the corner which messed up two laps. Kurt Busch wins round one of knockout qualifying! NASCAR Qualifying – Round 1 Results: 1. Kurt Busch (21.460); 2. Kyle Larson (21.511); 3. Ricky Stenhouse Jr (21.539); 4. Denny Hamlin (21.571); 5. Austin Dillon (21.573); 6. Kevin Harvick (21.579); 7. Erik Jones (21.588); 8. Clint Bowyer (21.594); 9. Daniel Suarez (21.645); 10. Martin Truex Jr (21.649); 11. Chase Elliott (21.662); 12. David Ragan (21.678); Richmond Qualifying Round 2 – Report Duration: 5 minutes (Top 12 advance) The green is out on session two. 13 cars hit the track immediately. Kyle Busch is quickest so far. 1 minute remains, Larson sits outside the top 12. He was 2nd quickest in round one. His gloves are coming off, Larson is out. Truex returned to the track for a second run in round two. The first attempt wasn’t go enough but after adjustments, he’s in and sitting inside the top-5. Kyle Busch wins round two of NASCAR qualifying at Richmond! NASCAR Qualifying – Round 2 Results: 1. Kyle Busch (21.640); 2. Kevin Harvick (21.698); 3. Erik Jones (21.703); 4. Martin Truex Jr (21.725); 5. Austin Dillon (21.730); 6. Brad Keselowski (21.763); 7. Joey Logano (21.777); 8. Kurt Busch (21.782); 9. Chase Elliott (21.785); 10. Chris Buescher (21.794); 11. Daniel Suarez (21.834); 12. Jimmie Johnson (21.841); Richmond Qualifying Round 2 – Report Duration: 5 minutes (Run for pole) Green in the final round. 11 cars fire right up and head for the track. Erik Jones is out on track first. Kurt Busch is throwing sparks on the right rear during his warm-up lap. He still jumps to the top of the board early. Erik Jones cycles back to the top as his runs continues. 2 minutes remain, Kevin Harvick jumps to the top of the board. He was fast last week at Bristol. The team brought new equipment with updates to Richmond. Kevin Harvick takes the pole position in Richmond qualifying! View the full Richmond Raceway starting lineup below. Richmond Starting Lineup April 13, 2019 NASCAR Cup Series Update: Due to inspection failures at Richmond Raceway, the lineup below has been adjusted. Pos | Driver | Time 1. Kevin Harvick 21.722 2. Kurt Busch 21.797 3. Joey Logano 21.832 4. Kyle Busch 21.845 5. Martin Truex Jr 21.880 6. Austin Dillon 21.958 7. Chris Buescher 22.106 8. Brad Keselowski 22.120 9. Paul Menard 21.848 10. Kyle Larson 21.855 11. Ricky Stenhouse Jr 21.871 12. Alex Bowman 21.891 13. William Byron 21.899 14. Clint Bowyer 21.925 15. David Ragan 21.934 16. Ryan Preece 21.951 17. Daniel Hemric 22.099 18. Michael McDowell 21.802 19. Bubba Wallace 21.821 20. Matt DiBenedetto 21.823 21. Corey LaJoie 21.843 22. Ryan Blaney 21.849 23. Ty Dillon 21.873 24. Ryan Newman 21.898 25. Landon Cassill 21.920 26. Bayley Currey 22.046 27. Jeb Burton 22.211 28. Quin Houff 22.384 29. Ross Chastain — Inspection Failures The following cars failed pre-race inspection and were sent to the rear. Pos | Driver | Original Starting Position | Disallowed Time 30. Denny Hamlin (18th) 21.898 31. Aric Almirola (15th) 21.865 32. Chase Elliott (7th) 21.924 33. Daniel Suarez (9th) 22.021 34. Jimmie Johnson (10th) 22.101 35. Erik Jones (2nd) 21.760 36. Matt Tifft (20th) 21.900 37. Joey Gase (36th) 22.652 More Eight cars fail inspection at Richmond Raceway Richmond Raceway TV Schedule Jimmie Johnson has ideas for how to fix NASCAR qualifying NASCAR drivers react to qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway NASCAR reacts to ‘disappointing’ qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway Clint Bowyer is upset with NASCAR for not making a call on Ryan Newman in qualifying NASCAR qualifying format updated ahead of Texas Motor Speedway NASCAR reacts to the qualifying debacle at Auto Club Speedway; Fans boo after the session Austin Dillon tricked his competitors and took the pole at Auto Club Speedway Links Richmond Raceway | NASCAR<doc-sep>
The chances the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway will be put under a rain delay at some point Saturday night, as a product of the storm systems moving northeast on Saturday and impacting much of the east coast, depend on the source of the forecast. At the very least, rain will be a threat for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond. The NASCAR race weekend at Richmond has already been impacted by weather, as Friday's final Cup Series practice (Xfinity Series qualifying) was canceled due to rain. MORE: Starting lineup for Richmond race NASCAR race weather for Richmond Current conditions: According to weather.com, there is a 5-15 percent chance of rain at 7:30 p.m. ET, the scheduled start time for the Toyota Owners 400 in Richmond. The strongest storm systems were expected to clear out of the area late Saturday afternoon, with most of the day in Northeast Virginia being cloudy with a less than 25 percent chance of rain. Scattered thunderstorms were forecasted to end around 3:45 p.m. ET in Richmond. During the race, which is scheduled for 400 laps (300 miles) around the 0.75-mile track, the chance for precipitation spikes at 15 percent, starting at 8 p.m. ET. The chance of rain remains at 15 percent for the next several hours. MORE: Odds, predictions for Richmond race Brian Neudorff, a meteorologist who provides weather forecasts for all NASCAR races via social media, has an optimistic view of the outlook for Saturday night's Cup Series race. Per Neudorff, there is a 90 percent chance the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway will be completed Saturday night in its entirety. There is good news in this there #NASCAR weather forecast for @RichmondRaceway - Check it out pic.twitter.com/g2Zlr8tGc4 — Brian Neudorff (@NASCAR_WXMAN) April 13, 2019 "Showers and t'storms will be a threat mostly in the morning for Richmond," Neudorff writes, "and while I am not ruling out a few stray showers or storms leading up to the start of the Toyota Owners 400, I think the race is mostly dry." Saturday night's Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway has a scheduled start time of 7:30 p.m. ET. It will be broadcast live on FOX, with MRN providing radio coverage. The race also can be streamed live via FOX Sports Go or with fuboTV. New fuboTV users can sign up with a seven-day free trial. Kevin Harvick, who has not yet won a race this season but has three career Cup Series wins at Richmond, earned the pole Friday in qualifying. Erik Jones, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch round out the rest of the top five starters. (Jones, howver, failed pre-race inspection and gave up his No. 2 starting spot.)