David Ragan Tops Final Sprint Cup Practice, Setting Stage For Martinsville Qualifying On Saturday

David Ragan, who was once infamously called a “dart with no feathers” by Tony Stewart at Martinsville Speedway, paced the final Sprint Cup Series practice at the half-mile Virginia track on Friday afternoon.

Ragan topped the charts with a speed of 96.268 mph, ahead of Martinsville master Jeff Gordon (96.220), Brad Keselowski, David Reutimann and Kasey Kahne heading into Saturday’s qualifying session.

Denny Hamlin and Jimmie Johnson – who have combined to win every Martinsville race since October 2006 – weren’t the fastest cars on Friday. They ended the final session with Johnson 16th and Hamlin 20th on the practice sheet.

Ryan Newman, Bobby Labonte, Marcos Ambrose, Brian Vickers and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top 10.

The times might be somewhat misleading; some drivers practiced qualifying more, while others focused more on race trim.

There were two incidents during the final practice: Joey Logano (who was second-fastest in the first session) spun and hit the wall, forcing him to a backup car; Dennis Setzer lost the brakes and nailed the Turn 3 wall, completely destroying his K-Automotive ride.

Setzer (who is subbing for Brian Keselowski) has no backup car. Since only 44 cars are entered at Martinsville, Setzer’s absence will mean everyone will make the race.

Qualifying at Martinsville is Saturday at 12:10 p.m. local time; the track moved qualifying on Saturday to provide more value to fans who can’t attend due to work on Friday.