The 2017 Toyota Owners 400 was a Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race held on April 30, 2017, at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Virginia. Contested over 400 laps on the 0.75 mile (1.2 km) asphalt short track, it was the ninth race of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season.
Joey Logano won the race, his 18th career win in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, having done it from the rear of the field. This race was his 300th Cup Series start. However, on May 4, 2017, due to a rear suspension issue, Logano's win was encumbered. It did not count as a ticket to the Playoffs, which ultimately cost Logano a berth in the post-season, since he did not win again during the regular season nor point his way in.
Entry list Driver Team Manufacturer 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 3 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 5 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 6 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 10 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 13 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 15 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 18 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 19 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 23 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 24 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 27 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 33 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 34 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 37 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 38 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 41 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 43 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 47 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 48 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 51 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 72 Cole Whitt Tri-Star Motorsports Chevrolet 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 83 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 95 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing ChevroletOfficial entry list
Practice
First practice Martin Truex Jr. was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 21.743 seconds and a speed of .
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Time 1 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 21.743 124.178 2 77 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 21.945 123.035 3 21 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 21.992 122.772Official first practice results
Second practice Erik Jones was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 22.367 seconds and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime177Erik Jones (R)Furniture Row RacingToyota22.367120.71424Kevin HarvickStewart–Haas RacingChevrolet22.491120.048327Paul MenardRichard Childress RacingChevrolet22.499120.005Official second practice results
Final practice Kyle Larson was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 22.675 seconds and a speed of . PosDriverTeamManufacturerTime142Kyle LarsonChip Ganassi RacingChevrolet22.675119.074278Martin Truex Jr.Furniture Row RacingToyota22.686119.016348Jimmie JohnsonHendrick MotorsportsChevrolet22.727118.801Official final practice results
Qualifying
Matt Kenseth scored the pole for the race with a time of 22.300 and a speed of .
Qualifying results Pos Driver Team Manufacturer 120 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.499 22.435 22.300 221 Ryan Blaney Wood Brothers Racing Ford 22.634 22.488 22.341 378 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 22.474 22.432 22.373 417 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Roush Fenway Racing Ford 22.595 22.422 22.412 522 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 22.338 22.228 22.429 64 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.338 22.318 22.439 718 Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.517 22.482 22.468 814 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.345 22.557 22.473 941 Kurt Busch Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.479 22.444 22.495 101 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.530 22.431 22.558 1119 Daniel Suárez (R) Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.649 22.541 22.672 1288 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.636 22.526 22.689 1331 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.522 22.557 — 1424 Chase Elliott Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.501 22.562 — 152 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 22.508 22.562 — 1611 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 22.419 22.563 — 1748 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.368 22.568 — 1842 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 22.567 22.617 — 195 Kasey Kahne Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet 22.627 22.646 — 2077 Erik Jones (R) Furniture Row Racing Toyota 22.644 22.699 — 2110 Danica Patrick Stewart–Haas RacingFord 22.625 22.709 — 2247 A. J. Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 22.645 22.758 — 2337 Chris Buescher JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet 22.547 22.797 — 2413 Ty Dillon (R) Germain Racing Chevrolet 22.659 23.072 — 2543 Aric Almirola Richard Petty Motorsports Ford 22.674 — — 2627 Paul Menard Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 22.687 — — 2795 Michael McDowell Leavine Family Racing Chevrolet 22.705 — — 2834 Landon Cassill Front Row Motorsports Ford 22.715 — — 296 Trevor Bayne Roush Fenway Racing Ford 22.728 — — 3038 David Ragan Front Row Motorsports Ford 22.810 — — 3123 Gray Gaulding (R) BK Racing Toyota 22.856 — — 3232 Matt DiBenedetto Go Fas Racing Ford 22.893 — — 3315 Reed Sorenson Premium Motorsports Chevrolet 23.001 — — 3483 Corey LaJoie (R) BK Racing Toyota 23.058 — — 3533 Jeffrey Earnhardt Circle Sport – The Motorsports Group Chevrolet 23.078 — — 3672 Cole Whitt TriStar Motorsports Chevrolet 23.089 — — 3751 Timmy Hill (i) Rick Ware Racing Chevrolet 23.238 — — 383 Austin Dillon Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 32.612 — —Official qualifying results
Race First stage Matt Kenseth led the field to the green flag at 2:16 p.m. Erik Jones made contact with Kasey Kahne exiting Turn 2 on the first lap, leading to a left-front tire cut and slamming the wall on the seventh lap of the race. Jones, after being released from the infield care center, said he and Kahne, were "three-wide right on the start and then the 5 ran us up into the fence. I was trying not to wreck everybody and then a couple laps later the GameStop Prey Toyota Camry cut a left-front tire. It’s just really a heartbreaking day. It’s not what we wanted, but we’ll just have to come back next week with another fast race car and try to run up front again.” He went on to finish last.
The race restarted on lap 12. The second caution flew on lap 65 when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. made contact with the wall in Turn 3. Chris Buescher, Kyle Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. restarted from the tail-end of the field for speeding.
The race restarted on lap 72. Kenseth won the first stage and the third caution flew for the conclusion of the first stage.
Second stage The race restarted on lap 110. Brad Keselowski passed Kenseth on the backstretch to take the lead on lap 164, won the second stage and the fourth caution flew for the conclusion of the second stage. Denny Hamlin exited pit road with the race lead. Jimmie Johnson restarted from the tail-end of the field for an uncontrolled tire.
Final stage
The race restarted on lap 212 and Hamlin lost the lead to Keselowski on the restart. Kevin Harvick passed Keselowski for the lead with 170 laps to go. Keselowski drove past Harvick on the outside exiting Turn 2 to retake the lead with 162 to go. Debris in the restart zone, a towel, brought out the fifth caution with 150 to go. Hamlin exited pit road with the race lead Kasey Kahne restarted the race from the tail-end of the field for speeding.
The race restarted with 144 to go. Keselowski edged out Hamlin at the start/finish line to retake the lead with 113 to go. A number of cars hit pit road with 84 to go to start a cycle of green flag pit stops. Keselowski pitted from the lead with 81 to go, giving it to Ryan Newman. Exiting pit road with 57 to go, Johnson slammed into teammate Earnhardt exiting Turn 2 and brought out the sixth caution. Earnhardt told reporters after the race that Johnson "said he didn’t see us. We were out there running around the top and weren’t ready to pit yet, and he said that he didn’t get any notice that there was a car on the outside. ... Jimmie didn’t know I was there. Came off the corner and didn’t know I was there. It was an explosion. But the car held up pretty well.” Johnson said after the race that he was trying to decipher "if I just didn't hear it being told to me or if it wasn't told to me. It's still terrible, obviously. Man, I'm surprised our cars kept rolling after that because I just body-slammed him into the wall. And I could have easily not heard the clear or something else happened. I don't know. But that's the last thing you want to happen with a teammate.”
The race restarted with 51 to go. With 43 laps to go, Earnhardt suffered a left-rear tire cut and spun out in Turn 3, bringing out the seventh caution. During the caution, Ty Dillon spun out entering Turn 3 in front of Clint Bowyer. Hamlin exited pit road with the race lead.
The race restarted with 39 to go and Keselowski took the lead on the ensuing lap. Kenseth made contact with Chase Elliott in Turn 1 and his right-rear tire went flat with 38 to go. Debris brought out the eighth caution with 33 to go. Keselowski and Logano stayed out while the rest of the drivers pitted. Martin Truex Jr. restarted from the tail-end of the field for a commitment line violation.
The race restarted with 30 to go and Joey Logano passed Keselowski exiting Turn 2 on the ensuing lap to take the lead. The ninth caution flew with 24 to go when Ryan Blaney made contact with Kurt Busch exiting Turn 2, suffered a cut left-rear tire, spun out and slammed the wall in Turn 3. Kyle Larson opted not to pit and assumed the lead. Kyle Busch, commitment line violation, and Elliott, uncontrolled tire, restarted the race from the tail-end of the field for pit road infractions.
The race restarted with 20 to go. Logano passed Larson with 17 to go and drove on to score the victory.
Post-race
Driver comments Logano said in victory lane it was:"nice to break through and get our first points win of the year, that being on the 300th start. For me personally, it was kind of a cool milestone to hit and drive into victory lane with that, too.”Hamlin, who finished a season best third, said after the race that third "was about as good as we had. You know, we just didn't have the speed that the other cars had. We talked about that Friday during media. But we optimized our day. It's the best we could do. We finished right where we should have.”
Stenhouse, who rebounded from hitting the wall early in the race to finish fourth, said he "had to fight hard for this top-five. I made a mistake early. I thought we had a car capable of running in the top five a lot. I got loose into [Turn] 3 and got into the fence and had to play catchup from there."
Race results
Stage results
Stage 1 Laps: 100
Pos Driver Team Manufacturer Points1 20 Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 102 42 Kyle Larson Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 93 78 Martin Truex Jr. Furniture Row Racing Toyota 84 4 Kevin Harvick Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 75 11 Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota 66 2 Brad Keselowski Team Penske Ford 57 31 Ryan Newman Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet 48 1 Jamie McMurray Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 39 14 Clint Bowyer Stewart–Haas Racing Ford 210 22 Joey Logano Team Penske Ford 1Official stage one results
Stage 2 Laps: 100