Rain forces cancellation of Cup practices at M'ville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- The wet weather falling on Martinsville Speedway continued to plague Sprint Cup drivers Saturday when rain forced NASCAR officials to cancel both early day practice sessions.

The rain started to fall just as qualifying for Camping World Truck Series was coming to a close just before 11 a.m. ET. Track workers spent more than an hour trying to dry the track for Cup practice.

NASCAR officials canceled the Cup practice sessions at 1:15 p.m. and most of the drivers headed for home to North Carolina.

Meanwhile, crew members and crew chiefs inside the garage poured over notes from Friday's only practice and made last-minute adjustments to the Cup cars trying to prepare for Sunday's race.

"Well, we have a small concern on the No. 1 team. There were four or five things we did want to try [Saturday] in race trim and didn't get to. But I'm not overly concerned but it would've been nice to get some practice in [Saturday]," said Kevin Manion, crew chief for Martin Truex Jr.

Still Manion said Truex is happy with the car and opted not to do qualifying practice Friday and spent the entire time perfecting race trim runs.

"That was encouraging because we had really good speeds," he added. "And we stacked up fairly well and lap times were good."

Ron Malec, car chief for Jimmie Johnson, said the lack of practice will not be an issue.

"Fortunately enough, we got enough practice [Friday] ... the track is going to change a lot once we run on it a lot but we've got a good baseline for what it is. The setup is similar from last time, the tires are very similar, and so it's not a big deal."

Johnson, who starts ninth based on his position in the owners' standings, has won four of the past five races at Martinsville. With his past success and solid run (third place) at Bristol last weekend, Johnson is moving in the right direction.

"We've had fast cars and it was nice last weekend to not only talk about having a fast car, but to deliver and show what we have. I'm fired up about this weekend and looking forward to everything that this track has to offer," Johnson said.

Also
• Drivers prepare for rain, which cancels quals