News from the track: Richmond

Want to hear what Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson have to say about each other after having a week to cool down? We do, and we'll have it for you, along with whatever else goes on at Richmond International Raceway on Friday in preparation for Saturday night's Crown Royal 400. Hang here all day while we bring you the news and notes from Friday's press conferences and happenings on the track. Check back often to keep up with the latest.

Here are some notes to get us started:

• Qualifying will start at 5:30 ET.

• At this point last season, Kyle Busch had two wins. He's winless so far this season.

• In 10 races at Richmond, Busch has eight top-five finishes.

10:45 a.m. ET: Jeff Burton says he feels he's performed "as well as anybody," they just aren't getting the results to match how they are running.

"It's bizarre to run the way we've run and post the finishes we've posted."

10:57: Burton was asked about Brad Keselowski's win in the Nationwide Series at Talladega in which Keselowski's car failed post-race inspection. Keselowski was penalized points, but kept the win.

11:00: Burton was asked if he will run for political office when he retires.

"I have not served my country, and that's something I think we all need to do and I have not done that." He doesn't know what form it will be - volunteering, political office - but said he will do something to serve his community when he retires from racing.

Burton said some penalties warrant taking the trophy and taking the points, and some penalties don't. "There's minor infractions and there's major infractions."

He added that he understands how that might look from the outside looking in, but there are small infractions that won't impact the performance of car. However, if they do impact the performance, Burton said there should be discussion about whether or not to take the win away.

11:34: Denny Hamlin said he's feeling more relaxed than ever coming to Richmond, his home track, mostly because he finally won there last fall.

11:39: Telling comment of the day so far, Hamlin talking about relationships with teammates: "It's tough at times to have a conversation with Kyle [Busch], but we make it work."

11:45: Hamlin said "everybody races Jimmie [Johnson] a little bit different."

"When you have the success he's had, people don't want to give him anything. People actually race him harder and harder. It's something he's going to have to deal with.

"Even though he doesn't rough anyone up on racetrack, I'm still going to race him hard because I want to take his spot in the sport."

Hamlin added that he thinks the so-called feud between Johnson and Jeff Gordon is based on frustration from Gordon having not won this season.

"You always want to be the leading team guy. The 48 [Johnson] has been that guy for awhile; the 24 [Gordon] wants it."

1:25 p.m.: Jamie McMurray is pacing the way in the first practice session. He's followed by Clint Bowyer, Joey Logano, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Kyle Busch.

1:30: The first practice session is complete and McMurray hangs on to the top spot (at 122.466 mph). Rounding out the top 10 are: Bowyer, Logano, Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, AJ Allmendinger, Mark Martin and Kevin Harvick.

1:48: The big news of the day so far is that Chad Knaus and Alan Gustafson have signed extensions to remain crew chiefs for the 48 and 5 cars, respectively. Knaus' deal goes through 2015 - the same as Jimmie Johnson. Gustafson's deal is for four years.

3:30: Kyle Busch was fastest in the final practice session (124.889 mph). He was followed by David Reutimann, Joey Logano, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon. Rounding out the top 10 were Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kurt Busch, Scott Speed and Jeff Burton.

4:13: Jimmie Johnson said he was surprised by Jeff Gordon's pointed words following last week's race at Talladega because "it wasn't an intentional situation where I was trying to like crash him. I mean, heck, I was doing what you do in the draft which just go down and block a lane and then try to have that lane push you. I misjudged it a little bit in the mirror with the closing rate and he had to go out of bounds to not run into the back of me. In that respect, yes. But he was definitely frustrated with what had been going on from the week before."

And Johnson had this to say about racing Gordon differently: "I think from my perspective there's a point where I've got to race people how they race me. If people are pushing and showing me out of the way, I've got to do the same thing back. I've been very gracious with teammates where I've taken more lumps than I've passed out. That's what the Texas thing was about. I just got to a point where I said enough. But last weekend at Talladega was merely an accident on my behalf. I just misjudged the closing speed."

5:06: Dale Earnhardt Jr. had this to say about the recent National Enquirer story about him: "We've been in there a lot. I don't know why we keep popping up in there. I guess we are relevant in some realm. You learn a lot of new stuff about yourself that you never knew before."

And: "There is no truth to that particular story or any of the other ones for that matter if we want to set the record straight."

And: "The Enquirer is pretty creative. I have to hand it to them."