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  • Jones Fastest in Second Cup Practice at Richmond

    Jones Fastest in Second Cup Practice at Richmond

    Erik Jones topped the chart in second Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond International Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 77 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 22.367 and a speed of 120.714 mph. Kevin Harvick was second in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford with a time of 22.491 and a speed of 120.048 mph. Paul Menard was third in his No. 27 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with a time of 22.499 and a speed of 120.005 mph.

    Chris Buescher was fourth in his No. 37 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet with a time of 22.505 and a speed of 119.973 mph. Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top-five in his No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 22.511 and a speed of 119.941 mph.

    Jones posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 118.876 mph.

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  • Kenseth Takes Pole Position at Richmond

    Kenseth Takes Pole Position at Richmond

    Matt Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag after winning the pole for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota scored the pole after posting a time of 22.300 and a speed of 121.076 mph. It’s his first pole of 2017, his 19th career pole, and his second at Richmond. Kenseth also has two previous wins at the track, in 2002 and 2015.

    “I don’t get a lot of poles so anytime I get a pole, it’s pretty special,” Kenseth said after winning the Coors Light Pole Award.

    “This year has not been a good year for us, obviously, so far,” Kenseth continued in the post-qualifying media session. “We finished strong at Bristol, but we didn’t get to qualify because of the rain, and that put us in the middle of the pack – there and Martinsville.

    “We haven’t been getting any stage points. We’re buried in the points back there and we finally got a decent finish last week, so hopefully this week we can start up front, stay up front and hopefully collect some of the stage points. But most importantly we’re in the mix for a win at the end of the day.”

    Ryan Blaney will start second in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford after posting a time of 22.341 and a speed of 120.854 mph.

    “We weren’t great the first round but kept getting steps better each round, which we’ve done a really good job of this year,” Blaney said. “I thought that’s where we struggled a lot last year. We didn’t improve last year, we would go backwards. This year we’re improving round-to-round.

    Martin Truex Jr. will start third in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota after posting a time of 22.373 and a speed of 120.681 mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. will start fourth in his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford after posting a time of 22.412 and a speed of 120.471 mph. Joey Logano will round out the top-five starters in his No. 22 Team Penske Ford after posting a time of 22.429 and a speed of 120.380 mph.

    Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray will round out the top-10 starters.

    Daniel Suarez and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will round out the 12 drivers that made the final round of qualifying.

    All 38 drivers that attempted to qualify made the race.

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  • Blaney Off to Good Start in Breakout Season

    Blaney Off to Good Start in Breakout Season

    As we near the first quarter mark of the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series season, Ryan Blaney is in the midst of a breakout season.

    His 2016 rookie campaign included three top fives and nine top-10 finishes. This is respectable for a rookie driver and would have won him rookie of the year honors any other season, but Chase Elliott finished with 10 top fives and 17 top-10’s.

    Naturally, the expectations for Blaney going into 2017 were roughly the same. But eight races in, he already has three top-10 finishes, compared to one at this point in 2016, and one top-five where he none at this point last year. He’s also led 150 laps this season, compared to none at this juncture last year.

    He opened the season with a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500 despite running out of gas.

    His breakout race of the season came during the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Texas Motor Speedway where he led 148 of 334 laps, the most laps of the race and more laps in that race alone than he led in his career combined, and won the first two stages. On his final pit stop, however, he slid through his pit stall and wound up finishing 12th.

    Power steering issues took him out of contention this past Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

    He comes back to Richmond International Raceway, where he was a non-factor in both races last season, which he describes as “a big test to see how we are.”

    While Blaney hasn’t finished top-10 since Auto Club a few weeks ago, he says the season so far is off to “a good start.”

    “I feel like we have had really fast cars and I feel like all the bad finishes we have had have been with really fast cars but things just went wrong,” Blaney said. “Whether it is our doing or out of our control. We have to clean that up the best we can. I feel like the biggest thing is that we have had super fast cars. Last week we had a really fast race car and had our own troubles there with the power steering issue. This race track here, honestly I think was our worst last year out of all of them. It will be a big test to see how we are this weekend.”

     

  • Truex Fastest in First Practice at Richmond

    Truex Fastest in First Practice at Richmond

    Martin Truex Jr. topped the chart in first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond International Raceway.

    The driver of the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota was the fastest with a time of 21.743 and a speed of 124.178 mph. Erik Jones was second in his No. 77 Furniture Row Toyota with a time of 21.945 and a speed of 123.035 mph. Ryan Blaney was third in his No. 21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford with a time of 21.992 and a speed of 122.772 mph. Trevor Bayne was fourth in his No. 6 Roush Fenway Racing Ford with a time of 22.116 and a speed of 122.084 mph. Denny Hamlin rounded out the top-five in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota with a time of 22.181 and a speed of 121.726 mph.

    Kasey Kahne, who clocked in the 22nd fastest single lap, posted the fastest 10 consecutive lap average at a speed of 119.324 mph.

    The only incident of the session occurred 74 minutes into the session when Jones spun out and made slight contact with the wall.

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  • Richmond International Raceway – Did You Know?

    Richmond International Raceway – Did You Know?

    NASCAR travels to Richmond International Raceway this weekend for the XFINITY Series ToyotaCare 250 and the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400. But did you know the first Cup race at the track was held on April 19, 1953, and was won by Hall of Famer Lee Petty driving his No. 42 Dodge? Petty won five races in 1953 and finished second in the points standings. He won the championship the following year, the first of three during his career.

    Richmond started out as a half-mile dirt track but was changed from dirt to asphalt during the 1968 season. In 1970 it was re-measured to .542-miles and in 1988 was enlarged to the three-quarters-mile D-shaped oval that the Cup Series competes on today. The first race under permanent lights was Sept. 7, 1991, and was won by Harry Gant. But did you know that Gant is the oldest winner at Richmond, scoring the victory at the age of 51 years, 7 months and 28 days?

    Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced his impending retirement Tuesday so it seems only fitting that we take a few moments to reflect on his history at Richmond. While Earnhardt’s statistics at Richmond are noteworthy, his impact on NASCAR has been immeasurable. His humble and genuine demeanor has endeared him to a nation of fans who have watched him emerge from his father’s shadow to become an icon in his own right.

    Earnhardt has seven victories at the track, three Cup wins (2000, 2004, 2006) and four in the XFINITY Series (including last year’s spring race). He has 10 top fives, 14 top 10s and one pole to go along with his three Cup triumphs with the 10th-best driver rating of 87.4. But did you know that Earnhardt won at Richmond in only his second start there, the fewest among active drivers?

    Next, let’s take a look at Kyle Busch who is still searching for his first win this season. He enters the weekend competition with the series-best driver rating of 110.8 and the best average finish (6.957). He has 15 top fives, 17 top 10s and one pole at Richmond. While Richard Petty holds the record for the most wins with 13, did you know that Busch leads all active drivers with four checkered flags? This could be the weekend we see Busch in victory lane again.

    Kevin Harvick should also be a contender at Richmond with the series third-best driver rating (109.9) as well as three wins, 11 top fives, 20 top 10s and one pole. Even more impressive, he has the series-most quality passes (781) and the second-best average finish (8.292). But did you know that this is the first time since 2013 that Harvick hasn’t captured a win by the fourth race of the season? In 2013 he didn’t win until the ninth race of the year, which, by the way, was at Richmond.

    Qualifying well will be especially important this weekend. Of the 121 Cup races at Richmond, 24 drivers have won from the pole making it the most proficient starting position (19.8 percent). But it isn’t easy to do. Only five active drivers have done so, Kasey Kahne (2005), Jimmie Johnson (2007), Kyle Busch (2010), Brad Keselowski (2014) and Denny Hamlin (2016).

    The Toyota Owners 400 will be televised on FOX, Sunday, April 30, at 2 p.m. ET. In the meantime, check out this slideshow for a look back at all of Earnhardt’s NASCAR Cup Series victories, as we wish him continued success in his final Cup Series season.

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

     

  • NASCAR Racing Schedule for Richmond

    NASCAR Racing Schedule for Richmond

    NASCAR travels to Richmond International Raceway this weekend for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 and the NASCAR XFINITY Series ToyotaCare 250. The XFINITY race will be broadcast on FS1 at 1 p.m. and the Cup Series event will be televised on FOX at 2 p.m.

    Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyle Larson enters the race as the Cup Series points leader, 27 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott. Larson has six starts at Richmond, with a best finish of second in last year’s fall race and an average finish of 11.3. There are 38 drivers on the entry list for the Toyota Owners 400.

    Please check below for the complete schedule. All times are Eastern.

    Friday, April 28:

    On Track:
    11:30 a.m.-12:55 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Practice – FS1
    1-1:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Practice – FS1
    3-3:55 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Final Practice – FS1
    4:45 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1

    Garage Cam: (Watch live)
    11 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
    2:30 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series

    Saturday, April 29:

    On Track:
    9-9:55 a.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Practice – FS1
    10:05 a.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying – FS1
    11:30 a.m.-12:20 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Final Practice – FS1
    1 p.m.: NASCAR XFINITY Series ToyotaCare 250 Dash 4 Cash Race (250 laps, 187.5 miles) – FS1
    Stage 1 (Ends on lap 75), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 150), Final Stage (Ends on lap 250)

    Sunday, April 30:

    On Track:
    2 p.m.: Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 (400 laps, 300 miles) – FOX 
    Stage 1 (Ends on lap 100), Stage 2 (Ends on lap 200), Final Stage (Ends on lap 400)

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

    Complete NASCAR TV Schedule

    ToyotaCare 250 Entry List

    Toyota Owners 400 Entry List:

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  • Newman: ‘I just got Tony Stewarted’

    Newman: ‘I just got Tony Stewarted’

    RICHMOND, Va. — Ryan Newman had choice words for Tony Stewart following a Chase-ending late race wreck at Richmond.

    The 14th caution of the Federated Auto Parts 400 flew with 36 laps to go for a multi-car wreck in turn 3 that brought out the red flag for 20 minutes and 23 seconds. It started when Tony Stewart came down across the nose of Newman and got hooked into the inside wall. The wreck collected Carl Edwards in the process.

    As the two continued back up the track, Newman was hit in the rear by David Ragan and sent into the path of Dylan Lupton. Lupton’s N0. 83 Toyota ended up climbing up the side of Newman’s car.

    Brian Scott also suffered major damage in the wreck after slamming into Ragan’s No. 23 Toyota.

    “I just got Tony Stewarted,” Newman said. “It’s unfortunate we were rebounding from a tough day and then he cut across my nose in Turn 1. I had a good run on him and then I bumped him a little bit in Turn 2, but that is because he took both of us loose. And then he just drove across my nose on the back straightaway.

    “He has got issues. We all know he’s got issues. He proved it again tonight. I was clearly inside of him getting into Turn 1, he cut across my nose, I was on the brakes, on the apron and I hit him coming off of Turn 2, but only because I got loose, I was on the apron. The next thing I know he is driving across my nose on the back straightaway because he’s Tony Stewart and he thinks he owns everything. It’s unfortunate, but shouldn’t expect anything less from him.”

    Newman comes up 40 points short of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

  • Hamlin Survives Wreckfest Regular Season Finale to Win at Richmond

    Hamlin Survives Wreckfest Regular Season Finale to Win at Richmond

    RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin out-lasted a caution-heavy short track Saturday night in the capital of Virginia to add to his Chase stats.

    The driver of the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota led the field to the green flag this evening at 7:47. It didn’t take long for the first caution to fly on lap 11 for Ryan Blaney suffering a tire blowout, slamming the wall in turn 1 and kiss his chance of making the Chase goodbye.

    After the race restarted on lap 16, it settled into a calmer state where the only item worth noting was Martin Truex Jr. taking the lead on lap 52. The second caution flew on lap 85 for AJ Allmendinger spinning out in turn 4. During the caution, Kurt Busch assumed the race lead after missing his pit stall completely and Greg Biffle turned Tony Stewart around on pit road.

    After the race restarted on lap 92, it went back under yellow after Chase Elliott suffered a tire blowout and slammed the wall on the frontstretch.

    The race restarted on lap 100 and it remained green for the next 100 laps. During the run, Truex took back the race lead. The caution flew after Jimmie Johnson suffered a tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 1.

    After halfway is when the race turned into a wreckfest.

    The list of cautions included debris, David Ragan suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 1, Paul Menard rear-ending the wall, Casey Mears wrecking, Michael Annett suffering a tire blowout and slamming the wall in turn 2, Carl Edwards suffering a suspension failure, Allmendinger again, Matt Kenseth slamming the wall in turn 2, Allmendinger a third time, a multi-car wreck in turn 3 involving Stewart and Ryan Newman, and Regan Smith wrecking in turn 3 with two laps to go to force overtime.

    In the end, Hamlin held off Truex in overtime to win the Federated Auto Parts 400.

    “It feels great,” Hamlin said of how it felt to win at Richmond again. “I’ll tell you, our cars were really running well. Wheels and the whole group just gave me a great car. Really got it tuned in there the last half of the race. Just good restarts, finally everything just kind of worked well for us all day. I didn’t think staying out was the right thing to do, but great call there, and actually, I got this from one of our Toyota guests on his birthday day today. He gave me this. He said it helped him get through tough times, so kept that in the car, and thank Eli for that.”

    It’s his 29th career victory in 388 Sprint Cup Series starts, his third of 2016, third at Richmond International Raceway, 15th top-10 finish of the season and 12th in 21 races at Richmond.

    Larson led 15 laps on his way to a runner-up finish in his No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

    It’s his 10th top-10 of the season and first in six races at Richmond.

    Truex, who led a race of 193 of 400 laps on his way to rounding out the podium in his No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota.

    Brad Keselowski finished fourth in his No. 2 Team Penske Ford. Kevin Harvick rounded out the top-five in his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet.

    Kasey Kahne finished sixth in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Jamie McMurray finished seventh in his No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet. Kurt Busch led three laps on his way to an eighth-place finish in his No. 41 SHR Chevrolet. Kyle Busch finished ninth in his No. 18 JGR Toyota. Joey Logano rounded out the top-10 in his No. 22 Penske Ford.

    Jeffrey Earnhardt, who led two laps, finished 27th. Regan Smith, who led two laps, finished 29th. Matt Kenseth, who led three laps, finished 38th.

    Twenty-four cars finished the race on the lead lap and 32 were running at the finish.

    The race lasted three hours, 33 minutes and 31 seconds at an average speed of 85.778 mph. There were 21 lead changes among seven different drivers and 16 cautions for 89 laps.

    With the Chase reset, Kyle Busch and Keselowski exit Richmond tied for the points lead. The complete Chase Grid is as follows:

    1. Kyle Busch, No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (four wins, 2012 points)
    2. Brad Keselowski, No. 2 Team Penske Ford (four wins, 2012 points)
    3. Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (three wins, 2009 points)
    4. Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet (two wins, 2006 points)
    5. Carl Edwards, No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (two wins, 2006 points)
    6. Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota (two wins, 2006 points)
    7. Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota (two wins, 2006 points)
    8. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (two wins, 2006 points)
    9. Joey Logano, No. 22 Team Penske Ford (one win, 2003 points)
    10. Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet (one win, 2003 points)
    11. Tony Stewart, No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet (one win, 2003 points)
    12. Kurt Busch, No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet (one win, 2003 points)
    13. Chris Buescher, No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford (one win, 2003 points)
    14. Chase Elliott, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet (on points, 2000 points)
    15. Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet (on points, 2000 points)
    16. Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Chevrolet (on points, 2000 points)

     

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  • Edwards knows what to expect if there’s a role reversal from April

    Edwards knows what to expect if there’s a role reversal from April

    RICHMOND, Va. — Carl Edwards says if there’s a reversal of roles from Richmond in April, he knows exactly what to expect.

    Speaking to the media just after the first practice session for the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond International Raceway yesterday, the driver of the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was asked if he would have any reservations about making his race-winning move from April again if circumstances dictated.

    “I can still feel Coach (Joe) Gibbs’ (team owner) presence here from last time I was sitting here after the race,” Edwards said. “Kyle (Busch) and I talked. We actually talked about it last night – Denny (Hamlin) was nice enough to give me a ride here and we joked around about it a little bit, but I think right now both of us having wins I think we all know that right now this is an opportunity for us to go race, have as much fun as we can, race each other as hard as we possibly can, so I don’t know.”

    This past April in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond, Edwards tapped the rear bumper of Kyle Busch in turn 4 on the last lap to score the victory. Edwards said in victory lane that, while it was a big question for him, he decided to give Busch a nudge since Busch took the line he was going to take.

    “Well, yeah, it was a huge question,” he said after the race in April. “Kyle’s (Busch) an amazing teammate and it’s like he got really slow there at the end. Something happened that last lap. It was like his rear tires went off or something. He went down into (turn) one and I dove it in and I got to him and I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got something.’ And he went to get down to the bottom and park it in three and four and I had already decided to go down there so I thought, ‘Man, I’m going to give him a little nudge,’ and we both have got wins and we’re racing for fun getting these trophies and just an awesome day.”

    He acknowledged that he knows what’s coming if the circumstances dictate.

    “I know if I were put in the position and the roles were reversed, I know exactly what to expect tomorrow night, but I plan on racing as hard as I can for the victory,” he added.

  • XFINITY Race From Richmond Becomes Kyle Busch Show

    XFINITY Race From Richmond Becomes Kyle Busch Show

    After qualifying 7th and not showing much speed in the weekend’s lone practice session, Kyle Busch was unstoppable after taking the lead during the first caution and won the 36th annual Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond International Raceway.

    Busch dominated, leading 197 laps. But Busch didn’t show a lot of speed until a lap 50 caution, where J.J. Yeley spun out Justin Marks on the frontstetch. Busch had a fast pit stop and took the lead, and outside of surrendering it to Erik Jones for two laps during green flag pit stops led the rest of the way.

    It’s the 2015 Sprint Cup champion’s 84th career XFINITY Series victory and his eighth of the year. Busch has now won 167 national touring series races, 33 away from Richard Petty’s 200 mark. It is also Joe Gibbs Racing’s 13th win this season.

    Jones finished second while Brad Keselowski took third place. It matches Keselowski’s best finish of the season (It’s his third, third place finish) while Jones got his 12th top five of the season. Elliott Sadler, the points leader, finished fourth in front of his hometown crowd while Justin Allgaier rounded out the top five.

    Austin Dillon ended the night seventh after starting on the pole and leading the first 51 laps. Alex Bowman started second but fell to ninth by the finish while Ryan Reed clinched a berth in the first XFINITY Series Chase by finishing 11th.

    There are four drivers who can still make the XFINITY Series Chase on points with one race remaining, with only two spots available. Blake Koch (11th) has a 23 point cushion while Ryan Sieg is close behind with a 20 point parachute. Dakoda Armstrong sits as the first driver out of the Chase while Jeremy Clements is 29 points back. If Armstrong, Clements, Ross Chastain, Ryan Preece, Ray Black Jr., BJ MCLeod, or Joey Gase can eke out a shocking victory, they will make the Chase while Koch’s advantage shrinks to just three over Sieg.

    In addition to the lap 50 caution, there was another caution for debris at lap 165 for Brandon Brown’s team after an uncontrolled tire got out of the pit box.

    Qualifying happened a couple of hours before the start of the race, and there was only one incident of note. Chris Cockrum, driving the No. 25 Chevrolet for Rick Ware Racing, leaked oil around the racetrack for a lap without realizing it, then outright blew the motor going into Turn one. It caused a somewhat lengthy red flag period in the session, and the No. 25 team essentially withdrew. Austin Theriault’s team, who DNQ’d, threw a No. 25 on the car and ended up starting the race instead.

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