Snapshot: Richmond

Fastest in practice: Kasey Kahne‘s lap of 126.357 mph around thethree-quarter mile RIR track in final practice was the fastest mark of the day. He edged Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray putting two Chevys, a Ford and a Toyota among the top of the speed chart. Last fall’s winner BradKeselowski led the opening 85-minute practice Friday morning leading Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick and Jimmie Johnson. Interestingly, neither Kahne nor Earnhardt nor Johnson advanced beyond the first round of qualifying.

Last year’s winner: With two laps remaining, Logano patiently and smartly made his way around the hard-racing front-running trio of Matt Kenseth, Keselowski and Jeff Gordon to score his first career short track win and second victory of the early 2014 season.

Hometown hero: Hamlin, of nearby Chesterfield, Va., counts RIR as his home track in the Sprint Cup Series. And judging by his statistics, there is a definitive home track advantage. He boasts the top driver ratingwith nine top-10s in 17 starts highlighted by a pair of wins. His 10.4 average finish is best in the series.

History lesson: Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead all active drivers at Richmond with three victories each. Two-time Richmond winner Jeff Gordon has the most top-10s with 28 in 44 starts — or 64 percent of the time. … Johnson is the only active driver to sweep both the spring and fall races (2007) and the last to win back-to-back here. … Biffle holds the longest streak of starts (25) without visiting Victory Lane. …The No. 43 car is one win away from the number’s 200th victory. The No. 11 is the Cup series all-time winningest car number with 205.

Short Track Redemption: Logano and his Team Penske teammate Keselowski swept last year’s Richmond races, but are coming off a tough weekend at Bristol, Tenn. last week. They collided into one another only 19 laps in and suffered through the long weather delays all to collect 35th (Keselowski) and 40th (Logano) place finishes. History bodes well for the duo here, however. Logano has the second highest Richmond driver rating with three top-fives in 12 starts and Keselowski won from the pole position in the fall. His No. 2 Miller Lite Ford was fastest in opening practice Friday in Richmond.

They said it:
“It helps with confidence, for sure. I looked at Richmond in the past as one of my toughestrace tracks yet we got a win here last spring and had a decent run in the fall.” — Defending race winner Joey Logano (No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford) on how his opinion at RIR changed after winning here.

“This is one of those tracks that for me is very, very hard to predict. Even after practice is over and qualifying is over, it’s still hard for me to predict. It seems like the track changes so much from practice here in the sun in the middle of the day to the race once you get going at night. It’s a tough one, really, until you get into the race.”
— Matt Kenseth (No. 20 Dollar General Toyota)

“It’s not one of my favorite tracks, it is my favorite track. It’s the perfect-sized track for a Cup race.
—Tony Stewart (No. 14 Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevy) talking about RIR, where he got his first Sprint Cup Series win in 1999.

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