Posted on by Staff Report

The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs continue this weekend at Richmond Raceway with the Federated Auto Parts 400 on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The race marks the second race in the Round of 16 for the drivers vying for a title.

This second race of the three-race Round of 16 is on the 0.75-mile D-shaped, asphalt short track. The standings had a major shakeup after last weekend’s playoff opener at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Martin Truex Jr. was victorious and punched his ticket to the next round.

Here is the rest of the need-to-know information for Saturday’s action under the lights.

RELATED: Series standings | Analyzing the field coming out of Las Vegas

TRACK DETAILS

Richmond Raceway’s first race was on April 19, 1953 and was won by Lee Petty. Since the inaugural race, Richmond has hosted a race every year since 1955 and two races a year since 1959. The 0.75-mile track has 14-degree banking in corners, eight-degree banking on the frontstretch and two-degree banking on the backstretch. The frontstretch is 1,290 feet long and the backstretch is 860 feet. Richard Petty holds the track record for most wins with 13.

RULES PACKAGE

The race at Richmond will feature the 2019 rules package with no aero ducts and a tapered-spacer engine generating a targeted 750 horsepower.

Each team will be provided with three sets of Goodyear Eagle Intermediate Radial tires for practice, one set for qualifying and 10 sets for the 400-mile race (nine, plus one transferred from practice or qualifying).

Richmond Raceway is a high tire wear track so Goodyear is focused on selecting tread compounds that rubber-in the surface to create various grooves on the race track.

“Richmond is simply one of the more high-wear tracks on the NASCAR circuit,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of racing. “What we’ve seen this year with this higher downforce package, with the cars more ‘in the track’ and with less lateral slip, wear is down a bit compared to 2018. Saying that, tires are still very important at Richmond. The tread compounds we bring do a good job rubbering in the track, creating multiple racing grooves throughout the race.”

STATS

  • Saturday night’s race will mark the fifth short-track race of the season and there have been four different winners, four different pole winners and four different drivers who have finished second.
  • Kyle Busch has the most short-track wins among active drivers with 16, followed by Jimmie Johnson with 14 and Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin with 10.
  • Joe Gibbs Racing drivers won the last three races on short tracks and they have also won nine of the last 18 night races.
  • Only three drivers — Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer — have finished in the top 10 in all four short-track races in 2019.

Source: Racing Insights

LIVE COVERAGE

This weekend’s race will air live Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBCSN and streamed on the NBC Sports App. Radio coverage can be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Also, follow along on NASCAR.com for live Lap-by-Lap coverage, the live leaderboard, Drive (featuring in-car cameras) and RaceView (subscription: in-car audio, stats, more). Be sure to set your lineup in Fantasy Live and make your picks in the Props Challenge.

2018 RACE WINNER

Kyle Busch is the defending race winner at Richmond. Busch started 11th and went on to lead 92 laps. There were only three cautions for 23 laps during the race. Kevin Harvick finished in second and Martin Truex Jr. finished in third. Joey Logano, the defending series champion, finished 14th.

ACTIVE RICHMOND WINNERS

Kyle Busch, six times; Jimmie Johnson, Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, three times; Clint Bowyer, Kurt Busch, Joey Logano, two times; Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Newman, Kyle Larson, Brad Keselowski, one time each.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR on Wednesday lifted the suspension of driver Bayley Currey, who has successfully completed NASCAR’s Road to Recovery Program after a violation of the sanctioning body’s substance abuse policy.

NASCAR announced Aug. 15 that Currey had been suspended indefinitely. The 22-year-old driver was required to complete the Road to Recovery Program before reinstatement and receiving clearance to resume competition.

Currey has made 47 NASCAR national series starts in his career – 19 in both the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series, and nine in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. His best career finish is a sixth-place run this year in the Gander Trucks race at Michigan.

Currey’s nine Cup Series starts all have come this season for Rick Ware Racing.

Upon announcement of his suspension, Currey said in a statement that he had used a pre-workout supplement called Juggernaut Irate, which contained a banned substance called DMAA (2-Amino-5-methylhexane).

“I was obviously not aware that I was violating NASCAR’s Substance Abuse Policy,” Currey said at the time. “I have immediately asked NASCAR to enter me into the Road to Recovery Program where I will gain more knowledge about such banned supplements and I will fully cooperate with NASCAR’s direction and advice.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR penalized three Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams and two NASCAR Xfinity Series teams on Wednesday for having one lug nut not safe and secure following the weekend’s races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The No. 10 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford for driver Aric Almirola, the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota for driver Kyle Busch and the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for driver Alex Bowman were all found with lug-nut violations during post-race inspection at the track.

As a result, all crew chiefs were fined $10,000 – John Klausmeier of the No. 10, Adam Stevens of the No. 18 and Greg Ives of the No. 88.

RELATED: Playoff check post-Vegas

Additionally, the No. 9 Chevrolet of driver Noah Gragson and the No. 19 Toyota of driver Brandon Jones in the NASCAR Xfinity Series also had one lug nut not safe and secure.

Crew chiefs Dave Elenz (No. 9) and Jeff Meendering (No. 19) were both fined $5,000.

Additionally, driver Bayley Currey has successfully completed NASCAR’s Road to Recovery program and his NASCAR suspension has been lifted.

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR’s top regional and international drivers converge on “The Magic Mile” this weekend for a unique tripleheader, and race fans around the world can follow all the action on FansChoice.tv

The second annual Full Throttle Fall Weekend at New Hampshire Motor Speedway will host 475 laps of racing across three championship events.

MORE: Watch on FansChoice

• The NASCAR Pinty’s Series will kick off the event with the Visit New Hampshire 100 at 12:05 p.m. ET. Defending race winner Kevin Lacroix holds a slim two-point lead over two-time champion Andrew Ranger heading into the penultimate event of the Canadian stock car championship. The race will be streamed on TSN GO app for residents in Canada and on FansChoice.TV elsewhere.

• The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East takes a step closer to crowning its 2019 champion with the Apple Barrel 125 at 1:20 p.m. Teenager Sam Mayer has a 30-point cushion with two races remaining. Last year, fans watched Brandon McReynolds – son of FOX analyst Larry McReynolds – take the checkered flag, and witnessed the coronation of 2018 champion and current NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series playoff driver Tyler Ankrum.

• The tripleheader will culminate with the main event, the Musket 250 presented by Whelen Engineering for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. The $25,000-to-win, high-stakes marathon will take the green at approximately 3:05 p.m.

RELATED: More Home Tracks coverage

The longest race on the tour schedule, last year’s inaugural Musket 250 was settled in the final turn of the final lap as current Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series rookie Ryan Preece and eventual tour champion Justin Bonsignore got together and crashed racing for the lead, allowing Chase Dowling to skate by and claim his first career tour win.

With three races remaining, including Saturday at New Hampshire, Doug Coby holds a 19-point lead on Bonsignore as he chases his sixth NASCAR Whelen Modified title. Coby and Bonsignore have combined to win nine of 13 races this season.

The full day of racing of racing with the Full Throttle Fall Weekend on FansChoice.tv leads into Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway at 7:30 p.m. ET (NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Fans in New England can grab their tickets to the weekend (BUY TICKETS) and watch the FansChoice.tv stream from their seats on their tablet or mobile device.

Posted on by Pat DeCola

With one race down in the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, we’re already seeing some drivers sweating their playoff positioning while others surprisingly find themselves on the right side of the bubble … for now.

After a wacky night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that saw four playoff drivers finish 19th or worse, including the regular-season champion, NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola and Terrin Waack make their cases for which drivers should be the most panicked heading to Richmond Raceway (Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/NBC Sports App, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

RELATED: Playoff Pulse: Who’s up, down | Full Las Vegas results

DECOLA: For a quick minute there, it was starting to look like Clint Bowyer might be the dark horse of the NASCAR Playoffs, picking up steam at precisely the right time to set himself up for a deep postseason run. Heck, he even won the opening pole of the ’19 playoffs — his first in 12 years. He then went out and led just one lap from said pole, pulling into the garage after the race with an uninspiring 25th-place result.

The Stewart-Haas Racing cars are fast, obviously, and seemingly gaining momentum after the four-car organization swept qualifying by putting the quartet in the front two rows. Time and again, though, Kevin Harvick (finished second) is the only one of the four to consistently harness that power and turn in strong finishes week-to-week.

The book isn’t closed on Bowyer, for sure, as he’s capable of winning at Richmond (two wins, P3 there earlier this year) and he’s among the better road racers in the series, with the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval looming — his scored a top five there last year. He needs to rebound in a big way, however, if he wants to be on the right side of the bubble a couple of weeks from now.

WAACK: It sure seems like Aric Almirola has slid under the radar this entire season. There was never really a question of whether he’d make the playoffs, which he did, but he was never guaranteed a spot either, considering he has not won a race in 2019.

Right now, Almirola is right above the cutline — safe by six points in 12th. Below him is Ryan Newman. The two of them, apart from the difference in points, practically have the same stats. Both own one top-five and 10 top-10 finishes. Almirola’s slight edge comes from a single stage win and more laps led overall.

There could easily be a switcheroo on the cutline before the Round of 12. Newman is on a much more steady roll. The No. 6 has pulled off five top-10 showings in the last 10 races, while the No. 10 has just one during that span. Almirola was performing his best at the beginning of the season — six top 10s in the first seven races — but this is the end of the season.

Posted on by PJ Walsh

The Action Network specializes in providing sports betting insights/analytics and is a content partner with NASCAR. Check out more NASCAR betting analysis here.

Martin Truex Jr. scored the first win of the 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs last weekend in Las Vegas, and is hoping to make it back-to-back wins Saturday night in Richmond.

Truex won this race in the spring, and is unsurprisingly among the favorites at the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas.

To make this week’s NASCAR Props Challenge picks, I’ll rely on betting odds to project expected driver performance, as well as race trends from the April race at Richmond Raceway.

1. Which playoff driver earns the higher finish: Kyle Busch or Denny Hamlin?

This is close, but I’ll take Busch and his +300 odds to win the race over Hamlin’s +600.

Pick: Busch

2. Will all top-10 finishers be playoff drivers? Yes or No?

Daniel Suarez and Jimmie Johnson — both +8000 — have the best betting odds to win Saturday’s race among the drivers not currently in the playoffs.

Considering neither finished top 10 in the spring, I’m not very optimistic that a non-playoff driver finishes up there.

Pick: Yes

3. Toyota has won six of the last eight Richmond races. Will Toyota win again this weekend? Yes or No?

I typically don’t like taking one manufacturer over the field, but am going to make an exception here. Toyota drivers Kyle Busch (+300), Martin Truex Jr. (+500) and Denny Hamlin (+600) are on the short list of race favorites, with Erik Jones still in the mix at +1600.

Posted on by Staff Report

Richard Childress Racing announced Tuesday it will release Daniel Hemric as the driver of the team’s No. 8 Chevrolet following the 2019 season.

Hemric is in his first full-time Monster Energy Series season with the organization.

“Richard Childress Racing (RCR) has exercised its option and will release Daniel Hemric as driver of the No. 8 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Camaro ZL1 effective at the conclusion of the 2019 NASCAR race season,” a team statement read. “Daniel is a very talented driver and an outstanding person. We’d like to thank him for his commitment and dedication to RCR the past three years and wish him continued success in his future endeavors. Additional information on RCR’s Cup program will be announced at a later date.”

MORE: Silly Season tracker

Hemric, 28, has one top-five finish and two top 10s through 27 races this year. His best showing is a third-place run at Chicagoland. He’s coming off a 17th-place result at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Prior to the 2019 season, the Kannapolis, North Carolina, native drove the No. 21 Chevrolet for RCR’s NASCAR Xfinity Series program. He qualified for the Championship 4 in both 2017 and 2018, with a best finish of third in the final 2018 standings. Hemric logged 23 top-five finishes in that two-year stretch.

RELATED: More from Richard Childress Racing

His move to the Monster Energy Series was announced in September 2018, with a number change coming in December. The No. 31 previously driven by Ryan Newman became the No. 8 for Hemric.

The number has long been associated with the Earnhardt family, which has deep ties to the Kannapolis community that Hemric also calls home. Dale Earnhardt Jr. broke into NASCAR’s top series with the No. 8, and his father and grandfather had used the number in several different racing series.

“I’m disappointed it ended like this, but we’ve got nine more races together,” Hemric said, in part, of the news.

His full tweet:

Posted on by Data Skrive

Ross Chastain placed second in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday, 2.116 seconds off the winning pace.

Austin Hill earned the checkered flag in the race, with Christian Eckes crossing the finish line third. Sheldon Creed took fourth place, followed by Todd Gilliland in the No. 5 spot.

Chastain came away victorious in each of the first two stages.

The ninth-year driver qualified in second position at 178.012 mph. He led on 10 occasions for a total of 88 laps.

Chastain has tallied three career victories, 13 top-five finishes and has placed in the top 10 in 31 races.

There were 32 cars in the field and the race endured six cautions and 32 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 21 lead changes.

With Hill finishing out front in Shigeaki Hattori’s Silverado, Toyota added 40 points to its season totals. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 710 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 696. Ford sits at No. 3 with 628 points on the season.

Ross Chastain Driver Page | Get Ross Chastain Gear | NASCAR SHOP

Posted on by Data Skrive

Christian Eckes placed third in the World of Westgate 200 Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s Eckes’ second top-five finish of the season.

Austin Hill finished out front in the race, with Ross Chastain taking second. Sheldon Creed took fourth place, followed by Todd Gilliland in the No. 5 spot.

Ross Chastain took each of the first two stages.

Eckes qualified in the pole position at 178.077 mph.

Eckes still is looking for career win No. 1, boasts two top-five finishes and six finishes in the top 10.

There were 32 cars in the field and the race endured six cautions and 32 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 21 lead changes.

With Hill driving to victory in Shigeaki Hattori’s Tundra, Toyota added 40 points to its season totals. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 710 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 696. Ford sits at No. 3 with 628 points on the season.

Christian Eckes Driver Page | Get Christian Eckes Gear | NASCAR SHOP

Posted on by Data Skrive

Brennan Poole finished sixth in the World of Westgate 200 Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Austin Hill earned the checkered flag in the race, with Ross Chastain taking second, and Christian Eckes placing third. Sheldon Creed took fourth place, followed by Todd Gilliland in the No. 5 spot.

Ross Chastain took each of the first two stages.

Poole qualified in 18th position at 175.353 mph.

Poole still is looking for career win No. 1, but owns one top-five finish and four finishes in the top 10.

There were 32 cars in the field and the race endured six cautions and 32 caution laps. Prior to the checkered flag there were 21 lead changes.

With Hill driving to victory in Shigeaki Hattori’s Tundra, Toyota added 40 points to its season totals. Overall, Toyota ranks No. 1 with 710 points, followed by Chevrolet in the No. 2 spot with 696. Ford sits at No. 3 with 628 points on the season.

Brennan Poole Driver Page | Get Brennan Poole Gear | NASCAR SHOP