Posted on by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — If there’s such a thing as a six-figure consolation prize, Elliott Sadler found it at Richmond Raceway.

Sadler took third place in Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250, collecting the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash $100,000 bonus as the top eligible finisher. He outdistanced Justin Allgaier (14th), Spencer Gallagher (17th) and Daniel Hemric (29th) in the second of four races this season for the lucrative incentive program.

MORE: Race recap | Race results

The finish, however, had a slight bittersweet tinge for the Virginia native, who came up just shy of his first victory at a track he calls home.

“All I could think about when we were up front and taking the lead and winning the stage would be how great would it finally be to pull one off here,” said Sadler, who led twice for 30 of the 250 laps. “We just got a little bit too tight there at the end.”

The loss of handling left Sadler with a finishing position behind the Joe Gibbs Racing entries of race winner Christopher Bell and rookie Noah Gragson, a runner-up in his Xfinity debut. It also left Sadler 0-for-30 at a facility that he’s been coming to — both as a fan and a driver — since childhood.

“We’ve had family season tickets here for over 40 years; I’m 42 years old. I would definitely trade in a lot of trophies for a win at this race track,” Sadler said. “It felt good to run as well as we did during the middle of the race. … I would definitely trade in this tomorrow — not that it’s a light thing, $100,000 — but a memory in Victory Lane is something that lasts a lifetime and something I’ve been dreaming about since I was a kid at this track.”

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. – In a long green-flag run fraught with spellbinding tension, Christopher Bell held off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Noah Gragson to win Friday night’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway.

Bell spoiled Gragson’s prospects for a victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut, passing his teammate for the lead on Lap 172 of 250 and staying in front — if only just barely — the rest of the way.

RELATED: Race results | Sadler receives Dash 4 Cash check

Bell crossed the finish line .423 seconds ahead of Gragson, after the driver of the No. 18 Toyota got to the bumper of Bell’s No. 20 in the closing laps.

Virginia native Elliott Sadler ran third and claimed a $100,000 Xfinity Dash 4 Cash bonus, though he remained winless and frustrated at his home track. It was Sadler’s fourth career win under the Dash 4 Cash program.

“I had to work for it,” Bell said of his second career victory, his first of the season and his first at Richmond. “My teammate was really good. I knew throughout both practices that both of our cars were going to be really strong.

“Joe Gibbs Racing has been producing really, really fast Camrys for the last couple weeks, and it’s really shown … All in all, it was enough to stay in front of him at the end.”

During the final 79-lap run, Gragson fell behind by as much as 1.5 seconds, but when Bell hit traffic, Gragson closed in, trimming his deficit to a half-second with 20 laps left. At the 18-to-go mark, Gragson turned up the pressure and closed up to Bell’s rear bumper in the final laps but couldn’t get in position to make a clean winning move.

RELATED: Allgaier spins during Dash 4 Cash run | Gragson ‘stays disciplined’ in first Xfinity start

“It’s tough,” Gragson said of his first Xfinity start. “I found a little something in the track, a little speed there at the end of the second stage on old tires, and I kept it in my memory banks till the end, and I told my team, ‘I’ve got something when it’s time to go — just tell me when.’

“And about 18 to go, I told them, ‘I can’t wait any longer; I don’t have any more patience.’ And I ran Christopher down about two or three car lengths.”

Matt Tifft ran fourth in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, followed by Austin Cindric with a career-best fifth. Bell, Sadler, Tifft and Cindric earned eligibility for the Dash 4 Cash bonus next Saturday at Talladega.

Sadler won the second stage, got the bonus and retained the series lead by 29 points over Bell but said he would trade the cash for a win at Richmond.

“I had a real strong run in that second stage,” Sadler said. “I was just a little bit tighter (handling) than I wanted to be at the end of the race. We can’t hang our heads. We won the Dash 4 Cash, and we’re part of the Dash 4 Cash going to Talladega next week, too.

“But we always want to win at this race track, and it’s a shame to come up short tonight.”

Pole winner Cole Custer ran sixth, followed by Ryan Truex, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Reed and Brandon Jones.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Martin Truex Jr. won the Busch Pole Qualifying Award and will start in the top position in Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Richmond Raceway. After two practice sessions for this race, we’ve dissected the numbers and 10-lap averages to offer a suggested lineup worthy of your Fantasy Live consideration as you go to make roster decisions for the ninth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of 2018.

PLAY NOW: Set your Fantasy Live lineup | How the new Fantasy Live works
MORE: Fantasy analysis for Richmond | Driver stats | Full lineup | 10-lap averages

RJ Kraft’s revised Fantasy Live lineup following practices and the lineup being set:
1: Martin Truex Jr.
2: Denny Hamlin
3: Joey Logano
4: Kyle Larson
5: Chase Elliott
Garage: Kurt Busch

RELATED: Stats to know for Richmond

Analysis: My lineup for Richmond happens to include the top six qualifiers for the Toyota Owners 400. Track position is important at a short track and a race that moves pretty quickly. Logano, Larson, Hamlin and Kurt Busch were all part of my original lineup and I’m sticking with them. Larson, in particular, looks to be one of the strongest cars this weekend and I’ve hardly used him thus far in Fantasy Live.

The two big changes for me are adding Martin Truex Jr. and Chase Elliott while taking out Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski. Truex won the pole and posted the third-best 10-lap average in both practices. On top of that, he has run well at Richmond in recent years — nearly winning the fall race (under the lights) the past two years. With his wreck at Texas, I have an extra usage with MTJ I wasn’t initially counting out, so I am going to plug him in here. However, I will be pretty vigilante regarding his running position. Barring an incident from another driver in my lineup, Truex only stays in my lineup if he’s in the top five as Stage 2 comes to a close. If he is running outside the top five as we close in on Lap 200, he goes to the garage.

Elliott entered the weekend as an avoid play for me as I wrote about earlier in the week. However, he is starting second and had the second-best 10-lap average in opening practice; seventh-best in final practice. The kicker with Elliott is I have hardly used him through nine races — he’s only been in my lineup once. So I like taking him here with the strong starting position and saving Kyle Busch and Keselowski for another day given their starting positions towards the back of the field.


Posted on by Holly Cain

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – It was certainly a rough start to his “return home” for Denny Hamlin Friday at Richmond Raceway, but the three-time winner at the track smiled and remained optimistic about his chances come Saturday night’s green flag.

The Joe Gibbs Racing team was hard at work on Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota from Friday’s opening practice on at the three-quarter mile Richmond track, trying to get it properly prepped for Saturday’s Toyota Owners 400 (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

By the time Hamlin faced the media Friday afternoon after practices and before qualifying he was disappointed in the day’s rough start, but remained absolutely hopeful about the race.

“Obviously, it’s super frustrating from my standpoint and it is for (my team), too,” Hamlin said. “They don’t want to have to completely rebuild a car while they are at a race track. We are trying to figure it out. We’re trying to get between some teammates. We can get there here with some of our teammates, but we can’t on other things. I don’t know.

“It could be a really good race for us, it can also be really bad. I’m really not sure how it’s all going to turn out. I’m not sure with qualifying if it will be indicative of anything we have going on, but we’ll see how it all pans out. We’ll try everything we can to make the right decisions for tomorrow.”

The good news is Hamlin has always been good at Richmond. His three wins at the track is second only to JGR teammate Kyle Busch and his 1,653 laps led is top among all his competition this weekend. And he hasn’t finished worse than sixth in the last five races here, including a win in September 2016 from the Busch Pole position.

The past success along with his local ties to the area — he grew up in nearby Chesterfield, Virginia — make Richmond a place Hamlin always looks forward to racing. And he is vastly popular in the area – holding a hugely successful short track event at the local Langley Speedway Thursday night to raise money for charities he supports.

MORE: Hamlin on getting cheers again in home state

“We’ve been more hit and miss,” Hamlin said. “We were competitive one race here last year and the other one, not so much. It’s really feast or famine for us here at this race track.”

Hamlin enters the race ranked eighth in the championship standings, but he hasn’t had a top 10 in the last three races. A crash at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago left him with a 34th-place finish and he was 14th at Bristol Motor Speedway in Monday’s rain-delayed race.

That follows an incredible season start when he scored top-six finishes in four of the first five races – including a third-place in the Daytona 500. Richmond presents exactly the kind of opportunity Hamlin wants and needs to put his season back on that title contention trajectory.

“I was really optimistic coming here that we were going to start pretty quick and the way our cars ran at Phoenix, everything is fairly similar with the cars,” Hamlin said, noting his fourth-place finish in Arizona.

“Like I said, here today was a struggle, where Phoenix was pretty easy for us. A disappointing start to our weekend, for sure, but it doesn’t hamper what we expect for tomorrow night. I’m hoping we get it all figured out and we’re competitive enough as we should be here.”

Asked about his success in the spring versus fall races at Richmond and Hamlin again smiled, acknowledging all his victories have come in the fall. He said he had no logical explanation for that, offering one suggestion.

“I think typically I’ve been a driver who has gotten stronger as the year goes on,” he said. “That hasn’t changed for 13 or 14 years I’ve been doing this and the stats will back this up.

“I’m trying to do everything I can to perform earlier in the year, because we knew last year we didn’t collect as many bonus points for the Playoffs during the season as we needed. It’s on the radar for us.

“It’s not like we’re not trying, it’s just a tough go at it right now.”

Hamlin qualified fourth for Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400.

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. – After a dismal two weeks that saw the No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Toyota of reigning Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. crash out of races at Texas and Bristol, Truex found a welcome stroke of success on Friday at Richmond Raceway.

With a lap at 123.859 mph (21.799 seconds) in the final round of knockout qualifying, Truex claimed the Busch Pole Award for Saturday night’s Toyota Owners 400 (6:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), edging Chase Elliott (123.621 mph) for the top starting spot by .042 seconds.

MORE: Full starting lineup | Best 10-lap averages at Richmond

The Busch Pole Award was the third of the season for Truex, who will make his 450th career start in the Cup series on Saturday. The pole is his first at the .75-mile short track and the 18th of his career.

Truex was happy for the rebound from the calamities of the two previous races.

“You can’t let those kinds of things get you down,” said Truex, who has turned pole wins into race wins in two of his last three attempts (October 2017 at Kansas and March 2018 at Fontana). “It was nothing we did. It was just circumstances. But I’m proud of the effort today. Everybody did a great job, we stayed focused on our plan, and it worked out.”

A standout on 1.5-mile intermediate speedways, where he has collected nine of his 16 career wins and seven of his last nine, Truex is still seeking his first victory on a short track.

“If we’re ever going to get that short-track win, I feel like this is the place to do it,” Truex said. “We’re excited about Saturday night, and starting out front definitely helps.”

Starting on the front row for the first time this season, Elliott placed more weight on one of the perks of an outstanding qualifying effort.

“I think more than the front row is the pit stall selection,” said Elliott, who will get second pick behind Truex. “Obviously, we know Martin will be good. He ran really well here both races last year. I would have loved to have had that first pit stall.

“We were just talking (about it being) so frustrating to be so close to something once again. Just trying to finish stuff off, and I think that obviously would have loved to have gotten the pole, but starting second is plenty good enough to run well in the race, so we will see.”

RELATED: Scenes from around Richmond

Joey Logano, whose last victory came at Richmond last spring (albeit later devalued by penalty), qualified third at 123.581 mph, just .007 seconds behind Elliott. After fighting severe handling problems throughout practice, Denny Hamlin nevertheless claimed the fourth spot on the grid.

Kyle Larson and Kurt Busch were fifth and sixth, respectively.

For a race that could extend his Cup winning streak to three events, Kyle Busch and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team were overly conservative in the first round, posting the 32nd fastest speed and failing to advance.

“We didn’t make a mock-run in practice, and we thought the spread would be about three-tenths,” Busch said. ” … A bunch of those guys ran three laps, and obviously, we needed that third lap. It would have picked up. For some reason the tire here today, even in race trim, your fastest lap was the seventh lap. It takes a while for everything to come in, and we were trying to shortcut it a little bit and didn’t work out for us. So we’ll come from the way far back.”

Likewise Brad Keselowski, with a career-average starting spot of 9.8 at Richmond, failed to survive the first round. He’ll start 28th on Saturday night.

Posted on by

After winning Thursday’s Short Track Showdown at Langley Speedway, Denny Hamlin heard something he hadn’t heard in Virginia in a while.

Cheers.

“That was a welcome change,” Hamlin said Friday at Richmond Raceway.

RELATED: Hamlin connects on a night celebrating short-track roots

The Chesterfield, Virginia, native heard more boos than usual at the series’ second Virginia track Martinsville Speedway last October when he made contact with Chase Elliott, spinning out his Chevrolet.

Elliott’s strong fan base didn’t help Hamlin’s cause in that instance, as many cheered when Elliott spun Hamlin out two weeks later at Phoenix. But it’s nothing new; the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing driver cited another well-known racing incident that saw a similar scenario play out.

“I think fans live in the moment,” he said. “… I forgot the year Rusty wrecked Jeff Gordon off of Turn 2, but I remember sitting in my seat and the crowd went crazy because they hated Jeff so bad. A few years later, Jeff’s their favorite driver. Fans are fickle, and you can’t please them all the time. I found that out pretty quick.

“It doesn’t matter where you’re from, if you wreck someone they really like, they just don’t like you.”

 

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RICHMOND, Va. — For a driver with a two-race winning streak, Kyle Busch wasn’t exuding confidence when he took questions from reporters Friday afternoon at Richmond Raceway.

Busch used to own the spring race at Richmond. He won it four straight years from 2009 through 2012. In each of those years, the race fell on or near his May 2 birthday, and Busch was unabashed about gifting himself with the Richmond trophy.

MORE: Kyle Busch aiming for triple | Richmond schedule

But times have changed, and so have NASCAR rules. In recent years, Busch hasn’t been able to find the edge he enjoyed during his heyday at the .75-mile short track. And with six dry years in the interim, Busch can hardly remember what it feels like to celebrate in Richmond’s Victory Lane.

“The success is almost forgotten it’s been so long ago,” he said. “So we certainly want to get back to our winning ways and doing a better job of being up front and winning here at Richmond. We’re just kind of missing a little bit.

“There were some rule changes years ago that had some things kind of taken away from our camp and things that we were doing that made us a little bit better than our competition.”

Not surprisingly, Busch eyes Kevin Harvick, a three-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series winner this season, as his foremost competition so far this season. In Friday’s opening practice for the Toyota Owners 400 on Saturday (6:30 p.m. ET,FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), Harvick posted the best consecutive 10-lap average speed. Busch was fourth.

“Man, I think we’re pretty equal honestly,” Busch said of comparisons between his No. 18 Toyota and Harvick’s No. 4 Ford. “I think I’ve got to give them the notch a little bit. I think they’re a little bit better than we are. I think (Kyle) Larson’s right there as well, too.”

Point taken. Harvick is a three-time winner at Richmond, but he hasn’t been first to the checkered flag since 2013. Larson, on the other hand, won last year’s fall race at Richmond and posted the fastest lap in Friday’s final practice.

Posted on by Staff Report

RICHMOND, Va. — Before the excitement of this weekend’s on-track activity began at Richmond Raceway, The NASCAR Foundation was in town Thursday to inspire children in the community to live a healthy lifestyle by staying active and eating well, and in the process, have fun.

Thursday’s second annual Speediatrics Fun Day Festival in Richmond was an initiative of The NASCAR Foundation’s Speediatrics Children’s Fund, which supports needs expressed by hospitals, specialty clinics, camps and other organizations providing medical and health care services in NASCAR racing communities.

RELATED: Learn more about The NASCAR Foundation

Toyota Racing drivers Noah Gragson and Christopher Bell participated in the festival, as well as Richard Childress Racing driver Daniel Hemric. The up-and-coming drivers reflected on their own racing experiences and spoke to children in attendance about the importance of staying fit off the track to their success on the track.

They also showed their competitive nature and competed alongside The NASCAR Foundation mascots Chase and Victory Lane, as well as two members of the Toyota Camry Crew in NASCAR-themed field day activities.

The event also had a greater purpose – providing important healthcare services to children in need from the community.

Through a partnership with Capital Area Health Network (CAHN), children were able to take part in free health screenings, including vision and dental. Referrals were available to CAHN physicians for those children needing follow-up care.

“We love that our NASCAR drivers come out to events like our Speediatrics Fun Day Festival in support of the kids here in the Richmond community,” The NASCAR Foundation Executive Director Nichole Krieger said. “It means a lot to us that they share our passion for providing these important healthcare services to children in our NASCAR communities who need it most.”

MORE: The Speediatrics program

Gragson, Bell and Hemric are all leading into an important race weekend in Richmond. Gragson is making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in Friday’s ToyotaCare 250. Bell is in his first season driving Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 20 in the series.

Hemric is competing in the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash and will also make his Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series debut on Saturday night.

In addition to hosting the Speediatrics Fun Day Festival, The NASCAR Foundation is also providing a $20,000 grant to Capital Area Health Network to help provide medical services to children in need in the Richmond area through their mobile health program.

Posted on by Holly Cain

Kyle Larson’s runner-up showing to Kyle Busch in Monday’s rain-delayed race finish at Bristol Motor Speedway stoked some competitive frustration in the fifth-year Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series driver.

Even four days later, ahead of Saturday night’s race at Richmond Raceway (6:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), it was apparent Larson still felt the sting.

“Yeah, I was mad,” Larson said. “That’s as close as I’ve come to winning a Cup race at Bristol. … That one stung probably more than any Cup win I can kind of think of at this point. … It sucked.”

MORE: Richmond schedule | Larson leads final practice

Larson led a race-high 200 laps at Bristol – nearly twice as many as Busch (who led 117 laps) and the two exchanged the lead four times in the final 119 laps before Busch took the point for good with six laps remaining.

“I’d moved on shortly after because I was really mad when I got back to the bus, and I texted (Busch) about this, but … the first thing I heard when I walked in the bus was, ‘Oh, did you get me some Skittles?’ ” said Larson, smiling at the request his 3-year old son Owen so innocently asked about. Skittles sponsored Busch’s winning car.

Arriving at the .75-mile Richmond Raceway this week may help the process of getting over it for good. Larson won the Monster Energy Series last race here in September. He started from the pole position (2014) in his first Cup start here and was runner-up in the 2016 race.

Still, it’s proven to be a tough season so far for any driver not named Kevin Harvick or Kyle Busch. Those two veterans have won five of the opening eight races and have four combined runner-up showings in the races they didn’t win.

MORE: Driver standings

Larson acknowledged the dominance of those two teams, Harvick driving a Ford and Busch driving a Toyota. But Larson also said he felt like his No. 42 Credit One Bank Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and the other Chevrolets were getting better. Austin Dillon’s last-lap victory in the season-opening Daytona 500 is the only race a Chevrolet has won so far.

“I still think Harvick is really fast,” Larson said sizing up his fellow front-runners. “I think Kyle is really good at executing, which has helped him win the last couple of races and really run in the top 3 for as long as he has now. But yeah, as far as pure speed, I think the No. 4 (of Harvick) has everybody covered.”

That’s not to say Larson doesn’t consider himself a favorite at Richmond this week. He’s done everything but win this season and that first 2018 trophy feels inevitable. And perhaps the lesson learned in a tough defeat – like at Bristol last week – will make Larson’s next victory all the sweeter.

“I feel like we’ve gotten off to a really good start with the new body and all that. It’s early in the year and we’re going to continue to get better and better every week,” Larson said. “ … We’ve just got to keep working hard and I think we can get to the point of being the fastest car on the race track every weekend.

“I think we’ve proved last week that we were the fastest car. We didn’t get the win so we have to keep working on that and move it to other race tracks so we can be really fast.”