The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series goes to Richmond Raceway on Friday for the eero 250 (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the final race in the regular season for the trucks. FS2 will air Truck Series qualifying at 3:10 p.m. ET Friday.
NASCAR suspended Marshall Hill, car chief for the No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford in the Craftsman Truck Series, following Friday’s Mission 176 at Watkins Glen International. Late in that race, the right-rear axle of the vehicle driven by Ben Rhodes came loose, sending the truck hard into the outside wall and bringing out a caution.
Hill will miss Friday’s eero 250 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), the regular-season finale in the Truck Series. Rhodes, who finished 26th at Watkins Glen, sits 11 points below the elimination line as the two-time Truck Series champ tries to get back in the playoffs to make a run at title No. 3.
NASCAR listed the infraction as a safety violation noted in Sections 10.5.2.5.G of the Rule Book: the loss or separation of an improperly installed rear axle from the vehicle during the event.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to Richmond Raceway as the penultimate contest before the Cup Series Playoffs officially begin. Qualifying at the Virginia short track is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. ET on Friday (truTV, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Short-track practice and qualifying procedure will be in effect this weekend, with cars split into two groups for a 50-minute practice session (25 minutes for each group), followed by qualifying. Qualifying is two laps, one round.
The qualifying order below is determined via metric that combines the previous race finish by owner (70%) and current owner points position (30%).
The race itself will occur on Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
To celebrate 75 years worth of memories, the legendary Wood Brothers Racing team will be celebrated throughout the summer with “Wood Brothers Wednesdays” on The NASCAR Channel.
Wood Brothers Racing has been around since 1950, when Glen and Leonard Wood teamed up to pioneer a legacy that has transcended time.
Glen was behind the wheel of their car in 1960 at Bowman Gray Stadium and took the Wood Brothers Racing team to Victory Lane for the first time. The team scored its 101st NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2025, when Josh Berry claimed the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Bookending those victories were triumphs everywhere from Daytona to Darlington to Rockingham and everywhere in between. Twenty of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers have piloted a car for the team throughout its storied history, one that is well worth celebrating.
The theme for this week’s content will focus on former Wood Brothers Racing driver Kyle Petty.
“Memory Lane — The Wedding,” a piece of NASCAR original content, will air on Wednesday. Leonard Wood and Petty talk about the day the Pettys and the Woods “got married,” a.k.a. teamed up together for the first time.
Petty won two races during his time racing for the Wood Brothers family, and both races will be streamed in full on Wednesday.
His first career NASCAR Cup Series victory came in the 1986 Miller High Life 400 at Richmond Raceway, which is also the site of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event.
Petty was also victorious in the 1987 Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It was Petty’s only victory in the famed No. 21 car for the team, as he took the No. 7 to Victory Lane in 1986 at Richmond.
The NASCAR Channel delivers 24/7, always-on content, featuring the latest news and information from around the sport, original programming and race replays.
It is a FAST channel (Free-Ad Supported Television) and can be watched on your TV or mobile device via one of the streaming partners, such as Tubi or Xumo Play.
Here’s what’s happening in NASCAR with the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International in the rearview and Saturday’s Cook Out 400at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) up next.
1. Last gasp for playoff hopefuls is here — what now?
The playoff bubble is overflowing with former short-track winners, and Richmond is their last chance to avoid Daytona desperation.
As the playoff field continues to firm up weekly, the calendar inches toward September’s Southern 500 opener at Darlington Raceway with just a pair of opportunities remaining for the final three postseason bids to be snagged.
We now turn this weekend to Richmond Raceway, with its chess-match pit strategies and technically precise track demands, followed by Daytona International Speedway, where chaos reigns and surprises, both throughout the race and often at the checkered flag, are guaranteed. Five drivers below the elimination line have already conquered Richmond in their careers — more on that later — and they’ll look to repeat that short-track magic in order to avoid having to pull a rabbit out of a hat the following weekend in a wild superspeedway shootout.
Veteran stars like Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski — each a past champion — and veterans Austin Dillon, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Erik Jones and AJ Allmendinger are among the 10 drivers outside the playoff bubble with past Cup Series wins, collectively owning 120 career victories. Each not only brings a proven record (along with nearly all of them being playoff drivers in past seasons), but each also carries the desperation of trying to make sure the season’s first 24-plus weeks have not gone for naught in search of a postseason bid. Will this pressure bring out their best, or just further expose season-long cracks?
Many of these drivers turn to Richmond for hope because none of them wants to be forced to rely on trying to cash in on the sport’s most unpredictable track.
Richmond will be about mastery of pit cycles (there have been at least three green-flag pit cycles in each of the last eight races), and familiarity with those demands and how to execute them effectively is the key to being there at the end. History indicates that sharp execution in a race like this — rather than outright speed suddenly arriving in Race 25 — can lift a bubble contender into playoff security.
Recent weeks have shown just how volatile the playoff picture remains, too.
RFK Racing teammates Chris Buescher (+34) and Preece (-34) are the focal point, currently on either side of the bubble. Both are capable of winning either of the two remaining races, however, and each is on a hot streak. And a handful of hopefuls aim to capitalize on their past history the next two weekends, with Richmond offering the final shot at control and Daytona looms as the last-ditch “Hail Mary.”
Soon, the grid will be set. Experience, tactical acumen and split-second execution will shape the final 16-entrant field – all of which will come into play, albeit very differently, each of the next two weekends.
For the sport’s seasoned stars, Richmond marks the last, best chance to escape the bubble and control their own fate before the playoff party begins following Florida’s fireworks.
Jonathan Bachman | Getty Images
2. Playoff action set to ignite early under the lights at Richmond?
The playoff atmosphere is thick, and Richmond Raceway’s contest under the lights on Saturday marks the final chance for a driver to take fate into his own hands and punch his postseason ticket on the short track. The only problem? The Virginia track doesn’t typically leave much room for surprises or first-time winners.
Now that the stage is set, what’s actually going to happen under the lights on Saturday?
The playoff tension is peaking as NASCAR storms into Richmond, and it legitimately feels like the postseason is already here, yet there’s still so much to decide between the final three berths and crowning a Regular Season Champion.
Saturday’s race carries a special edge: statistically, Richmond tends to deliver few surprises — but plenty of drama. Despite the youth movement rippling through the sport, only one winner under age 30 has taken the checkered flag there in the last 13 trips, a gauntlet of experience the next generation can’t ignore.
Richmond’s recent history really is a testament to savvy veterans. Young, under-30 stars like William Byron and Chase Elliott (each chasing the RSC) and drivers like Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek (all in must-win mode to make the playoffs) arrive fiercely motivated to take the checkered flag at the unique short track, but face a venue where experience decisively trumps raw speed. It’s hard to look past that glaring stat above and may temper hopes of a shocker a bit, putting the spotlight firmly on NASCAR’s established core.
Those banking on a true breakthrough, while possible, will face steep odds.
The last 39 Richmond races have failed to produce a first-time Cup Series winner. Kasey Kahne’s 2005 triumph remains the track’s most recent Cinderella story, despite competitive parity at other short tracks. Joe Gibbs Racing excels at Richmond (winner of 10 of the past 18 races there), but this trend likely scratches Ty Gibbs (along with Spire’s Hocevar and Legacy’s Nemechek) from winning contention, especially with the No. 54 mired in a three-race slump heading into the weekend and some internal issues to iron out.
Perhaps the most interesting name coming into Richmond? Kyle Busch.
Once the archetype of Richmond mastery, “Rowdy” has gone cold in the state of Virginia. With six wins in 38 starts — most among active drivers — and 28 top-10s here, his Richmond legacy is cemented, but Busch has found just one top 10 in the past four visits, and none in his last 12 short-track starts overall. The two-time champ’s winless streak is up to 81 races, the worst of his career, with no wins in 2024, thus ending his record streak of 19 consecutive winning seasons and missing the playoffs. He appears set to repeat last year’s shortcomings, but — speaking of last year — his teammate Austin Dillon enters as the defending Richmond winner, and I certainly wouldn’t recommend betting against Busch with his back against the wall like this and potentially a car he can work with.
But, this is all to say … everybody might be chasing one guy, as Richmond’s surest favorite is Virginia native and four-time 2025 winner Denny Hamlin. No. 11’s numbers at the track are staggering: five wins, 24 top 10s in 36 starts and top-two finishes in six of the last eight races. A remarkable 11 of his 58 career victories have come in his home state. Hamlin leads all drivers in laps led at Richmond (2,367), and both he and his team (JGR owns 19 total Richmond wins among six different winning drivers) have dominated recent years. As the most realistic remaining threat to Byron or Elliott in the Regular Season Championship battle, all eyes will be on Hamlin to see if he can keep his grip on the short-track throne.
With the bubble bursting and only Daytona left after Richmond, will old patterns persist? The stats point to another ride for reliable hands, but as the playoff drama intensifies, we’ll all be watching for a narrative-busting breakout or an all-time upset.
Steve Letarte and Alex Weaver analyze Chase Elliott’s 26th-place performance at Watkins Glen International and what the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports driver needs for a deep playoff run.
4. Must-win drivers below bubble with past victories at Richmond, Daytona
Plenty can happen over the next two races, and these playoff hopefuls that have yet to clinch are hoping they can find a way to repeat history and capture a postseason-clinching win before the field is set. (Credit: Racing Insights)
Driver
Richmond
Daytona
Kyle Busch
6
1
Brad Keselowski
2
1
Austin Dillon
1
2
Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
2
Michael McDowell
1
Erik Jones
1
Justin Haley
1
5. Catch the pack — news and notes from around the garage
The Modified division, NASCAR’s oldest class, ran its first race on Feb. 15, 1948, predating the NASCAR Cup Series by a full season.
From 1948 through 1984, some of NASCAR’s greatest drivers raced and won in Modifieds. They include legends like Bobby Allison, Richie Evans, Red Farmer, Red Byron, Bugsy Stevens, Jerry Cook and Fonty Flock. But as the sport continued to evolve, so did the division.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour was formed in 1985. Having since transitioned from a national championship format to a season-long championship format, the Tour now hosts more than a dozen events at tracks up and down the East Coast.
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the modern Whelen Modified Tour, NASCAR Regional has named the 40 greatest NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers, selected based on their accomplishments on the Tour beginning in 1985. Accomplishments from the NASCAR Modified National Championship era (1948-84) were not used to determine this list.
The 40 drivers were revealed in no particular order throughout the summer in groups of 10. Below is the complete list of the 40 greatest NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour drivers.
Connor Zilisch underwent collarbone surgery Tuesday morning, the No. 88 JR Motorsports driver announced on social media.
The 19-year-old NASCAR Xfinity Series star broke his collarbone Saturday afternoon in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International after scoring his sixth win of 2025. After climbing from the cockpit of his No. 88 Chevrolet, Zilisch slipped and fell while standing on the roof and door of his car.
Zilisch was released from the hospital the same night and missed the Cup Series race on Sunday after being scheduled to pilot the No. 87 Chevrolet for Trackhouse Racing.
Wanted to give everyone a quick update. Had surgery on my collarbone this morning to get a plate and screws to help with the healing process. Been a tough few days for me mentally, but all the love you guys have shown has certainly helped. Thank you❤️
It’s the second time Zilisch has suffered an injury in his rookie campaign. He sat out the race at Texas Motor Speedway after a back injury following a last-lap wreck at Talladega Superspeedway the weekend prior. Kyle Larson piloted the No. 88 Chevy in Zilisch’s stead and won at Texas.
JR Motorsports has not announced if Zilisch will miss time as a result of the operation. The Xfinity Series will have a weekend off before heading to Daytona International Speedway on Friday, Aug. 22 (7:30 p.m. ET, The CW, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
Eleven months later, SVG made sure no error would cost him the win this time.
“It certainly makes up for it,” van Gisbergen said.
The Trackhouse Racing rookie made history Sunday afternoon, becoming the first NASCAR Cup Series rookie to collect four wins in a season and the first driver, period, to earn four road-course victories in the same season. His dominant performance, though, made him feel like anything but a rookie. A relentless romp resulted in an 11-second margin of victory over runner-up Christopher Bell, who finished second to SVG for the second time on a road course this year after winning in March at Circuit of The Americas.
With only two weeks remaining in the Cup Series’ regular season, van Gisbergen has built up 22 playoff points to lean on through the Round of 16. His inaugural appearance is earmarked by hopes to advance out of the first round and into the Round of 12, where the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval provides an opportunity to propel him toward an improbable run at the NASCAR Cup Series championship. The plan Trackhouse Racing owner Justin Marks believed to be possible is suddenly manifesting into a reality.
“That’s why I moved here, and that’s why I guess Justin believed in me and he knew I could do this,” van Gisbergen said. “Yeah, I’ve changed my life to come and do this. And to come and make true of what everyone believed in me and to execute myself and get everything right, it’s why I go racing.”
Marks navigated the ups of Watkins Glen this weekend, with SVG’s Sunday win and the downs of Connor Zilisch’s broken collarbone Saturday in Victory Lane. Sunday, though, pushed his vision one step closer to reality. Until 2024, van Gisbergen had never competed on a paved oval, much less in a premier stock-car racing series’ oval event. That inexperience is, at times, still evident.But his sheer excellence on road courses has put him in serious contention not just to make the playoffs — a mark guaranteed two months ago at Mexico City — but to make a serious if surprising advancement through the postseason.
“Being able to go to the road courses and win like this is a really great support mechanism for his development on the ovals as we chase the points championship,” Marks said Sunday. “I’m very encouraged by his rate of learning on the ovals. I think he has only just begun to start to put it together. I think the ceiling is really high for him, and he’s here for a while.
“There’s not going to be a ton of pressure on him this year. It’s going to be like, go into the playoffs and learn about how things start to change in the playoffs, how teams race each other, how drivers race each other, how important points are, how you’re always looking at the (elimination) line in the next round, and that’s going to be another great experience for him. I think we have a real opportunity to get to the Round of 8, and either way, it’ll be a great learning experience for him and get him prepared for making a deeper run year after year.”
Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Digital Media
Van Gisbergen spent last season competing full-time in the Xfinity Series. And while learning stock cars, racers’ tendencies and getting familiar with different venues were each beneficial, the Xfinity car and Cup car each behave differently, necessitating a near reset in SVG’s learning curve as he shifted his 2025 attention to Cup. A turning point, though, came during a test in May at the 1.5-mile Charlotte. One week later, in the All-Star Open, van Gisbergen led 54 laps on the 0.625-mile short oval at North Wilkesboro Speedway.
“We had a little test at Charlotte before Wilkesboro and found some things and what I needed from the car, and it was like a lightbulb moment,” van Gisbergen said. “It was only the race before the main one in Wilkesboro, but to lead the race and kind of feel what I needed and get that flow in the car, it’s a lot about rhythm and car placement, and yeah, when you feel it on an oval and get it once, it’s like, OK, it kind of clicks. That’s been happening more and more.”
That’s a dangerous revelation for the field to combat. If he already understands the car this well on road courses, imagine how unstoppable he could be if he masters the ovals. First come this year’s playoffs, though, featuring a three-race Round of 16 that includes Darlington Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway and Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Having 22 points obviously gives us a little buffer, but we’ve got to keep building on what we’ve been doing at the ovals,” crew chief Stephen Doran said. “I think the last couple months has shown that we’re in the game now, consistently running top 15. I thought our last oval at Iowa, although it wasn’t a great finish, was probably one of our best as far as pace. His restarts were amazing. I think we’re peaking at the right time all around.”
SVG has already competed at Darlington and Bristol once each this season, but his outlook for the two couldn’t be more opposite. Doran said he believed van Gisbergen could fight for a Darlington top 10. Bristol, on the other hand, was the site of a 38th-place finish after a suspension issue put him out of the race.
“Probably the one we’d most be worried about is Bristol. I ran terrible there,” he said. “Bristol was so far from anything I’ve ever done, and that’s a really tough place. That’s probably the biggest worry, but Darlington, I feel fine. Especially now we have a lot of points, too, I think you’ve just got to have three solid weeks, and you might get through.
“We just have to play the averages, make no mistakes, and make sure we’re in a good spot every week, and who knows how far we’ll get.”
Shane van Gisbergen became the first rookie to win four NASCAR Cup Series races in a season — on four straight road-course races, no less — capturing his first career Watkins Glen International victory on Sunday.
RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece, one spot below the playoff bubble, landed just outside the top 10 but lost ground to his teammate, Chris Buescher, who holds the final transfer position to the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Will the short-track ace regain ground or win outright to clinch his first postseason berth … and send his teammate below the bubble?
NASCAR.com’s Pat DeCola ranks the top 20 Cup Series contenders after the Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International and before Saturday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Analysis: Byron didn’t go back-to-back and add another Watkins Glen win to his Iowa triumph, but he did collect consecutive top fives for the first time since Charlotte Motor Speedway and Nashville Superspeedway this spring. Richmond might be the track that’s given him the most fits in his Cup career — despite a pair of starts there with 117-plus laps led — and it’s no guarantee, even with a sizable cushion atop the standings, that he’s leading the Regular Season Championship battle by the time we decide it at Daytona. But also, he’s on a roll and his team is rock solid, so absolutely do not count him out on any of that.
Analysis: Pour one out for the streak. Elliott’s impressive run of top-20 finishes to open the season (which, you may recall, started in February) came to an end on, of all places, a road course where he’s won multiple times. As long as he’s snapping streaks, however, perhaps he’ll halt his winless skid at Richmond, where, despite a 10.7 average finish, he’s never won in 17 starts.
Analysis: Blaney had a handful of subpar races in the weeks following his Nashville win, but he has picked it up tremendously over the past month and once again looks like a surefire title contender, ripping off four straight top-eight finishes and averaging nearly 45 points per race over the past three. Like Byron, Richmond has been a nemesis track for him, but even more so — the 2023 champ has no top 10s there since 2022 and just three total in his 17 starts for a 19.5 average finish.
Analysis: Bell shockingly still has not won since March — when it looked like he was bound to go for double-digit victories this year — but he’s getting closer, outworking Chris Buescher in the closing moments at The Glen for a runner-up. This might be the weekend he gets back in Victory Lane, too. Even though he’s yet to win there at the Cup level, Richmond is easily an A-plus track for Bell, who surely will turn a sterling 7.3 average finish there into a win at some point.
Analysis: Tough break for Larson here as he drops even though he ran a heck of a race at The Glen. (The No. 5 team kept him on the track and remarkably allowed him to finish even though the car spent part of the first stage in the garage.) He’ll presumably get right back in the mix this weekend, however, as he aims for a third Richmond win and fourth top 10 in the past five races there.
Analysis: Hamlin finished 25th and only collected 12 points at The Glen, but he actually moved up one spot in the standings as Larson dropped to fifth. He didn’t get any closer to the Regular Season Championship, but he has a great chance to gain ground this weekend. Hamlin rolls into Richmond as a five-time winner there, with a victory and a runner-up in 2024.
Analysis: Another week, another top five for perhaps 2025’s most improved driver, who has now collected as many top 10s through the first 24 races of 2025 as he had the entirety of his first two Cup campaigns combined. On paper, Richmond won’t be a place where he’ll add a fifth-such-finish in six weeks — he’s yet to finish in the top 10 there in eight starts — but former No. 19 driver Martin Truex Jr. was flat-out dominant in Virginia at times, and it’s possible it clicks for Briscoe this weekend.
Analysis: Watkins Glen was a much-needed step in the right direction for the reigning Regular Season Champion, who has yet to secure his 2025 playoff spot but just collected his first top 10 since Sonoma Raceway. On the surface, two top 10s in nine starts at Richmond don’t inspire a ton of confidence for this weekend, but they were earned in each of the past two there — and he’s led 89 laps across the last three.
Analysis: Bowman still had a nice race at The Glen with a runner-up in Stage 1 and more points in Stage 2, but the 20th-place finish in arguably his best remaining shot to win his way in was a bit of a bummer. That said, Richmond is one of his eight career wins; it’s just that in the seven races since that victory, he has a mere eight laps led and two top 10s.
Analysis: Bubba Wallace: road-course racer? He’s shown notable improvement on these tracks this year, and it finally resulted in his first top 10 on one (excluding Charlotte and Indianapolis) at Watkins Glen, even if he did still somehow lose a spot in the standings in the process. He’s unfortunately at risk of sinking further; last year’s P4 at the Virginia track stands as his lone top 10 there in 13 tries.
Analysis: So close, and yet so (very) far. Buescher gave SVG his best at Watkins Glen and ultimately dipped to third at the very end in his pursuit of a playoff bid. He still scored the second-most points of the race (44), and he’s found his groove at both Richmond and Daytona, so there are still plenty of ways for him to hold onto his current provisional spot. He feels like a playoff driver at this stage, if that means anything.
Analysis: But then again, so does this guy, Buescher’s teammate, and it’s going to be difficult for RFK Racing to squeeze them both in, currently separated by 34 points on opposite sides of the bubble. Each honestly feels capable of winning the two remaining races — and if Preece wins at Richmond, talk about pressure for Buescher at Daytona — so there’s perhaps a better chance than you’d think. It’s no slam dunk, though.
Analysis: Only netting 27 points is about as empty-calorie a top 10 as a driver can turn in, but Chastain should be commended for clawing back in the final stage to at least finish there. That said, it’s hard not to see a bit of a wasted opportunity of his second-best starting spot of the season (P4) in a year where that’s been such a vocal concern of his. He’s been pretty solid at Richmond lately, though, and could string together another nice run to build some pre-playoff momentum.
Analysis: We know darn well by now not to doubt this guy. All I’m saying here is that it’s a bit confusing how the three-time and defending champ — not to mention the most obvious active future Hall of Famer in the garage — is essentially on pace to put up similar numbers in the prime of his career in the year 2025 as his 19-year-old, much-maligned rookie season. Again, fully expect him to wax everybody in the playoffs and almost certainly add a 20th career top 10 at Richmond this weekend, just think it’s odd if six top 10s through 24 races is how they drew it up. But clearly they know what they’re doing.
Analysis: This guy. Ovals or not, every so often, an athlete enters a sport and is so dynamic that they literally change said sport by forcing everyone to adapt to their generational talent. How can we not say that about SVG at this point, now a winner of four straight road courses? We’re literally watching history unfold, and every week he gets exponentially better at everything else. His first Richmond Cup start could be a difficult test, but van Gisbergen nabbed a top 15 in Xfinity Series competition there, and the team is riding a serious high. Don’t rule out a competitive showing here.
Analysis: Cindric has already surpassed his former laps-led career high by a wide margin; he just can’t seem to connect for top 10s on a consistent basis to look like a deep playoff contender, with just one in the last 14 races. Richmond feels like the kind of track that could click for him, and he could potentially win at it eventually, but he’ll need everything to go right to make it happen this weekend.
Analysis: At times during the weekend, Busch appeared to be a driver capable of winning — which would have sent shockwaves through the playoff grid — but it never quite materialized in a physical, 22nd-place finish for him. The Richmond master, you’d think, could will his way to a victory on Saturday and finally get this monkey off his back, but it just feels like this team always has something go sour on the days when it’s able to contend. RCR is the defending winner, though, so there’s a better chance than not that “Rowdy” might be able to get it done.
Analysis: A non-top-10 in a near-do-or-die road-course race is a miss for Allmendinger and Kaulig, but ‘Dinger scored 33 points and is still very much trending in the right direction at the right time. Unfortunately, he may want to look ahead to Daytona and focus his efforts on winning there; a 22.3 average finish and three top 10s in 26 Richmond starts don’t indicate that it’ll be a realistic playoff clincher for him.
Analysis: Berry has scored single-digit points in four of the past seven races, and while there have been highlights this season, he looks about as much of a lock to be a first-round exit in the playoffs unless he finds his way to a win. Richmond should be a nice momentum builder for him, however, with three previous starts there that all went either reasonably well or pretty stellar.
Analysis: Gibbs needs to win to make it in at this point, but even if he does, it appears he’d be a one-and-done as well. The In-Season-Challenge mojo has worn off, things are getting heated on the No. 54 radio and three straight finishes outside the top 20 leading into a track he has one finish better than 15th in five starts likely don’t add up to a win this weekend.
