Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Race results | Detailed Breakdown | Full schedule for Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. — In the long run, Brad Keselowski knew he had the superior car.

And that’s exactly what Keselowski got – a long run to close Friday night’s Virginia529 College Savings 250 at Richmond Raceway.

On lap 235 of 250 of the NASCAR XFINITY Series race, Keselowski powered his No. 22 Team Penske Ford past the No. 18 Toyota of Kyle Busch and pulled away to win by 3.008 seconds. 

“When you can race with him (Busch), you know you’re having a good day, especially in this series,” Keselowski said after completing a spectacular celebratory burnout on the frontstretch. “When you race with Kyle, you race with the best. He and I may not always get along, but I have a lot of respect for his talent.”

After the second stage, which Keselowski won with a pass of Busch on the final circuit (Lap 150), the race ran without caution for the final 89 laps. Keselowski was driving a car with the new flange-fit composite body, which will be mandatory in the series by 2019.

“We weren’t quite where we wanted to be on the short runs, but good enough to be right there,” said Keselowski, who won for the second time this season, the fourth time at the .75-mile track and the 36th time in his career. “We just hung with him and got the long runs and we were able to pounce.

“That’s a testament to the team. (NBC Sports Analyst Jeff) Burton was asking me if it was the setup or the driver. I think it was both. I’m happy to get another win in this series. It’s a lot of fun and the first one in these new bodies. At least you know it isn’t an aero advantage. A great night at Richmond. I’m proud of my whole team.”

The cars of Keselowski and Busch were the clear class of the field, but behind them, series regular Elliott Sadler rolled home in fifth place and clinched the regular-season championship, along with the bonus of 15 playoff points that goes with it.

“We’re getting ourselves in playoff form,” said Sadler, who locked up the title with one race left in the regular season. “We’re fired up and ready to go.”

Making his last XFINITY start of the season, Busch had to settle for second.

“We just didn’t have long-run speed,” said Busch, who lost the lead for the final time in heavy traffic through Turns 1 and 2, after leading on five occasions for a total of 182 laps. “It”s tough to finish second, especially in the last go-round for the year.”

Ty Dillon ran third, followed by Daniel Hemric, Sadler, Christopher Bell, William Byron, Justin Allgaier and Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Earnhardt’s No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet was the last car on the lead lap, thanks to the long green-flag run to finish the race — the same long run Keselowski was so glad to see.

Note: The No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Matt Tifft was found have a lug nut violation in a post-race check. Tifft finished 13th in the race. Any potential penalties, typically a fine to the team’s crew chief, will be announced next week.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: Full schedule for Richmond | Playoff picture | Bubble watch

RICHMOND, Va. – Fast facts and figures ahead of the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale at Richmond Raceway. With 13 playoff spots locked up, three drivers will punch their postseason tickets following this race to complete the 16-driver field.

At a glance
What: Federated Auto Parts 400
Where: Richmond (Va.) Raceway, 0.75-mile oval
Green flag: 7:44 p.m. ET
TV/Radio: NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Forecast: Mostly clear, 65 degrees at green flag time. North wind 3 to 5 mph, according to NOAA.gov
National anthem: The President’s Own
Grand Marshal: Cliff Havis
Race distance: 400 laps, 300 miles
Pit road speed: 40 mph
Caution car speed: 45 mph
Stage lengths: Stage 1 ends on Lap 100. Stage 2 ends on Lap 200. Final Stage scheduled to end on Lap 400.
Playoff spots already clinched (13): Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Larson, Ryan Newman, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Martin Truex Jr (regular-season champion).

Bubble Watch: Where the bubble drivers will line up | RELATED: Full starting lineup

Driver Starting Spot Current playoff position
(entering Saturday’s race)
Chase Elliott  9th  In, a repeat winner locks him in
Matt Kenseth  1st  In, a repeat winner locks him in
Jamie McMurray  11th  In, a repeat winner locks him in
Clint Bowyer  13th  Out, needs a win
Erik Jones  10th  Out, needs a win
Joey Logano  12th  Out, needs a win
Daniel Suarez  16th  Out, needs a win
Trevor Bayne  18th  Out, needs a win
Dale Earnhardt Jr.  21st  Out, needs a win
Paul Menard  26th  Out, needs a win
Ty Dillon  32nd  Out, needs a win
Chris Buescher  24th  Out, needs a win
Michael McDowell  28th  Out, needs a win
AJ Allmendinger  22nd  Out, needs a win
Danica Patrick  19th  Out, needs a win
David Ragan  29th  Out, needs a win
Aric Almirola  23rd  Out, needs a win

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Qualifying results | Full schedule for Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. – In need of a playoff spot next week and a place to drive next year, Matt Kenseth stormed to the pole position for Saturday night’s Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM).

Kenseth covered the .75-mile distance in 22.055 seconds (122.421 mph) in the final round of Friday’s knockout qualifying session to edge Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin (122.277 mph) for the top starting spot by .026 seconds.

The Coors Light Pole Award was Kenseth’s second of the season – both coming at Richmond – his third at the “D”-shaped short track and 20th of his career.

Winless in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series so far this season, Kenseth is one of three drivers who can secure a berth in the postseason on points.

Kenseth will exit his ride at JGR at the end of the season and thus far has not announced plans for next year. But Friday’s pole run was an emphatic statement that the 45-year-old is still quick.

“The third round, it didn’t feel as good, but luckily it was fast enough,” said Kenseth, who is driving the No. 20 Hurricane Harvey Relief Toyota in the final regular-season race. “We missed the balance a little bit there, but it was fast enough to get the pole…

“I’m hoping for the best. I thought we were at our best this morning (in practice) when the track was the coolest and the cleanest. As it got hotter, we ran worse. So I guess that gives me hope that we’ll have speed tomorrow night.”

Hamlin’s final lap produced a better result than the driver expected when he ran it.

“I thought it would be a little worse than it ended up,” said Hamlin, last week’s winner at Darlington Raceway. “I didn’t drive the laps as good as I probably could have and probably gotten the pole. Either way, a good run. We improved every round.

“And, obviously, we’re hoping for long green-flag runs. That’s typically where I excel at this race track. All in all, a pretty good day.”

Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by Kyle Larson, Martin Truex Jr., Kevin Harvick and Kyle Busch. All three drivers, including Kenseth, who can make the playoff of points advanced to the final round on Friday. Chase Elliott will start ninth and Jamie McMurray 11th.

Two drivers who must win on Saturday to claim a playoff spot also cracked the top 12. Despite missing the first hour of Friday’s final practice because of pre-qualifying and pre-race inspection failures last week at Darlington, Erik Jones qualified 10th.

Joey Logano, whose April 30 win at Richmond was encumbered by penalty, grabbed the 12th spot on the grid.

“We just had too much fall-off,” said Logano, who was third fastest in the first round. “The first run was almost the fastest car, within a couple hundredths (of a second), and then the next run we were a tenth-and-a-half off, and then next run three-tenths off.

“Too much fall-off from run to run. I don’t know that I completely understand why, but that’s where we will start, so it doesn’t much matter now.”

Nevertheless, Logano isn’t discounting his chances to barge into the 16-driver playoff field with a victory.

“I’m cautiously optimistic,” he said. “I think we’re OK. Our long-run speed looked to be OK. I don’t think we are lights-out fast, but I think we’re close enough that we can certainly make it interesting on everyone.”

Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 21st for his final start at Richmond in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Posted on by @KESELOWSKI

RELATED: Take a shop tour with ‘Dinger, Buescher | ‘Dinger on ‘rough’ season thus far

HARRISBURG, N.C. — When AJ Allmendinger hits the golf course, it’s just him, the range and a few balls.

There’s no team, no pit crew, no car that may or may not run as planned.

In a world of racing that moves quite quickly, Allmendinger embraces that simplicity.

“We live in a sport where there’s race cars, there’s pit stops, there’s so many variables that can go right or wrong and it’s not solely based on you,” Allmendinger told NASCAR.com from the JTG Daughterty Racing shop. “As a team — and I think people kind of forget that this is one of the biggest team sports that there is. You see the race cars on Sunday and just the drivers and the pit crews and think, oh it’s still on them … but it’s a huge team sport.

“So, with golf, I love the mental side of it, that it’s just you. The only way you’re going to get better is to go out and put the work in. There’s no substitute for that — you can’t blame anybody else out there.”

Allmendinger began golfing around eight years ago when a friend at a former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series team encouraged him to hit the links. At first, he resisted. But after a trip to the course, he became enamored with the sport, and has really gotten into it the past three years.

Now, that competitive streak seen on race tracks around the country every weekend during the season has extended to the greens.

“I’m hugely competitive with just myself,” the 35-year-old admitted. “And that’s what it’s all about. Whether it’s on the race track or whatever I’m doing, I’m competitive with myself. You want to beat the other competitors that you’re around or playing with on the golf course, but in the end, for me it’s all about setting my goals and setting where I think I should be at and go out there and try to achieve that.”

But “once a racer, always a racer” rings true here, too — even in a mentally captivating game like golf. For drivers, putting aside problems at the shop, upcoming races and recent events on track is challenging, even for a few moments.

Like golf, racing drains a great deal of mental stamina.

“I love to say that I get my mind off of racing but I really don’t because racing never really truly leaves,” Allmendinger said. “Maybe I can put it in the back of my brain, but it’s always there. But it’s nice to be able to go out there and just try to get away from it for a little bit. Or work on something else to try to get better.

“That’s something that, whether it’s good or bad, because I punish myself sometimes, but it’s always trying to get better at whatever I’m doing. So, that’s always the goal.”

His next goal? To get his JTG Daugherty Racing teammate Chris Buescher to play a few rounds with him.

RELATED: Allmendinger & Buescher … the team’s ‘Odd Couple?’

“I’m trying to — he’s more of, wants to go play in the mud, go buggy-riding, (has) gotta go fishing,” Allmendinger said with a grin. “He’s got that personality where he can kind of just sit back and relax and I’m always having to go and do something.

“I’ve got time, though — I’ll work on it. I’ll wear him down slowly.”

Posted on by Staff Report

NASCAR notified teams that it will seek the firmest penalty currently available for a specific rear suspension violation after observing a rules infraction trend developing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR XFINITY Series.

Effective immediately, any penalty associated with the Section 20.14.2 Rear Suspension I-4 portion of the NASCAR Rule Book found in post-race inspection will be elevated to the maximum L1-level penalty.

The maximum penalty includes: an encumbered finish, the loss of 40 driver and owner points, a $75,000 crew chief fine ($40,000 in the XFINITY Series) and the suspension of both the team’s crew chief and car chief from the next three championship points events.

Three violations of the Section 20.14.2 Rear Suspension I-4 rule were discovered during post-race inspection following Darlington weekend. The race-winning No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Monster Energy Series team, along with the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing XFINITY Series team and No. 22 Team Penske XFINITY Series team, all were issued penalties.

Denny Hamlin won both the Monster Energy Series and XFINITY Series Darlington races, in the No. 11 and No. 18, respectively. Joey Logano drove the No. 22 XFINITY Series car to a runner-up finish.

The sanctioning body’s observations of trends show teams are spending significant effort attempting to gain an advantage in the this particular area, and it believes an increase in penalties will curtail those actions.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Previewing Dale Jr. at Richmond | Mack’s big delivery

Dale Earnhardt Jr. seemed calm and collected for a driver about to make his final regular-season start without his regular crew chief atop the pit box. And that good zen, he insists, actually says a lot about his No. 88 Axalta Chevrolet team.

“I think we’re going to be fine,’’ Earnhardt said Friday at Richmond Raceway, insisting the back-up plan for his team relies on a lot of competent people — some perhaps getting a prime-time opportunity to shine and to step up.

NASCAR suspended Earnhardt’s regular crew chief Greg Ives for Saturday’s Federated Auto Parts 400 regular-season finale after Earnhardt’s car was found to have a safety violation (improperly installed lug nuts) after last weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway.

In Ives’ place is longtime Hendrick employee Travis Mack, 34, Earnhardt’s current car chief and a former XFINITY Series championship crew chief at JR Motorsports while working with Chase Elliott.

Earnhardt seemed very confident in Mack’s ability to handle the crew chief duties this weekend.

“I like him a lot,’’ Earnhardt said. “When we got the news about Greg, I said, ‘I think Travis is the guy you put in charge.’”

Further, Earnhardt said, “I think Travis certainly paid his dues and has a ton of ambition. It’s like you’re pulling the reins on him all the time, saying, ‘Be patient. Your time is coming. You’re going to get these opportunities.’

“He’s just all the time seeking out what he needs to be doing and who he needs to be talking to. He asks for advice all the time. …I’ve worked with him a long time and he’s always been a very productive employee. He takes care of the company which is important.”

Despite his calm demeanor, the 42-year old Earnhardt acknowledged this is a crucial weekend for his team. Ranked 22nd in the points standings — well below the 16th-place final playoff spot – and without a playoff-qualifying win so far, Earnhardt will need to hoist some hardware Saturday night to close out his Cup career with a shot at a title.

He has three wins at Richmond – all in the spring race – and he hasn’t won here since 2006.

He finished 30th here in May, however finished fourth in his last start in this race in 2015 (he missed last year’s race recovering from a concussion).

“It’s competitive as hell out there,’’ he said. “You’ve got to push as hard as you can.’’

Granted, the circumstances the No. 88 team faces this week make that mission more complicated, but perhaps prevailing against the odds is exactly the kind of boost the team could use.

“There’s nobody that fills that the way Greg does, so in the hauler we’ll feel that void and absence,’’ Earnhardt said. “He has the ability to be that voice of reason and obviously, he’s the leader of the team.

“With that said, I was watching practice and the teamwork and listening to Travis and our second engineer and the guys — and all of them are much more vocal than (they) usually are any other weekend.

“And in my opinion, I plan to give them this advice: ‘I think that’s what they need to be doing every week, even when Greg is here. To be more supportive and active.’

“Everyone on the team has to sort of raise it up a level with the situation we’re in here and I think that’s what we could be doing going forward that will help the whole team.

“It’s been good to see, but I think if Greg were here in the garage to actually see it, he’d think, ‘This is how the guys need to be every week. This is what we need out of every individual every week. No idea is a bad idea – it’s an all-hands on deck kinda thing.”

Posted on by RJ Kraft

RELATED: GEICO extends relationship with Germain Racing, Dillon’s contract extended

RICHMOND, Va. — For Ty Dillon, knowing his future is secure is invaluable at a place that has felt like home from Day 1.

On Tuesday, Germain Racing announced that it has extended Ty Dillon’s contract. The announcement was made in conjunction with the news that the team’s longtime sponsor GEICO was extending its relationship with the organization and the No. 13 Chevrolet. Germain’s technical alliance with Richard Childress Racing will continue as well and include the use of ECR Engines.

“It’s very exciting to have a multiyear agreement with such a great company,” Dillon told NASCAR.com between Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice sessions on Friday at Richmond Raceway. “Right away I felt very at home at Germain Racing. Everybody here starting from Bob (Germain, owner) to Larry Rogers (general manager) and Bootie (Barker, crew chief). Everybody who makes everything go at this company has made me feel at home. It’s been a great mesh so far and we’ve done really well. We know where we can improve and we know we are going to improve.”

There had been speculation from the day Paul Menard’s move to Wood Brothers Racing was announced in July that Ty could shift to RCR and be teammates with older brother Austin and Ryan Newman.

“Staying at Germain was always my plan from the day I signed with them originally,” Dillon said. “I want to make this my home. I want to make this my career. I hope to race here forever and win championships and win races and always be known as the driver of the No. 13 GEICO Chevy.”

While fellow Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates Erik Jones and Daniel Suarez have gotten a bit more of the rookie buzz, Dillon’s season thus far in the No. 13 Chevrolet has been solid. He was in contention late in May at Dover and led 27 laps in that race. Dillon also found himself up front for the last restart at the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona. More recently, he notched a 13th-place finish at Darlington, a track notoriously tough on rookie drivers. That result helps sets the tone for the final third of the season for Dillon.

“Just building momentum off that where we start getting comfortable running inside the top 10 and top 15,” Dillon said of his strong run at the track ‘Too Tough To Tame.’ “When you do that, your results will get better and better when you adjust your whole weekend around what it takes to run in that segment of drivers and teams. When you know what it takes week in and week out, you become more consistent and you set your goals to the next level.”

The 25-year-old has boosted the team’s performance with 16 top 20-finishes through the first 25 races this season. For the entire 2016 season, the No. 13 team with driver Casey Mears had just six top 20-finishes.

Improving on unloading with speed and qualifying are near the top of Dillon’s agenda over the course of the final 11 races of 2017.

“We always seem to race really well and the only thing holding us back is that we take so long in these races to get to where we should be running and sometimes you can’t be that far off at some of these race tracks because the leaders are coming so fast,” Dillon said. “If we can get to where we can qualify constantly in the top 18, I think that we will really, really take the next step as a team.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

MORE: Post-Darlington penalty report

Denny Hamlin always likes to race at Richmond Raceway. It’s his home track, and he has three wins in the September event, including last year.

A victory in Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series regular-season finale, however, wouldn’t just satisfy hometown good vibes and add to his impressive win total.

It would be a sort of redemption.

Earlier this week, Hamlin’s car from last week’s win in the historic Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was handed an L1-level penalty, and the victory for his No. 11 FedEx Toyota team will not count toward NASCAR’s playoffs.

The team was penalized 25 points, and Hamlin also is without crew chief Mike Wheeler this weekend. Wheeler must serve a two-race suspension for the offense.

Hamlin said his Joe Gibbs Racing group is using the penalty ruling in a positive way going forward. He also won at New Hampshire in July and is qualified for the playoffs, regardless.

“It’s a ton of motivation for sure,” Hamlin said Friday at Richmond. “Trust me, this is not what I want to talk about coming to my home track, for sure. You know that part of it stinks, but there’s tons and tons of motivation that will be behind us this week to go out there and perform well, and so far through the practices, I think we’re in pretty good shape.’’

Hamlin said he and Wheeler discussed the penalty the team received and acknowledged it was a fair reprimand.

“He (Wheeler) said it was enough, that he was satisfied with the penalty,’’ Hamlin said. “I asked him his honest opinion and he said (the car) wasn’t right.”

The 31-time race winner explained that after discussing the situation, he felt like the team simply didn’t build enough “tolerance” into the car to account for race conditions.

“Close doesn’t matter, it was still over the line,’’ Hamlin said. “We just didn’t allow for running into the wall with five laps to go. We didn’t allow for the dirt and the grime to get in there and loosen those things up as bad as it did. It’s unfortunate.

“But we’ll fix it and go forward. If the shoe was on the other foot and it was one of my competitors I would expect the same type of penalty. We’ll move on and try to win this week.”

Posted on by Pat DeCola

UPDATE: Travis Mack is now in his third season with Earnhardt’s team and will serve as interim crew chief for the No. 88 at Richmond. This story originally ran on NASCAR.com on Feb. 3, 2016.

___________________________________

When you sign up to be the car chief for Dale Earnhardt Jr. ‘s No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, there’s quite a bit of understood pressure that comes along with the job.

Sometimes there’s even more pressure that comes along with being a husband, as Travis Mack learned early Wednesday morning.

According to his Twitter account, Mack, who heads into his season as Earnhardt’s car chief under crew chief Greg Ives, delivered his own baby girl at 3:15 a.m. in his home bathroom.

“My Wife is so strong,” Mack tweeted.

Simply incredible.

Best wishes to both mom and daughter and a tip of the cap to Mack, for staying cool under pressure.