Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: See full lineup | Race day schedule

 

RICHMOND, Va. — Denny Hamlin is unquestionably the “hometown favorite” whenever the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rolls into Richmond International Raceway.

 

This week the Chesterfield, Virginia, native arrives in town having earned the esteemed title of 2016 Daytona 500 winner. So it seems hard to believe that Hamlin’s last win at his home track was in 2010. He is an odds-on bet for every Richmond race weekend, with a pole win in 2006 and 2008 and race victories in 2009 and 2010.

 

And he is fast this weekend.

 

“I love coming back here and love the race track,” Hamlin, 35, said Friday after opening practice. “We got to come here and test about a month or so ago and had a good test. Our cars ran really good here in the fall, which is encouraging and even through the tire change and the aero change, I was pretty happy with it.

 

“We’re looking forward to it. We haven’t always run the best here over the last few years, but we’re starting to get that back a little bit and really for me it’s obviously a whole lot of motivation to come here and run well.”

 

Hamlin will start his No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota fifth in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), after the grid was set based on opening practice speeds because Friday’s qualifying session was rained out. Hamlin was 11th fastest in Saturday’s final practice and 14th best for a 10-consecutive lap average.

 

A good showing here would be encouraging for this year’s Daytona 500 winner. Since earning that career-defining trophy and Chase-making victory at Daytona, Hamlin has only two other top-10 finishes — a pair of third-place finishes back-to-back at Phoenix International Raceway and Auto Club Speedway.

 

It’s been a rocky road of late, with a crash at Martinsville Speedway that gave Hamlin a 39th-place finish and then a mid-pack, 20th-place showing at last week’s Bristol Motor Speedway.

 

“I’d say trying to find ourselves is kind of the word I keep thinking of, but over the last few weeks we’ve tried a lot of out of the box things,” Hamlin said of his season. Sometimes it can hurt momentum.

 

“… We’re here in April now and we’ve still got months until the playoffs start so I think it’s an opportunity for us to work on things and try to get better. Ultimately, the checks don’t get written until the end of the year so we need to make sure we’re good when it really, really counts.”

 

Acknowledging there have been less-than-steller runs in recent weeks, Hamlin still seemed completely comfortable with the direction of the team and the luxury of being able to think and plan for the postseason because of the Daytona win. And Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing team is certainly showing the way.

 

Three of Gibbs’ four drivers have wins already. Reigning Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch has two and Carl Edwards won just last week.

 

Hamlin has only one top-10 in his last six races here, but he does not appear too worried. On the contrary, he’s in a first-time position of winning right out of the gate and having a chance to experiment and fine-tune for the championship run.

 

“It’s a tough balance because you treat tracks that are in the Chase differently than you would tracks that are not,” Hamlin explained.

 

“Texas, for instance, is in the Chase so we tried something, a direction that we were going to see if that direction was where we need to be when we go back there in the Chase. It was not the right direction, we know that, but the other races, I think you kind of know whether you’re going to have a shot to win or not and you adjust accordingly. If you don’t, you’re more willing to try some things to learn, but you’re always out there every race to try to win the race for sure.

 

“There’s some weekends you have a better opportunity than others. We know that our program is very strong on all the race tracks right now so we would definitely like to log some more wins before the race starts because ultimately the further you get into the summer, you want to start building some momentum and get some good things going heading into the Chase.”

Posted on by Holly Cain

RACE DAY LINKS: Starting lineup | Full Sunday schedule | Every paint scheme

 

RICHMOND, Va. — Tony Stewart was smiling, friendly and even a bit chatty talking with crew members as he left his Richmond International Raceway garage stall long after most drivers had called it a day following final practice for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

The feeling he conveyed Saturday morning was unmistakable. He is happy to be back and there genuinely appears no one more excited to take this weekend’s green flag. And it’s a good bet he’ll receive quite the ovation from the Richmond crowd when he’s introduced.

Stewart will start his No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet 18th on the 40-car grid — his first start since the 2015 Sprint Cup Series finale in November at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He has spent the first eight races of the 2016 season healing from a broken back — an injury sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Jan. 31.

 

In an interview with FOX before the race, Stewart was at ease and smiling, saying the conditions were perfect for his return — the race is at Richmond, his favorite track, it’s in the daytime and the track will get hot, leading to plenty of sliding.

“I just expect to go do what I always do,” Stewart said. “Just get in and do the best I can.”


Stewart surprised the racing world this week announcing his return to Cup competition via Twitter on Thursday.

There has been a lot of welcoming for Stewart this weekend at Richmond. Although he is co-owner of the four-car Stewart-Haas Racing team and has been at several races in his ownership role, there was no mistaking his eagerness and energy as he returned to work as a driver. And the feeling was mutual, as NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty showed by embracing the three-time champ in the garage.

 

Stewart didn’t have any formal media sessions at Richmond, but addressed his whirlwind weekend in a tweet on Sunday morning.

 

 

After making his first start of 2016 here at the .75-mile track, Stewart will qualify and run opening laps next week at Talladega Superspeedway before having Ty Dillon replace him on the 2.66-mile track’s high banks.

In between, Stewart is scheduled to participate in a tire test at his “home” track, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in preparation for his final Brickyard 400 on July 24.

NASCAR granted Stewart a waiver, giving him an opportunity to make the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup if he wins a race and climbs to 30th in the points standings by the end of the Sept. 10 regular-season finale in Richmond.

All the drivers within the top 30 in points with a victory automatically earn a Chase bid. If 16 drivers don’t have wins, then the Chase positions go in order to those ranked highest in points among the top 30.

“We are glad to have him back,” Joey Logano said Friday. “The number 14 has been out there every week but Tony hasn’t been in it so it is nice to have Tony back out in his final year.

“I can imagine he wants to go out on a good note and it is nice to have him back in the car and be in that position where he loves to be and try to end his career on a high note.”

Richmond has historically been a good venue for Stewart. He has three wins here, 11 top-five and 19 top-10 finishes in 33 starts. His first career Cup victory was in 1999 at Richmond.

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Results

Justin Allgaier topped the speed charts in Saturday’s only NASCAR XFINITY Series practice at Richmond International Raceway with a speed of 121.174 mph in his No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet.

Right behind him was Austin Dillon in the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet at 120.595 mph.

Rounding out the top five were Brad Keselowski in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford, Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet and XFINITY Series points leader Daniel Suarez in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

The XFINITY Series will be back on the track for Dash 4 Cash heat races starting at 12:30 p.m. ET (FS1).

Posted on by Staff Report

RELATED: Final practice speeds

 

Jimmie Johnson topped the leaderboard in Saturday’s final NASCAR Sprint Cup Series practice at Richmond International Raceway at 120.849 mph in the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

 

Right behind him was teammate Kasey Kahne in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet at 120.622 mph. 

 

Rounding out the top five were Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, pole-sitter and series points leader Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet and Carl Edwards in the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

 

Tony Stewart, in his second practice session of the 2016 campaign since sustaining a back injury in the offseason, was 23rd at 118.614 mph in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet. Stewart drove 64 laps.

 

Clint Bowyer‘s No. 15 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet started smoking in the closing minutes of the session. He was 37th on the speed charts at 116.324 mph.

 

Tune in Sunday for the Toyota Owners 400 (1 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Posted on by Staff Report

Heat 1

Finish Start Car Driver
1 3 20 Erik Jones*
2 2 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
3 1 18 Matt Tifft
4 7 48 Brennan Poole*
5 4 1 Elliott Sadler
6 8 6 Darrell Wallace Jr.
7 5 33 Brandon Jones
8 6 62 Brendan Gaughan
9 15 5 Cole Custer
10 12 44 J.J. Yeley
11 9 43 Jeb Burton
12 11 51 Jeremy Clements
13 10 28 Dakoda Armstrong
14 14 14 Jeff Green
15 13 07 Ray Black Jr.
16 16 25 Harrison Rhodes
17 17 97 Ryan Ellis
18 19 40 Carl Long
19 18 70 Derrike Cope
20 20 89 Morgan Shepherd

* Erik Jones and Brennan Poole are Dash 4 Cash-eligible for the main race.

Heat 2

Finish Start Car Driver
1 5 3 Ty Dillon*
2 3 7 Justin Allgaier*
3 2 19 Daniel Suarez
4 4 22 Brad Keselowski(i)
5 1 2 Austin Dillon(i)
6 6 42 Justin Marks
7 9 4 Ross Chastain
8 10 11 Blake Koch
9 7 16 Ryan Reed
10 8 39 Ryan Sieg
11 20 21 Spencer Gallagher(i)
12 11 01 Ryan Preece #
13 12 0 Garrett Smithley #
14 13 78 BJ McLeod #
15 16 15 Travis Kvapil(i)
16 15 52 Joey Gase
17 17 74 Mike Harmon
18 14 90 Todd Peck
19 18 13 Timmy Hill(i)
20 19 93 Josh Wise(i)

*Ty Dillon and Justin Allgaier are Dash 4 Cash-eligible for the main race.

Posted on by Zack Albert

RELATED: At-track photos | Full results | Standings post-race


RICHMOND, Va. — Ty Dillon had visions of a six-figure payday when he unloaded for a compact, rain-tightened NASCAR XFINITY Series event at Richmond International Raceway, but several factors stood in the way of him endorsing the check.



Dillon overcame the odds and cashed in Saturday with a runner-up effort in the ToyotaCare 250, claiming the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus as the top-finishing XFINITY Series regular among the eligible four-driver pool. He did it all with an interim crew chief, a nifty move through a slam-bang restart near the end — all happening at a race track that hadn’t historically been his favorite.



“You’re sure we’re at Richmond, right? Because this place has been really tough on me and our team as a whole,” Dillon said after finishing a close .226 seconds behind race winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. “To finish second, to run the way we did all day was just impressive for us.”



Dillon foiled fellow Dash 4 Cash drivers Brennan Poole, Erik Jones and Justin Allgaier — all three of whom spent time leading, but none of whom wound up in the top five at race’s end. Each caught varying degrees of damage in a multi-car pileup in the next-to-last restart; Poole trudged on to finish 10th, but Jones (34th) and Allgaier (35th) each retired early with severely bent race cars.



Dillon was without his regular crew chief, Nick Harrison, who was serving a one-race suspension for a technical infraction the previous week. As a result, Danny Efland — a former driver currently serving as an engineer — took over the pit box for the Richard Childress Racing No. 3 Chevrolet team in an interim role.



Dillon sat fifth for the penultimate restart, third among Dash 4 Cash drivers. Poole held the lead, his No. 48 Chevrolet team gambling by staying on the race track with older tires to gain track position. Allgaier ran second and in position for the Dash 4 Cash prize for much of the race and lined up there for the return to green with six laps left.



But Earnhardt Jr., third on the restart, dove low inside of Poole and Allgaier to forge a three-wide contest for the lead heading to Turn 1. Earnhardt vaulted to the lead, but Poole slid into Allgaier, knocking his JR Motorsports No. 7 into a prolonged slide and entangling pole-starter Jones as part of a nine-car stack but sparing Dillon from the carnage.



Allgaier emerged from his battered ride, punching a trash can in frustration before entering the JRM hauler.



“It sucks to run that well all day and to have nothing to show for it,” Allgaier said. “Obviously being a part of the Dash 4 Cash program and was loving to go for that $100,000, but ultimately for the race win. Instead, I’m standing here in street clothes. Just a frustrating way to end the day, but we’ve got fast race cars and we’ll be back next week.”



Jones, who divided the heat-race victories with Dillon, was also unable to continue, retiring after 134 of an overtime-extended 149 laps. He also had to contend with an angry Mike Harmon, who confronted the teenager in his hauler after their contact brought out the first caution flag and forced the fateful restart.



“I think racing is a sport of highs and lows — we had our highs last weekend and we have our lows this week,” said Jones, who captured the Dash 4 Cash opener last weekend at Bristol. “Just an unfortunate day for us. We were off all day and then it just got worse as it went on.”



Poole absorbed significant damage, but limped home to register his second top-10 finish of the season. He chalked up the contact to typical short-track restarts in the late going, but also applauded his Chip Ganassi Racing crew’s decision to shake up its strategy.



“I think that’s what you have to do, and Junior had to do what he had to do to get to the inside of me,” Poole said of the late-race scramble. “I’d have done the same thing. We’re all racing hard. There’s only eight laps to go. The restart is really the best way to make up track position, so we’re all just battling tight for it and it’s just how it goes at the end of these races sometimes. You’re battling as hard as you can.”



The next NASCAR XFINITY Series race featuring the Dash 4 Cash bonus is scheduled May 14 at Dover International Speedway.



MORE: See how Dash 4 Cash works

Posted on by Reid Spencer

RELATED: Full race results | Updated series standings

RICHMOND, Va. — After a massive late-race wreck scrambled the running order in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250, Dale Earnhardt Jr. survived a two-lap dash in overtime to win his first NASCAR XFINITY Series race since 2010 and the first in his own JR Motorsports equipment.



Earnhardt held off Ty Dillon by .266 seconds in a main event that ran nine laps past its scheduled distance of 140 laps, but Dillon collected the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus available to the two highest finishes among XFINITY Series regulars from each of the two heats that preceded the main event.



The victory was Earnhardt’s fourth at Richmond — his first at the .75-mile short track since 2002 — and the 24th of his career. Earnhardt’s last win in the series came in the July 2010 race at Daytona in a No. 3 Chevrolet owned by Richard Childress. 



Earnhardt has not driven the No. 3, the number closely associated with his father, since that victory. On Saturday, he drove the No. 88 Chevrolet in his last scheduled start of the season for JR Motorsports.



Though Earnhardt led 128 of the 149 laps after passing Erik Jones for the top spot on Lap 18, the final two were a challenge, with Dillon restarting beside him for the two-lap overtime.



“Those last couple of laps, we were real loose in the corner,” Earnhardt said. “I thought Ty was going to get to me — he tried to get to me. When we got to (Turn 3), we drove into the corner wide-open.”



But Dillon couldn’t pull even with Earnhardt, who cleared Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet off Turn 4 on the first overtime lap.



“We came up a little short, but we’re going to get one soon,” Dillon said.



Dillon wouldn’t have had a shot at the win at all, had a nine-car pileup on Lap 134 not bunched the field and necessitated the overtime.



The wreck came moments after a restart, with Brennan Poole leading the field to the green. Poole had stayed out on old tires when Earnhardt and the rest of the lead-lap drivers came to pit road for fresh rubber under caution on Lap 127.



Earnhardt restarted third behind Poole and JR Motorsports teammate Justin Allgaier , but when Poole spun his tires, Earnhardt dived to the inside approaching Turn 1, creating a three-wide lead group. After side-by-side contact with Earnhardt’s No. 88, Poole’s No. 48 Chevrolet washed up the track, clipped and turned Allgaier’s No. 7 and ignited a chain-reaction wreck that damaged three of the four cars eligible for the Dash 4 Cash bonus – those of Poole, Allgaier and Jones.



“When he spun the tires, I had to go to the inside,” Earnhardt said. “I tried not to drive up into him – I don’t think I got into him. They just kind of came together up there (in the outside lane) and had a heck of a wreck.



“I hate that it happened, but, man, I had to do what I had to do to try to get the win. We ran so well and led all those laps.”



Elliott Sadler came home third, followed by series leader Daniel Suárez, who leaves Richmond nine points ahead of Sadler in second. Austin Dillon ran fifth and Cole Custer sixth in Custer’s XFINITY Series debut.



Poole brought his damaged car home in 10th.

Posted on by RJ Kraft

Photo courtesy of Richmond International Raceway‘s Twitter account


RELATED: Dale Jr. shows how to make the sandwich | Dale Jr. wins at Richmond

Thanks to a tweet heard ’round the NASCAR Nation, we all know about Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s favorite sandwich, bananas and mayo.

The driver turned the much-discussed tweet into a charitable endeavor with the funds raised going to Blessings in a Backpack. Kelley Earnhardt Miller, Dale Jr.’s sister and the co-owner/general manager of JR Motorsports, said after the Richmond win that all told, fans have donated over $55,000, while Hellmann’s and Dale Jr. will each donate $50,000.

Driving the No. 88 Hellmann’s Chevrolet, Earnhardt Jr. won the ToyotaCare 250 to score his first win behind the wheel for the team he co-owns, JR Motorsports. And if you are wondering how he celebrated in Victory Lane, just remember it was a little after lunchtime of a 149-lap race, so the man was hungry.

RELATED: JRM extends relationship with longtime partner

That led to a banana-mayo sandwich for the victor to enjoy.

Posted on by Holly Cain

RELATED: Full Stewart coverage | Drivers react to Stewart’s return

 

RICHMOND, Va. — The feeling around the NASCAR garage at Richmond International Raceway on Friday was both unanimous and magnanimous.

 

Tony Stewart‘s return to Sprint Cup Series competition this weekend was the big news of the week, possibly the year and he was greeted by welcome text messages, friendly pats on the back, and lots of smiles and goodwill.

 

NASCAR legend Richard Petty, whose team’s car was parked in the garage stall next to Stewart’s, sought Stewart out and embraced him.

 

By the time Stewart, 44, climbed into his No. 14 Mobil 1 Chevrolet for Friday morning’s opening practice, many of his competitors had stopped by to shake the three-time champ’s hand or wish him well in his first racing weekend since the 2015 season finale. Doctors cleared Stewart to compete this weekend after an eight-race absence while his body healed from a broken back — an injury he suffered during an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) accident just before the season began.


RELATED: Stewart’s return is the talk of the garage

Stewart broke the news of his return himself on Twitter Thursday saying, “Well the long wait is over. I’ll be back in my @Mobil1 Chevy this weekend at Richmond. I can’t wait to race again.”

 

Then he added, “The Dr’s said my scans ‘looked much better than they thought they would after 3 months.’ So they cleared me.”

 

He will start Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 from the 18th-place on the grid — his position in the only practice on a day shortened because of rain.

 

But the weather was the only downer on a day dominated by a warm and enthusiastic welcome back for Stewart.

 

“I don’t know about from the NASCAR standpoint, but from a competitor’s standpoint Tony is one of the fiercest competitors in the sport so to have him there and have someone to battle against is fun,” Carl Edwards said.

 

Stewart’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate Kevin Harvick won the pole for Sunday’s race thanks to a chart-topping run in Friday’s only practice and it certainly sets the stage for a grand return of the team’s namesake. Stewart’s team confirmed their leader is re-energized and enjoying the positive reinforcement throughout the garage and in the grandstands.

 

“It’s been interesting just for the fact that I came to Stewart-Haas Racing to race with Tony, and obviously it’s been an in-and-out of the car situation for the last two and a half years,” Harvick said. “So, to see where he was from a personal standpoint over the time from when he got hurt and everything that happened, and see his interaction from the owner’s standpoint over the last several weeks has been very interesting to me, just to see how engaged he was and how excited he was and how relaxed and into what was going on.”


And his fellow competitors want to see “Smoke” go out strong.

 

“This is a retirement season for him and it was a little bit delayed, but he’s now going to some of the these race tracks for the final time and I know just in general, Tony has been around and traveling each week to the race and tracks and been very hands on with his race team,” Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin said Friday.

 

“It’s a great season and I would love to see him make a Chase push if he can and end on a good note.”