Cindric savors points boost after season-best third place at Richmond

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Austin Cindric called his Saturday showing at Richmond Raceway “a very important day for us to have a good day,” a nod to the well-timed nature of his season-best result. His postseason plight, plus a string of unwanted finishes, had created the critical need — one Cindric filled with head-turning effect.

A strong third-place run in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400 gave Cindric and his No. 2 Team Penske group a boost in the NASCAR Cup Series standings, plus some extra buffer in his quest for a spot in the 16-driver Chase field. The outcome marked his first top-five finish since Darlington in March and snapped an 11-race skid without a top 10.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

That stretch included a 29th-place outing at Iowa Speedway, where his cushion and comfort relative to the postseason elimination line was narrowed. Cindric had entered Richmond as the final provisional driver into the Chase field — 16th with just a 29-point advantage. That cushion grew to 57 by night’s end with just two regular-season races remaining — New Hampshire next week and Daytona on Aug. 29.

Saturday’s reversal at Richmond was welcome, but with a hint that Cindric was left wanting.

“That’s what’s expected. I mean, this time of year, you’ve got to go, and honestly, the last month we haven’t done a whole lot of going,” Cindric said. “So I’m happy, but yeah, I still want more. I thought I had a car that could win tonight, and things that we could have done that were maybe a bit better, but overall, just proud of everybody on the 2 car team.”

Cindric had said entering Richmond that ticking each box on the team’s checklist and maximizing every factor in the races ahead would be pivotal. Saturday was the fulfillment of that vision.

Cindric’s No. 2 Ford powered through the field in the 70-lap opening stage, rising from the 23rd starting spot to a fourth-place result and a points payoff at the green-checkered flag. A Stage 2 pit stop represented one of the night’s few blips, when Cindric had to dodge the exiting No. 7 Chevrolet of Daniel Suárez as he entered his stall. He quickly made up the two positions lost, notching another fourth-place stage finish.

On a night when Joey Logano marched to his second victory of the year, Cindric maintained a steady presence among the top five, rounding out just behind his Team Penske teammate and runner-up Chase Briscoe at the checkered flag. No. 2 crew chief Brian Wilson lauded Cindric’s poise, but also took special note of the beneficial timing of the points boost.

“Yeah, it’s huge,” Wilson told NASCAR.com. “You know, you try to not focus on it. You try to just run your own race, but you’re always aware of what’s going on. So, throughout the race, you see where the other guys are at the cutline, and it’s good to put some points on the board, maybe a little bit of stress off. You’ve still got to go to Loudon. We’ve still got to have a great week there. So, I don’t know that you’re ever going to be relaxed going into Daytona, but you’ve got to stack as many points as you can these two weeks.”

Only Logano and Briscoe amassed more points than Cindric on a night when he desperately needed them. The conventional wisdom might also follow that Cindric would enjoy some increased confidence for the two regular-season races that lie next. Not so much, he said.

“Doesn’t change it in the slightest,” Cindric said. “I haven’t stopped believing in myself and this team. It’s a hard sport, a tough series, and I want this to be more often.”

Posted on August 16, 2026 by Nathan Solomon

When Kyle Larson won his preliminary feature and secured pole position for Saturday night’s 65th Knoxville Nationals, he resigned himself to the fact that he wouldn’t be able to race in the main event. The highly prestigious 410 sprint-car race in Iowa competed directly against the Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, over 1,100 miles apart, and Larson needed to prioritize duties behind the wheel of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Yet somehow, hours after earning a desperately needed sixth-place finish in the Cup Series, the 34-year-old climbed from Silva Motorsports’ No. 57 car with his fourth Knoxville crown-jewel victory in six years.

The only scenario where Larson could have made it to Knoxville in time for the A-Main required rain at the 0.5-mile dirt oval — a former two-time stop on the Craftsman Truck Series schedule — just down the road from Iowa Raceway. And unlike his two Indianapolis 500/Coca-Cola 600 Double attempts, Mother Nature played her cards right.

RELATED: Richmond race results | At-track photos

“It’s extremely surreal,” Larson told worldofoutlaws.com. “Just to talk about the day and the range of emotions. Even going back to the last couple days, I had no emotion. I knew I wouldn’t be able to race, but there was still that glimmer of hope with the rain in the forecast.”

For many reasons, Larson still wanted to enter the World of Outlaws event, knowing the unlikelihood that he’d compete in the 50-lap, $200,000 win event. He remained in Iowa after last Sunday’s Cup event and banked $13,000 in a Capitani Classic win at Knoxville that night, then secured another $21,000 with a victory Monday night at Southern Iowa Speedway. His Thursday prelim victory at Knoxville paid another $12,000, and by having a Silva team member start-and-park for the Saturday main, Larson would have earned another $15,000 — all key funding for the part-time sprint-car effort.

As Saturday progressed, the forecast worsened in Knoxville, but Larson settled in and focused on 400 laps at Richmond. He qualified 30th Friday afternoon and began his uphill battle at the 0.75-mile short track, falling a lap behind early. After finishing 25th in Stage 1, Larson improved to 13th at the end of Stage 2, earning the free pass to return to the lead lap.

Meanwhile, the Iowa skies opened up, pushing back the start of the Nationals and putting the evening of racing in flux. During a midway caution at Richmond, crew chief Cliff Daniels radioed to his driver that he could be traveling to Iowa after all.

“He had done a really good job of this week kind of resigning himself to the fact that he wasn’t going to be able to start the A-Main, and not going to tell you exactly what I told him, but using appropriate language, I was like, ‘man, like, we can have stuff ready for you. We can go get this,’ ” Daniels told reporters after the race. “Jeff Andrews (Hendrick Motorsports President) was very instrumental in helping us get a plan laid out. Colby (Gorniewicz, Larson’s public relations representative), standing right here beside me, had a lot of communication with people back in Knoxville, and I said, hey, look, why don’t we just have a plane ready, have stuff ready to go, and if it works out, then great. Like, I’d much rather have a plan in place that we can say no to, or if they get the feature in, so be it, than to have nothing prepared.

“(Larson) kept telling me no; he kept telling Jeff Andrews no, but we were persistent because we knew that if we get him there, he can probably do something special.”

And coincidentally, once Larson knew a trip to Knoxville was plausible, his Richmond race turned for the better. He rocketed into the top 10 late and came home sixth, scoring his best result since Sonoma after a stretch of four finishes outside the top 30 in five races dropped him five spots to 10th in points.

Tyler Carr | World of Outlaws

“We were struggling (at Richmond) but making improvements, and then all of a sudden Cliff came on the radio and said there was a rain delay (in Knoxville), and they hadn’t started hot laps yet,” Larson said. “Then I got a kick-start of emotion there.”

As soon as he took the checkered flag at Richmond, Daniels let Larson know: game on. He parked on pit road and ran for a vehicle that took him to Richmond International Airport, where a chartered plane waited for a flight to Pella, Iowa.

At one point, over 16,000 people were tracking the Knoxville-bound aircraft. Fans provided real-time updates on X, and a DirtVision camera crew shot his exodus onto the tarmac in Iowa. A police escort waited to take him to the track.

Larson arrived on the Knoxville Raceway grounds before even the B-Main began. He missed hot laps, but the 16-time overall Knoxville winner knows a thing or two about how to get around there.

And the way he performed in the wee hours of Sunday morning, you’d never know his Knoxville trip was ever in jeopardy. He led all 50 laps, winning the “Grandaddy of ’em all” over Sheldon Haudenschild for the fourth time since 2021.

“It’s just wild how I’m here tonight,” Larson said. “Huge thank you to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, HendrickCars.com, everybody at HMS for supporting dirt racers, myself and (O’Reilly Auto Parts Series driver) Corey Day here tonight. I really couldn’t do any of this without them. I wouldn’t have any Knoxville Nationals championships without Hendrick Motorsports.

“A fourth Knoxville Nationals in a fashion like this is unbelievable … it feels like a little bit of a dream right now.”

Additionally, former Hendrick ace Kasey Kahne finished third, marking the 46-year-old’s best career Knoxville Nationals result.

Contributing: Zack Albert

Posted on August 16, 2026August 16, 2026 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — Chase Briscoe had seemingly done everything right Saturday night at Richmond Raceway, leading laps by the dozens and keeping the rest of the NASCAR Cup Series field at bay at a track that had been one of his tallest hurdles. The few little things that went wrong unraveled in a handful of pivotal green-flag stints.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

His undoing provided an opportunity that Joey Logano pounced on in the late going of Saturday’s Cook Out 400, leaving Briscoe to settle for second place for the third time this season. Briscoe’s Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota led a race-best 171 laps, but he pointed to a late rush by Logano that lifted the three-time champion to his second short-track victory in the last four races and left him disappointed.

“Just have to be perfect for 400 laps,” Briscoe said post-race, “and Joey’s car was odd. It was kind of like mine in a sense, where he had two runs that he was just phenomenal, and then the rest he was just the same as all of us. It was odd from that standpoint, how guys would just be really good one run and then kind of be back to how they were the rest. But yeah, still a solid night. Just rough to be that fast and not get it done.”

Briscoe seemed poised to collect another win late in the regular season, building on the momentum of his victory at Chicagoland Speedway last month. Saturday night’s showing was even more convincing, as Briscoe started second and took firm control as the sun began to set.

Strategies swirled in the final stage, but Briscoe and Logano were roughly adhering to the same game plan. The upper hand, however, went to Logano at a crucial moment.

“Yeah, I thought my car was really, really good and just that second-to-last or before that final pit stop, I just started losing brakes and got really, really loose, and I gave up a three-second lead,” Briscoe said. “If I could have had any buffer at all, I felt like I would have probably won the race just because I definitely was better than him that final run. But just yeah, gave up way too much time that one run, and that was ultimately the difference maker.”

The result still produced marked improvement for Briscoe at Richmond, a venue he’s called “a huge struggle.” Nine previous starts here — eight with Stewart-Haas Racing and one in his debut season last year at JGR — had failed to yield a top-10 finish.

His No. 19 team has had a star-crossed relationship with the 0.75-mile track, especially during Martin Truex Jr.’s tenure with the team. Truex won here three times in the No. 19 Toyota, but his record — and the team’s — also includes a significant share of near-misses, with strong performances that didn’t convert into Victory Lane visits. Saturday night felt like more of the latter.

“I love this place, but lost far many more races here than you know we’ve won, and we’ve won quite a lot,” No. 19 crew chief James Small told NASCAR.com. “So yeah, it’s disappointing. So second, in the scheme of things is a great result, but right now it’s really disappointing because we had the better car and we didn’t win.”

Those results predated Briscoe’s time with the team, but the sentiment was shared.

“I’ve watched Martin obviously lead a ton of laps here, and there’s been times where it’s kind of fell apart at the very end. A little bit of that, I guess,” Briscoe said. “I mean, we didn’t fall apart. We just, honestly, just had one run where we gave up three seconds, and that was the difference maker. So yeah, I think James even said on the radio, if you would have told me going into this week I could run second and top three in both stages, I would have gladly taken it. So, still a lot to be proud of, just … winning is great. To have one be that close and not get it, it’s frustrating.”

Logano was Briscoe’s strongest competition late, but the 31-year-old driver noted that Team Penske’s challenge was organization-wide. Ryan Blaney flexed his strength early from the pole position before fading to 13th place at the end, and teammate Austin Cindric produced a season-best result in third.

Briscoe ultimately tipped his cap to Logano, who has made a habit of second-half surges in seasons past.

“I thought I was in a Penske sandwich there for a lot of the race,” Briscoe said. “I think it was that start of Stage 2, it was literally all four of them, and I was the only one in the top five outside of them. So yeah, I knew that the Penske cars were going to be really, really good all night long, and yeah, it showed. I mean, they were good early in the race, good at the end of the race, and yeah, just typical late-summer Joey Logano just coming up out of nowhere on you. So yeah, just go on to the next one and see what we can do.”

Posted on August 15, 2026August 21, 2026 by Holly Cain

RICHMOND, Va. – Joey Logano issued a not-too-subtle reminder Saturday night that he is a three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and absolutely ready to position himself for yet another title run.

Logano claimed his second win of the 2026 season – in fact, his second victory in the last four races – driving his No. 22 Team Penske Ford to a dramatic 0.392-second win in the Cook Out 400 under the lights in front of an enthusiastic sellout crowd at Richmond Raceway.

The veteran led 95 of the 400 laps and has improved from 20th place to ninth place in the championship standings in just the last six races after the slowest season start in his 39-time race-winning championship career.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

“Don’t let the boys get hot, we’re pretty strong right now,” the 36-year-old Logano said, grinning. “It’s awesome to see the speed in the 22 again. Gosh, it was a great car and we’ve had a great car here in the last five races but weren’t able to capitalize on the win. So close, but sweet redemption today.’’

Logano had to work at it, leading six different times on the night, ultimately taking the point for good during pit stop exchanges with only 25 laps remaining. And even then, he had to hold off what looked like the night’s strongest car, the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driven by Chase Briscoe, whose runner-up showing marked not only his first at the famed 0.75-mile Richmond track, but his first career top 10 in the River City. He led a race-best 171 laps but said an issue with the brakes late in the race may have ultimately hampered his ability to get back by Logano.

“As I lost that [brakes] I just kind of lost my advantage and then I just became not mediocre but not quite as strong as I needed to be to maintain there,’’ said Briscoe, who clinched a position into the 16-driver championship field with his effort Saturday. “Definitely frustrating from that standpoint but still a huge improvement from what I’ve been here, so go on to the next one.”

Logano’s Penske teammate Austin Cindric finished third in the No. 2 Ford, his work having major championship implications. He was strong all evening and that third-place effort moved him up from 16th to 15th in the standings, with the top-16 drivers advancing to settle the 2026 title when the 10-race Chase begins in three weeks at Darlington Raceway.

SHOP: Winner gear

Championship points leader and the Virginia hometown favorite Denny Hamlin was fourth Saturday in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. He now holds a 115-point advantage atop the standings over Richmond polesitter Ryan Blaney, whose No. 12 Team Penske Ford led 88 laps and won Stage 1, but finished 13th.

Chase Elliott finished fifth in the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, notably his first top-10 showing in the last nine races. A two-time winner this season, he formally clinched his Chase position and sits sixth in the standings with two races remaining to set that 16-driver Chase field.

Following the Richmond race, seven drivers have now earned their title shot – Hamlin, Blaney, JGR’s Ty Gibbs, who finished 15th Saturday after an early pit-road penalty, as well as five-race winner, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who finished 11th Saturday night after a disappointing 36th-place showing last week in Iowa.

Briscoe, Elliott and JGR’s Christopher Bell also formally claimed a championship chance, now holding positions fifth through seventh in the standings.

Two-time and reigning series champion Kyle Larson finished sixth Saturday in the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, a position ahead of Bell in the No. 20 JGR Toyota. Wood Brothers Racing’s Josh Berry was eighth, followed by Hendrick teammates William Byron and Alex Bowman.

Only two races – at New Hampshire and Daytona International Speedway – now remain to set that 16-driver Chase field. Larson, Logano, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher, Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar, Byron, Spire’s Daniel Suárez and Reddick’s 23XI Racing teammate Bubba Wallace hold positions eight through 14th now in the standings.

The season’s two-race winner, Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen, claims that pivotal 16th place in the standings. He finished 14th at Richmond and takes a 50-point edge on RFK’s Ryan Preece to next week’s stop in New Hampshire. Ross Chastain is 63 points off his teammate van Gisbergen’s pace.

The run for the title continues as the NASCAR Cup Series heads to New Hampshire Motor Speedway for next Sunday’s Dollar Tree 301 (2 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, PRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney is the defending race winner.

Stage 2 recap

After Team Penske teammate Ryan Blaney took Stage 1, Joey Logano paced the final half of a long Stage 2 at Richmond Raceway to take the green-checkered flag.

Blaney and Logano have combined to lead over 140 of the 230 laps so far in the Cook Out 400.

The lone caution in the stage came out for Zane Smith, who spun out on his own in Turns 1 and 2 before hitting the outside wall at Lap 125. The yellow came out during the green-flag cycle that put the likes of Bubba Wallace and Ty Gibbs on their back foot, and the two Toyota drivers fell off the lead lap at the race break.

Austin Cindric and Daniel Suárez also had an extremely close call on pit road at Lap 180 as the No. 2 Ford came to his stall as the No. 7 exited, but they avoided hitting each other and went about their respective races.

MORE: Full Stage 2 results

Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, Austin Cindric, Blaney, Josh Berry, Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and William Byron scored points in Stage 2.

Only 12 cars were scored on the lead lap at the Lap 230 caution.

Stage 1 recap

Polesitter Ryan Blaney commanded Stage 1 of Saturday evening’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

The No. 12 Team Penske Ford driver led 60 of the 70-lap opening frame at the Virginia short track to nab a series-high sixth stage win of the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Chase Briscoe, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Josh Berry, Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Chase Elliott and William Byron also tallied points in Stage 1. Cindric, who started 23rd, gained a boatload of spots on the opening pit cycle to drive into the top five.

MORE: Full Stage 1 results

Ty Gibbs, who won last Sunday at Iowa Speedway, incurred a speeding penalty during the green-flag pit cycle and finished outside the top 20. Austin Hill also had a pit-road penalty for an uncontrolled tire.

Note: Inspection was completed in the Cup Series garage with no issues, confirming Logano as the Richmond winner. The Nos. 2, 9, 20 and 97 cars will return to the NASCAR R&D Center in Concord, North Carolina, for engine dynamometer testing. Additionally, the Nos. 9 and 20 cars will also undergo a teardown inspection.

Contributing: Staff report

Posted on August 15, 2026August 16, 2026 by Staff Report

The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series head to the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway this weekend for two nights of thrilling short-track racing in Richmond, Virginia. The Cup Series enters the final three-race stretch before The Chase, while the Truck Series returns to action after a three-week hiatus. Bookmark this page and come back often for your race-week essentials — from qualifying orders, practice speeds, pit stalls and more.

NASCAR Cup Series

Race day: Saturday at 7 p.m. ET on USA Network. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Eleven total sets — nine new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. Four wet-weather sets will also be available as needed.

Entry List
Qualifying Order
Practice Results
Practice Lap Averages
Practice Lap Times
Qualifying Results
Pit Stalls
Stage 1 Results
Stage 2 Results
Race Results

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

Race day: Saturday at noon ET on FS2. The categories listed below will be filled out with links as the information becomes available.

Tires: Six total sets — four new sets for the race, one for qualifying, which transfers to the race, and one for practice. Three wet-weather sets will also be available as needed.

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — The complexion of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series postseason picture shifted significantly amid a relatively smooth race, won in dominant style by Kaden Honeycutt. On the Chase bubble, the waters were anything but calm.

Grant Enfinger and Tyler Ankrum were among the postseason hopefuls who navigated the chop with a degree of dexterity in a Saturday matinee at Richmond Raceway, with the Black’s Tire 250 presented by BTS Rewards pushed back from its original Friday night date by storms. Enfinger and his CR7 Motorsports team padded their margin over the Chase cutline, sealing a near-virtual clinch into the 10-driver field with a deft bit of pit-stop strategy and a fifth-place finish. Ankrum and his McAnally-Hilgemann Racing group overcame an early pit-road penalty and wound up 11th, foiled slightly by an ill-timed caution flag in the final stage. His result, though, was enough to provisionally push him into the final Chase spot with one regular-season race remaining.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

Both drivers managed to avoid the pitfall that sank Stewart Friesen, whose tire trouble sent his No. 52 Toyota hard into the Turn 1 wall in the 216th of 250 laps, saddling him with a last-place finish and dropping him from eight points above the elimination line to 20 points below. They’ll settle the final battle for championship eligibility in next Saturday’s regular-season finale at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

Even with a 20-point cushion in his bid to make the postseason for a third straight year, Ankrum wasn’t breathing any easier after Richmond.

“No, there is no relief until you’re done,” Ankrum said, laughing at the notion of bubble safety. “These guys are fierce competitors. I’ve been racing with them for a long time, and especially a guy like Friesen. I know that he wants to prove something. So until the checkered flag falls at New Hampshire, that’s when I’ll go have a cocktail and relax.”

Enfinger appeared to have the strongest bid to play Saturday spoiler, especially on a day when Honeycutt led 225 of 250 laps. The 41-year-old veteran finished third in both stages, stockpiling mid-race points, but crew chief Derek White opted for an alternate strategy in the last stage, running long before bringing the No. 9 Chevrolet in for a final pit stop and holding an extra set of tires as a trump card that other teams lacked.

Enfinger was leading when Friesen crashed, initiating the final pit-stop cycle under yellow. The run-long strategy trapped all but seven other trucks a lap down, and different timing could have stymied more.

“We have all the facts and all the data, and it was a gamble either way, so I just felt like we had to do what we had to do to put ourselves in a position to win,” White told NASCAR.com. “We had 15 laps, if a caution comes out, we trap them a lap down and then we’re sitting really pretty. If we get a caution with 10 to go, we’ve got a set of tires laying, and they don’t. We’re sitting really pretty there, too. So really, just had to try and do something different. We had a good, solid points day through both stages, which was what we needed. So that gave us the opportunity to try something different at that end.”

Enfinger had moved into Chase position four races ago, with a road-course victory at Lime Rock Park. He entered Richmond with a 26-point edge over the cutline, and post-race, he applauded White’s call to mix things up.

“I feel like the odds worked in our favor,” Enfinger said. “I just think that was kind of against the grain, and that took a lot of guts to do. … We’ve played it safe on all the stuff we can to make it through some of these races, so now we’ll start amping it up again for the Chase.”

Added White: “I think if I had to sit back and Monday morning quarterback and do it all over, I’d do the same thing again. So just super blessed and super fortunate for that.”

Ankrum’s day hit an early hitch when his crew bounded over the wall too soon on a pit stop during the Stage 1 intermission. The penalty knocked him back to 18th place, ground that he eventually regained with a charge back up to the fringes of the top five.

MORE: Craftsman Truck Series standings

Ankrum pitted just six laps before Friesen’s misfortune jumbled the strategy hopper, catching him one lap down in 15th. Post-race, he lamented the tough bounce over his No. 18 Chevrolet’s team radio.

“I felt like our second stage was our strongest, but man, I’ve come here so many times to Richmond, and just that green-flag cycle’s gotten me,” Ankrum said, “and we felt we felt like we were going to be smart this year and wait for the caution to fall because we know it was going to come. It’s come for the past three or four years, and it just came later than we expected. So one of these days, we’ll catch a break.

“Today is a huge improvement on the year in terms of our performance. Honestly, I felt like that was probably the best Richmond truck I’ve had in a long time, but yeah, just you need a little bit of luck to go your way, need to make a little bit of your own luck to go along with it, and you’ll keep on having days like we had today.”

Posted on August 15, 2026August 15, 2026 by Holly Cain

RICHMOND, Va. — It’s been the ultimate celebratory week for Tricon Garage driver Kaden Honeycutt, who absolutely dominated the weather-delayed Black’s Tire 250 presented by BTS Rewards NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway Saturday afternoon – the strong winning effort coming only days after the 23-year-old Texan announced he and his wife, Jessica, were expecting their first child.

Honeycutt led 225 of the 250 laps at the 0.75-mile track—the most laps he’s ever led in a single race — surpassing his 59 laps out front at Darlington Raceway earlier this year and more laps led than in all his 75 previous series races combined. And for the first time in his career, he swept both stage wins as well.

Ultimately, Honeycutt’s No. 11 Tricon Garage Toyota crossed the line a healthy 1.313 seconds ahead of his teammate, reigning series champion Corey Heim in the team’s No. 5 Toyota Tundra. After a series of late-race pit stops, Honeycutt reclaimed the lead with 29 laps remaining and never looked back.

RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Richmond

His strong day broke a long-tenured Richmond race pattern where the driver who leads the most laps does not typically win the race. Honeycutt was strong early and often … at one point holding the lead position for a 195-lap stretch.

This marks his second career win and second of the season and trims Saturday’s 15th-place finisher, Front Row Motorsports driver Layne Riggs’ championship lead to 61 points heading into the regular-season finale next week at New Hampshire.

The victory is also significant for Honeycutt’s veteran crew chief Scott Zippadelli, who now claims 38 career series victories, second all-time to Eric Phillips 44-trophy haul.

“Man, we never give up,’’ Honeycutt said. “We’ve had a rough last couple weeks and just wondered what the heck was going on. We’re not a seventh-place, 10th-place team and it’s all thanks to [crew chief] Scott Zippadelli and everyone on this 11 team.

“We just stay on it. We don’t give up and I just can’t thank everyone enough. What a dominant day. I’ve never been able to do something like that before, so really good confidence for me, and hopefully we can go to Loudon and do the same thing next week. Just really cool.’’

McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes was third in the No. 91 Chevrolet with first-time series pole-winner, New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, finishing fourth in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet in what will be a Saturday doubleheader as he competes Saturday night at Richmond in the NASCAR Cup Series race. Grant Enfinger, who led 22 laps on the day in the No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet, rounded out the top five.

As so often happens, the Richmond race proved to have a significant impact on the championship standings.

Tyler Ankrum — who came into the race ranked 11th, one position outside the Chase 10-driver championship-eligible field — was dealt a penalty for his No. 18 McAnnally-Hilgemann team having too many men over the pit wall on the opening pit stop of the race. After collecting stage points with an eighth-place finish in the first stage, he started the next stage as the last truck on the lead lap.

Ankrum overcame the situation a mere 20 laps into the run, however, quickly repassing his primary foe, Stewart Friesen (who came into the race 10th in points), before moving to an 11th-place finish in Stage 2 and, ultimately, the race.

Friesen brought out the third and final caution flag, crashing by himself with 33 laps remaining and triggering an impactful twist in the standings. Ankrum’s steady work and Friesen’s misfortune (he finished last in the 37-car field) moved Ankrum into that all-important 10th position in the standings.

He’s now 20 points up on Friesen and 21 points over Saturday’s sixth-place finisher, ThorSport Racing’s Jake Garcia, as the series heads into the regular-season finale next week at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Those three drivers contending for that final Chase transfer position have only four previous starts among them at New Hampshire. Friesen has competed in two races there; his best work was a fifth-place finish back in 2017. He was injured and did not race last fall. Ankrum and Garcia did race, finishing 11th and 16th respectively, in their only series starts at the New England oval.

ThorSport’s Ty Majeski also survived a hectic afternoon, the former Richmond winner officially locking into The Chase even after going down two laps with tire trouble early in the day. He finished 19th a lap down, but his perseverance on a challenging day was enough to secure his position in The Chase.

Garcia and Front Row Motorsports’ Chandler Smith were sixth and seventh, with Spire Motorsports’ 16-year-old Tristan McKee earning an impressive eighth-place finish in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series debut. Tricon’s Gio Ruggiero and McAnally-Hilgemann’s Daniel Hemric rounded out the top 10 Saturday. Virginian Elliott Sadler, in the free agent Kaulig Racing Ram, finished 32nd.

The regular-season finale is set for next Saturday with the Team EJP 175 (1:30 p.m. ET, FS1, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. The 2025 series champion Heim won last year’s race from pole position.

NOTE: Post-race inspection was completed without issue in the Craftsman Truck Series garage, confirming Kaden Honeycutt as the winner.

Posted on August 15, 2026August 15, 2026 by Zack Albert

RICHMOND, Va. — It’s been quite the divided season for Kyle Larson.

The California native has savored plenty of sprint-car success this year, with six victories in the High Limit Series he co-owns and another barnstorming triumph just two days ago on a qualifying night at the prestigious Knoxville Nationals. Larson’s take so far in the NASCAR Cup Series, where he reigns as defending champion for Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 5 Chevrolet team, is a bare cupboard in the win column.

“I guess it’s probably a funny balance because yeah, I get to go have that thrill and enjoyment of winning on the sprint car stuff, and I think (the crew) get a sense of that themselves just being a part of me, but yeah, I mean we would all love to have some success on the NASCAR side of things,” Larson said Friday post-qualifying at Richmond Raceway. “We’ve just had a rough go here lately, but yeah, you’ve got to just take small victories from each weekend.”

Victories — either small or in any size, shape or form — have been more difficult to come by of late for Larson and the rest of the Hendrick lineup, which hopes to turn things around starting with Saturday’s Cook Out 400 (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Chase Elliott has scored the only two Cup Series wins for the four-car team, and the last of those came in early May at Texas Motor Speedway. Elliott ranks the highest in the Cup standings among his teammates in seventh, with Larson 10th, William Byron 11th and Alex Bowman 29th in an injury-shortened season.

Of Hendrick’s top three, Larson’s slump might be the most pronounced, especially when overlaid against his collection of 26 wins in his five previous seasons with the Rick Hendrick-owned team. A crash at Iowa Speedway last weekend handed Larson his fourth finish of 33rd or worse in the last five races, and his winless streak stretches to May 2025 at Kansas — 47 starts ago. He’ll start an uncharacteristic 30th in Saturday’s 400-lapper after a season-low qualifying effort, but Elliott was quick to say that Larson’s struggles are not uniquely his own.

“I mean, I don’t think he’s alone in a lot of that,” Elliott said. “It’s not like we’ve been lighting the world on fire either, you know what I mean? I don’t think it’s fair to single him out on that. We’ve all been working really hard to be better.”

Byron’s performance contrasts also stand out. The two-time Daytona 500 winner was leading the Cup Series standings at this time last year, with seven stage wins in the bank compared to his three this season. His average starting spot has also tapered off, from the 9.9 that tied for the series’ best last season to the 15.9 clip that he holds in 2026.

The lack of wins, Byron says, ranks as the biggest factor in the decline from year to year. This time last season, Byron had two wins already, and he’d add a third for the 2025 campaign at Martinsville in the fall. The 10-race Chase looms next month, however, and he views it as a crossroads opportunity.

“Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that the Chase is going to be kind of the master reset, even though there is still an advantage to the guys that have had a good regular season, I think there still is a master reset there,” Byron says. “The difference in first and 10th (in the Chase) is not as big as what it is now, so I think there’s a chance that you can close that gap pretty quickly with a win, and then it’s kind of anyone’s game.”

As reflected in the Cup Series standings, the regular season so far has been dominated by five Toyota teams — all four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers and the 23XI entry of Tyler Reddick — and the flourishing Ford driven by Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney. Hendrick’s foursome might be unaccustomed to being shut out of that top six, but Larson says fortunes can change. The sport’s history has shown it, and Hendrick has been known for making things click.

“I mean, just really to just get some solid runs in again, get that momentum built back up in these next few,” Larson says when asked what might give him more assurance to close out the season. “I think we all are not naive enough to think that we could be as good or better than Toyotas in the next three weeks, but we weren’t as good as them last year, and we won the championship and would have won it in this format. So we could still do it. Just got to get a little bit better grip and speed, and I think our execution is there. So yeah, I might not seem confident; none of us might seem confident as far as winning a championship, but there is still that confidence in there because you race for Hendrick Motorsports, and you know at any point we can turn it around. So just got to be ready for whenever that day comes.”

Posted on August 14, 2026August 15, 2026 by Zack Albert

Track: Richmond Raceway
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Track length: 0.75 miles
When: 7 p.m. ET
Where to tune in: USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
Race purse: $11,233,037
Race distance: 400 laps | 300 miles
Stages: 70 | 230 | 400
Saturday’s starting lineup | Pit-stall assignments

Pressure points build at Richmond as regular season winds down

RICHMOND, Va. — Richmond Raceway’s second date of the season has long been laden with pressure and implications, back to the days when “Rock and Roll” was part of the race name. Next year, the 0.75-mile track will set the tone for the 10-race postseason as the Chase opener. This year, Richmond sits squarely in the late going of the regular season, when intensity gets the ratchet treatment.

The jockeying for Chase spots continues in earnest in Saturday night’s Cook Out 400, kicking off a three-race stretch before the 16-driver Chase field is set. Series points leader Denny Hamlin aims to keep his momentum churning at his home track, where he’s scored five of his 64 Cup Series victories and will again be a pre-race favorite.

MORE: Weekend schedule | At-track photos

Further down the list, the subplots are stirring. Team Penske’s Austin Cindric has a provisional hold on the final postseason slot, by just a 29-point margin over RFK Racing’s Ryan Preece — currently slotted as the first driver out. Last weekend’s event at Iowa Speedway left Cindric wanting more after a 29th-place finish trimmed his cushion above the elimination line by nine, and the two drivers in front of him — Shane van Gisbergen and Bubba Wallace — also lost crucial ground in the Hawkeye State.

Cindric — a former winner at Daytona International Speedway, site of the regular-season finale on Aug. 29 — says attention to detail will be crucial for his No. 2 Ford team in the trio of races ahead.

“It’s a position that I would say over the last couple months that we’ve earned one way or the other,” Cindric said. “So I think for us, it’s very important to continue to do each checkpoint of every race weekend, and be able to maximize every session, every call. You know, those are things that are going to be very important when you’re talking about single-digit points making a big difference over the course of three races.”

Behind Preece is a logjam of three drivers within a four-point span — Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain, minus-47 after a rejuvenating Iowa top five; Brad Keselowski, minus-48 and Preece’s teammate/boss at RFK; and Legacy Motor Club’s Erik Jones, minus-50 and staring uphill after an Iowa wipeout.

Keselowski — twice a victor at Richmond in his veteran career — said the formula for flipping his fate isn’t complicated, even while battling his teammate for the last remnants of postseason real estate.

“Yeah, we need to win. That’s what I feel like,” Keselowski said. “We have three races left. We need to win at least one of them. We need to have two good runs outside of that, and you know, the onus is on us to do it.”

Said Preece, who starts sixth Saturday night: “I mean, my entire life’s been pressure when it comes to my career, so it’s no different. Ultimately, I mean, the goal — if we win — that’ll take care of a lot of things. So for me, having good track position to start is going to be important, and then not giving that up throughout the night. We can’t afford to do that. So we need to play offense and look forward and make the 2 (Cindric) and the 97 (van Gisbergen) worry about us and not worry about anybody behind us.”

Van Gisbergen’s case may well be bolstered at Richmond by his growing prowess at short tracks, a development in his growth from road-racing specialist to a more well-rounded NASCAR driver. He made the postseason last year during the “win and you’re in” format era, and he stands to return to the Chase field on overall points under this year’s new procedures.

MORE: Goodyear tire notes: Richmond

Life on the postseason bubble might be new for SVG, but Wallace has been there in multiple years of his Cup Series career. This time around, Wallace says his situation feels distinctly dissimilar from previous go-rounds as he strives to qualify for the field of 16 for the third time in four years.

“No one on our team is happy about being 14th, and we definitely had higher expectations than that coming into the year, but as far as like the stress of ‘here we are again,’ it looks the same, but mentality-wise for me at least, it’s different,” Wallace said. “No stresses. The biggest oddball for us is next weekend at Loudon, just because it’s hit or miss there for us for some reason. So Charles (Denike, crew chief) has had that one circled since January 1. So yeah, if we can get through there, we should be fine. But Richmond’s a really good opportunity for us to continue to go in the upward direction.”

A handful of year-over-year changes have greeted drivers and teams in their Richmond returns — a new tire setup, the 750-horsepower output increase and a new placement for the pit-road commitment line, which moves 75 feet closer to the first timing line at pit entry. Drivers took turns finding the optimal entrance point further down the track during Friday’s sessions, with varying degrees of success.

“Yeah, I took two reps at it in practice, did two completely different approaches, and I know which one I like better,” Chastain said. “I’ll go back and look and see which one was actually faster. Yeah, it’s different. I think it’s a good move. It was, I think, too far back, but they can do whatever they want.”

David Jensen | Getty Images

In the details …

2026 has been the tale of two seasons for Tyler Reddick. The driver of the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota rocketed to a historic start of the year with five wins in the first nine races, but has tapered off through the summer and is crawling his way to the start of The Chase after dropping to fourth in the standings after Iowa last weekend.

With the help of Racing Insights, take a look at how Reddick performed in the first 14 races of the year versus the last nine events:

Category	First 14 races	Last nine races
Poles	3	0
Wins	5	0
Top fives	9	1
Top 10s	11	3
Top 15s	14	3
Avg. start	5.86	11.6
Avg. finish	5.57	24.2
Stage wins	0	1
Laps led	362	75
Lead-lap finishes	14	4

Speed reads

Race-day essentials:

• Richmond hub: Key information, pit stalls, additional results | Read more
• Saturday Setup: See what crew chiefs have in mind in the Commonwealth | Read more
• Pre-Chase trends: Inside Hendrick Motorsports’ on-track slump | Read more
• Paint Scheme Preview: Fresh looks ready to light up Virginia night sky | View gallery
• Hauler Talk: Why getting a top-six seed in The Chase is important | Listen now
• NASCAR Classics: Dig into the video vault for full-race replays from Richmond | Watch now
• Power Rankings: Stuck in slump, will Reddick rebound at Richmond? | This week’s ranks

Posted on August 14, 2026August 21, 2026 by Staff Report

See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers will pit this weekend at Richmond Raceway.

NASCAR Cup Series

NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway on Saturday (7 p.m. ET, USA Network, HBO Max, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Black’s Tire 250 presented by BTS Rewards at Richmond Raceway on Saturday (noon ET, FS2, NASCAR Racing Network Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).