Known as America’s Premier Short Track, Richmond Raceway has played host to NASCAR racing since 1953, when Lee Petty drove a Dodge to victory on what was then a half-mile dirt track located at the Richmond Fairgrounds.
A lot has changed since then, and the track is now a 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval that has played host to more than 100 NASCAR Cup Series races.
Located just outside the Richmond, Virginia, city limits, the track is among the most popular on the NASCAR circuit due to the traditionally tight racing that takes place at the historic facility.
In addition to the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series visit the facility on a regular basis. As if that wasn’t enough, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour also returned to the track in 2021 after a nearly 20-year hiatus.
Below is everything to know about Richmond Raceway.
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 6 Riverhead Raceway Chevrolet, wins the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Richmond Raceway on Sept. 10, 2021. (Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Track
Richmond Raceway
Location
Richmond, Virginia
Opened
1953
Length
0.75 miles
Surface
Asphalt
Originally known as Strawberry Hill due to the farm previously located on the site, what is now known as Richmond Raceway began life as a half-mile dirt track shortly after World War II. The track’s first race was held in 1946, with legendary open-wheel racer Ted Horn the winner.
While the track hosted NASCAR-sanctioned racing in the late 1940s, the first NASCAR Cup Series race at the track didn’t take place until 1953. The series returned to the facility two years later in 1955, and it has been a staple in Richmond, Virginia, ever since.
The track has been through several redesigns, including paving the former dirt track in 1968. The track became a 0.542-mile oval, but prior to the 1988 season, it was reconfigured into the current 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval.
Today, Richmond Raceway continues to welcome the NASCAR Cup Series twice every year. The NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour also regularly visit the historic facility, which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary.
While Lee Petty may have won the inaugural race on the half-mile dirt oval in 1953, countless other NASCAR legends have also visited Victory Lane at the track. They include Speedy Thompson, Richard Petty, Ned Jarrett, David Pearson, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip, Cale Yarborough, Dale Earnhardt, Davey Allison, Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson, just to name a few.
The NASCAR Xfinity Series first visited Richmond Raceway in 1982, when Tommy Houston drove a Pontiac to victory ahead of Bubba Nissen. The track has since hosted the series 75 times.
Terry Labonte holds the distinction of winning the first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Richmond Raceway in 1995. Starting from the pole in a Chevrolet owned by Rick Hendrick, Labonte defeated Geoffrey Bodine by a margin of .006 seconds. After a 15-year break, Richmond Raceway welcomed the Truck Series back in 2020, with Grant Enfinger driving to victory lane in a Ford for ThorSport Racing.
The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour made its debut in Richmond, Virginia, in 1990. Driving a car owned by Curt Chase, Rick Fuller became the first Modified Tour winner in Richmond Raceway history. Legendary drivers like Ted Christopher, Mike Stefanik and Reggie Ruggiero are among the Modified Tour winners at the track.
Below are the all-time results from those series’ visits to Richmond Raceway dating back to the 1950s.
Justin Bonsignore, driver of the No. 51 Coastal Fiber Chevrolet, races during the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Richmond Raceway on Sept. 10, 2021. (Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
For years, Sam Hunt could hear the doubters. They became more frequent as he brought Sam Hunt Racing to the national level of NASCAR, fielding a full-time Xfinity Series team.
Deep down, though, Hunt, 28, knew one day his vision of running a competitive NASCAR team would come to fruition. See, he isn’t a person with millions of dollars behind him, nor is he a businessman who enjoys having fun on the weekends at a race track. Hunt is a racer. He’s someone who used to live in a van outside of Robert Yates’ old engine shop, hoping to one day become relevant in NASCAR.
“I think a lot of people thought it was impossible and that I was wasting my time,” Hunt told NASCAR.com. “When I stuck to what I believed was right and kept surrounding myself with the people I felt were going to lead me to success, that validated everything.”
Last September at Richmond Raceway, Hunt watched the race from the No. 26 pit box, his usual vantage point. For the second time in the 2021 season, winning racer John Hunter Nemechek would pilot a Sam Hunt Racing entry, as he was the first driver in team history to not have a yellow rookie stripe on the back of the No. 26 car.
For Hunt, Richmond is home. After moving to Holland as a toddler, his family returned to the United States in the mid-2000s, settling in the Virginia capital. Richmond is the first NASCAR track he visited.
“That was the first place I ever saw a stock car or saw NASCAR and found out what NASCAR was,” Hunt said, “because overseas, all we knew was Formula 1.”
When attending high school in Richmond, Virginia Commonwealth University – located in downtown Richmond – stood out to Hunt for college. There, he could earn a finance degree while racing out of his small race shop on the side.
In last year’s lone Xfinity Series race at Richmond, Nemechek began the race from 27th. Methodically, the No. 26 Toyota made its way through the field, earning a stage point in the second stage. But in the final stage, when a rash of cautions came late, Nemechek was on old tires, continuing to race inside the top five.
And on what turned out to be the final restart with seven laps remaining, the No. 26 car restarted on the front row.
“You’re never out of it until it’s over,” Nemechek said. “We played our cards right, played the strategy right. It all played to our favor.”
On fresh tires, Justin Haley rocketed from eighth to second, only behind Noah Gragson. But it was Nemechek who finished third, giving Sam Hunt Racing its first top-five finish in team history.
“If we were to have come home top 10, I think they would have been happy,” Nemechek said. “But to come home third, it meant a lot to the team and the organization.”
After the race, fists were pumping and tears were shed on the No. 26 team. Emotion poured out from Hunt’s soul.
That finish confirmed his vision years ago was correct.
“I knew our time would eventually come,” Hunt said. “We just worked too hard, and we’ve got too many great people here for it to never come to fruition. I’ve always had confidence that was going to happen. After seeing how John Hunter performed in our car at Dover, minus the last 30 laps, was really when I realized the caliber of car that we could provide and put on the race track.
“It was mostly emotional for me because the last couple years of my life have been completely wrapped up in trying to make something of myself and this startup company, dating back to when we started with one or two ARCA East cars. It’s just one of those moments that I prayed for years before it ever happened, and to see it come to fruition is reassuring that I was doing things right and I had the right people involved.”
Hunt debuted his Xfinity team with driver Colin Garrett at the 2019 season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, pairing up with Toyota. The team planned to run a good chunk of the 2020 schedule but competed in just nine races due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Before the 2021 season, Hunt prepared for his first season as a full-time car owner, with Toyota backing. From his first conversation with the late J.D. Gibbs years ago, Hunt decided Toyota was the right manufacturer to back his vision.
“From the moment we met Sam, we knew that he was someone we wanted to partner with,” TRD president David Wilson said. “Sam is driven to achieve his goals in NASCAR as one of the youngest team owners in the sport. We are thrilled to see the strides that Sam Hunt Racing has made in such a quick time and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them as they move forward in the sport.”
Over the offseason, Hunt’s team moved to a bigger shop down the street from its old location for more inventory. The team also hired Allen Hart, who hopped over from his role as an engineer with JR Motorsports to crew chief the No. 26 car.
In addition, SHR added veterans Ryan Truex and Jeffrey Earnhardt to its driver lineup, while also bringing in a new face with Derek Griffith, who will make his series debut this weekend at Richmond.
“Having feedback from experienced guys is pretty invaluable,” Hunt said. “It helps us build a notebook and reinforces the confidence we have in the program and validates everything we’re doing.”
At Phoenix Raceway earlier this month, Nemechek led 11 laps while driving the No. 26 car. Those were the first laps Hunt’s team has led. He backed it up with a fifth-place finish, while also earning stage points in both stages.
“It was fairly surreal,” Hunt said. “I didn’t quite comprehend what was going on the first lap up front. But again, just like the Richmond race, you know you’re doing the right things, bringing in the right people where you just have to grow and wait for your time to get here. I think that was a great first step. We finished in the top five and we did it again, but we led a race for the first time to where now the next box to check off is to win a race.”
To some, seeing the No. 26 Toyota win might be a surprise. But taking a deeper look at the owner’s standings, the No. 26 car sits 10th, ahead of cars from Joe Gibbs Racing, Stewart-Haas Racing, Richard Childress Racing and Kaulig Racing.
With five top-15 finishes in seven starts – the team ran two cars at Daytona – it has been a solid kickoff to the season.
“I don’t think it should be super surprising,” Nemechek said. “When you do the math, they should be 15th. Anything above that is a plus for them. If they’re 15th, then that’s great, but they shouldn’t be any lower than 15th or 16th.
“They do bring fast cars to the race track. They’ve had (five) top-15 finishes so far this year, and that’s a big accomplishment for them.”
The team owner can’t pretend to fathom what winning a race would be like. So, for now, he’s aiming to be top 15, like Nemechek said.
“Just move the needle a little bit from last year and be realistic about it at the same time,” Hunt said. “I think winning a race this year would be an incredible accomplishment. It might be a tall order, but we’re not going to rule it out.”
Next up is another return home to Richmond — Saturday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 — and though Griffith will be making his series debut, he’s known to get around short tracks at a rapid pace.
Join Sam Hunt this Saturday as he takes over @NASCARNation and talks about a day in the life of a NASCAR owner.
RFK Racing’s appeal of L2-level penalties assessed after the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be heard April 7.
NASCAR officials confirmed Monday three members from the National Motorsports Appeals Panel are scheduled to meet and consider the appeal a week from Thursday.
Competition officials issued the penalties last Thursday after an inspection at the NASCAR Research & Development Center revealed modifications to a Next Gen-specific body panel on the RFK Racing No. 6 Ford. Officials docked driver Brad Keselowski and the team 100 points in their respective standings, deducted 10 playoff points and issued a $100,000 fine and a four-race suspension to crew chief Matt McCall.
The penalty dropped Keselowski from 16th to 35th in the Cup Series standings. The driver-owner moved up to 34th in the points after Sunday’s 14th-place finish at Circuit of The Americas.
Keselowski told NASCAR.com Saturday at the Austin, Texas, circuit his team was focused on looking ahead, saying in part: “Just try to move forward here.”
NASCAR officials issued penalties to the 23XI Racing No. 23 Toyota team Tuesday after its car lost a wheel during last Sunday’s Cup Series race at Circuit of The Americas.
The violation of Section 10.5.2.6 in the NASCAR Rule Book occurred on Lap 45 out of 69 in the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix, when the left-rear wheel separated from the No. 23 car driven by Bubba Wallace. Tuesday, competition officials handed down four-race suspensions to 23XI racing crew chief Robert “Bootie” Barker and crew members Caleb Dirks (jack) and Adam Riley (rear-tire changer).
No NASCAR driver has ever won the World Series. But Derrike Cope was a potential major league prospect who went on to win NASCAR’s crown jewel, the Daytona 500.
The Spanaway, Washington, native grew up as a baseball standout, so good as a hard-hitting catcher in high school and college (on a full athletic scholarship) that major league scouts — particularly from the Chicago Cubs and Baltimore Orioles — were regularly attending his games.
“I had aspirations to play professional baseball since I was very young,” Cope said. “Really, that’s all I did and patterned my life towards. I felt very close to seeing that come to fruition.”
That all ended in his freshman year at Whitman College when, after retrieving a wild pitch, he attempted to throw the ball to catch a runner at second base. Unfortunately, Cope went one way and his right knee went in the other direction.
End result: torn and severed medial collateral and anterior cruciate ligaments, torn meniscus and surgery where doctors had to cut out part of his hamstring to help stabilize the knee.
“It was a very severe knee injury, a complete blowout, ended all my baseball hopes,” Cope said. “My leg never went straight for the next three years.”
It was time for Plan B, and in a sense, follow a family tradition. His father, Don, was a longtime NHRA drag racer, and with his brothers owned a speed shop in Spanaway where they built race engines for a number of late model and Winston Grand National West stock car teams.
In a way, the younger Cope unknowingly began preparing for what would become a lifetime in racing when his father took the then 14-year-old to his race shop and put him to work grinding camshafts.
“I come from a racing background,” Cope said. “My father and his brothers, they were in the real infancy of drag racing out of San Diego and Southern California in the early days, and building engines for a living. So I was always involved in motorsports, even though I wanted to play baseball and all those things. But my dad was very influential in what I did and my work ethic. He told me to ‘stick to what you know and you’ll always have a job if you can be multi-faceted and well-rounded.’
“I’ve been very fortunate that we feel like that we’ve touched a lot of people and hopefully have aided in their developments over the years, whether they were a driver or somebody that worked for me and when they left there they were more well-rounded.”
Cope’s brother, Darren, was also a budding race car driver at the time, and their cousin, Ernie, raced in NASCAR’s Cup and Busch Series in the 1980s and 1990s before becoming a crew chief. Since 2016, Ernie Cope has served as competition director at JTG Daugherty Racing.
During recovery from his knee injury, Derrike helped his brother with his race car. This led Derrike to trade his baseball glove for a steering wheel, and after a few starts, come to the conclusion that racing would be his new career.
“I started racing a late model, found my calling and it went a long way,” Cope said.
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Indeed, Cope’s calling did go a long way, more than 30 years to be exact. After paying his dues on late model tracks in the Pacific Northwest, and bypassing the Busch Series to go right into the Cup circuit, Cope made his first Cup start in 1982 at Riverside International Raceway, finishing 36th and earning $625.
Eight years later, he’d become a member of one of the most exclusive fraternities in NASCAR when he won the 1990 Daytona 500.
Driving for team owner Bob Whitcomb, Cope, in the No. 10 Purolator Chevrolet, battled Dale Earnhardt for the lead late in the race. On the final lap and while in the lead, Earnhardt ran over some debris heading into Turn 3, cutting down a tire. Cope passed the Intimidator and sailed on across the finish line not only with the biggest win of his career, but also one of the biggest upsets in 500 history. In fact, before that race, Cope had never finished a Cup race higher than sixth place.
The 500 win also produced one of the best one-liners in the history of The Great American Race, when Cope’s crew chief, Buddy Parrot, laughingly told CBS that his driver had a post-race problem: “He don’t know where Victory Lane is.”
Cope eventually found Victory Lane, and 10 races later at Dover Motor Speedway, he’d earn the second and final win of his 428-race Cup career.
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RacingOne
Even though it’s been 32 years since his win at Daytona, at times it feels almost like it was just yesterday for Cope.
“Obviously, winning the Daytona 500 is a life-changing moment,” Cope said. “It’s a moment in time that thrusts you — if you’re relatively in the infancy of your career, as I was at that time — and certainly elevates your notoriety extensively. We did the David Letterman show, The George Michael Sports Machine show, did a lot of things nationwide. You were noticed in the airports and everywhere.
“We won two Cup races, a Busch race, won poles. All in all, I’m very pleased with how things worked out. I mean, I would’ve liked to probably have driven longer, maybe competitively and in a competitive ride than what I had the opportunity to. But we made the most of all the opportunities we had, we had a lot of great people believe in us, like sponsors, and we still maintain a lot of those relationships today.”
And it’s not just relationships within the business. Fans played a major part of Cope’s career, and continue to do so even today.
“It’s very humbling and I’m very appreciative of those times and interactions with the people, I always have been,” Cope said. “I really tried to take a lot of time for people throughout my career.
“Even today, whenever I go somewhere, I’m still recognized by fans. I also get a lot of fan mail, I get letters and cards to sign every day. I’m very pleased that people still think about what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished, and have some sense of connection with me. I treasure that.
“And I think the older you get, the more reflective you become. Obviously, I was fortunate enough to do it for a long period of time and I still have a connection to it. I relish every moment of it.”
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In a sense, Cope has been a Renaissance man throughout his racing career. He drove for a number of legends in the sport, including NASCAR Hall of Famers Bobby Allison, Cale Yarborough and Bud Moore.
He also owned and operated his own teams for several years in both the Cup and Xfinity Series.
He’s done extensive TV work and public speaking, is a scratch golfer, and even sang on a 1997 music CD titled “Lonnie Hillard’s Race Tracks II” with fellow NASCAR drivers Ron Hornaday Jr., Kenny Wallace, Brett and Todd Bodine, and Bobby Allison.
At 62, he qualified for and raced in the 2021 Daytona 500, making him one of the few drivers in NASCAR history to have competed in five different decades. At the end of last season, Cope and wife Elyshia sold their interest in StarCom Racing and are looking at new projects.
“We’ve just been contemplating what do we want to do, what’s next?” Cope said. “At this point in time, it really has been more of a fact-finding mission for us. Do I want to retire, semi-retire, play more golf, go to the beach house, what do we want to do?
“Realistically, I still would like to go to the race track. Both Elyshia (recently started her own business as a certified health coach) and I enjoy being at the race track in some capacity or another. I’ve had a couple things come up about doing some consulting and doing a limited Cup thing and stuff, which may be something that I look at, but I haven’t said yes to doing any of that yet.
“I’ve also been helping my cousin, Nick Tucker, who owns Nitro Motorsports. He has a karting operation and has go-karts for the sons of Kevin Harvick, Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. He also just started a Trans Am TA2 program with some drivers and they’ve already had success there. I’m just trying to maybe help him out there. It’s enjoyable for us, it’s 12 races and we’ve had a really good time so far, so that’s kind of what we’re doing and what I think we’re going to do for this year.”
Even at 63, much like his buddy Morgan Shepherd who raced into his late 70s, Cope isn’t completely ready to hang up his fire suit for good. He’s also eyeing doing a partial race schedule if he can get the right situation and sponsors together.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” said Cope, who lives with his wife north of Charlotte. “I think it’s really kind of something that I still would like to kind of piddle around with.”
And while he isn’t shutting the door totally on an occasional Cup or Xfinity start, Cope is also quite interested in doing other forms of car racing.
“I’ve contemplated maybe getting a Ferrari Challenge car, in addition to doing something with Nick’s TA2 program,” Cope said.
He then added with a laugh about a recent meet-up he had at Sebring International Raceway near Daytona.
“I get to Sebring and Wally Dallenbach (Jr.), (Joe) Nemechek and (Mike) Skinner are all down there, they have their cars and they’re all piddling around. I also talked to Paul Menard about maybe doing a few races in our TA2 car and he was receptive to that.
“We’re just looking at different scenarios. I might drive at Watkins Glen, or maybe some kind of GT Series car, a GT3 or GT4, just something where I could take it to the race track … kind of an arrive and drive kind of thing.
“Sure, we want to be competitive, because we’re always competitive, but it’s more about having something to drive and having some fun. We’re just trying to find our way to the next chapter.”
Jared C. Tilton | Getty Images
The Derrike Cope file:
* Age: 63.
* Hometown: Spanaway, Washington.
* Wife: Elyshia.
* Children: Aislinn, 28, doctor of natural medicine; McKinley, 26, athletic trainer; Zoe, 19, college student, studying to be aesthetician and nurse. Career highlights:
* NASCAR Cup career: 428 races, two wins, six top-five and 32 top-10 finishes. Also one pole. Best season finish: 15th (1995).
* NASCAR Xfinity Series career: 280 races, one win, two top-five and eight top-10 finishes. Also one pole. Best season finish: 20th (2011).
* NASCAR Truck Series career: 15 races, one top-10 finish. Best season finish: never ran a full season in the series.
After a more than month-long break following the opening round of the 2022 season in February, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour kicks back into action Friday night.
This time the Tour invades Richmond Raceway for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150. It’s the second straight season the tour has visited the popular Richmond oval, but this year the event is being held in April instead of September. The Mods race Friday will kick off a weekend of racing that includes the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Saturday and the NASCAR Cup Series on Sunday.
This will mark the 12th time the Modified Tour has invaded the 0.75-mile track, with 2013 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Ryan Preece emerging as the winner last year in the Tour’s return to the track after a nearly 20-year hiatus.
With Preece not competing this year at Richmond, the door is wide open for one of the approximately 30 drivers entered to earn a trip to Victory Lane on one of the Tour’s biggest stages.
Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond Raceway
What to watch for:
A strong entry list featuring an anticipated 30 cars for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 includes some of the top modified drivers in the country, headlined by defending NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Justin Bonsignore.
Bonsignore, back in his familiar No. 51 for team owner Ken Massa, will be looking to get his season pointed in the right direction after a disappointing start at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway. An overheating issue dropped him out of the New Smyrna race after just 32 laps, meaning Bonsignore has a lot of work to do if he hopes to stay in the hunt for his fourth series championship.
Among the most notable entries is Donny Lia, who is making his return to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour for the first time since 2017. Lia will pilot the Ole Blue No. 3 fielded by Boehler Racing Enterprises on Friday in the first of an expected six-race schedule this season.
Jon McKennedy, who finished second last season at Richmond behind Preece, will hope to improve by one position this year. He is in a different car this time around, as the veteran from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, has taken over the No. 79 entry owned by Tim Lepine.
Making his first start of the season with the Tour is 2010 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion Bobby Santos III, who returns to the same No. 44 owned by Lawney Tinio that he drove in four races last year.
Other notable entries include Jimmy Blewett in Tommy Baldwin Jr.’s No. 7 and Max McLaughlin in Mike Curb’s No. 77.
The complete entry list for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 can be found here.
Ryan Preece, driver of the No. 6 Riverhead Raceway Chevrolet, races during the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150 for the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour at Richmond Raceway on Sept. 10, 2021. (Ryan M. Kelly/NASCAR)
Schedule: Garage opens at 8:30 a.m. ET … Final practice from 1 – 2:15 p.m. ET … Single-car qualifying (two laps) at 4:15 p.m. ET … Race at 6:30 p.m. ET
Qualifying: Two consecutive qualifying laps. Faster lap determines qualifying position. Adjustments or repairs may not be made on the vehicle after the vehicle has taken the green flag at the start/finish line. NASCAR reserves the right to have more than one vehicle engage in qualifying runs at the same time. Starting field for the Virginia is for Racing Lovers 150 is limited to 32 starters including Provisional Positions.
Tire allotment: The maximum tire allotment available for this event is fourteen (14) tires per team. All tires used for qualifying and the race must be purchased at the track and scanned by Hoosier, unless otherwise approved in advance by the Series Director. Four (4) tires must be used for qualifying and to begin the race. All qualifying tires must remain in impound until released by NASCAR Officials. The remaining tire allotment may be used for practice and/or change tires during the event. The tire change rule is six (6) tires, any position.
Christopher Bell may not have the results to show for it so far this season, but the early speed is prevalent for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team.
Bell earned a season-best third-place finish at Circuit of The Americas last Sunday. The result added to his road-course résumé, which includes his first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the Daytona International Speedway road course and a second place at Road America. He achieved both results last season.
“I think it all boils down to having really fast race cars to drive,” Bell told NASCAR.com “Being at JGR, their road-course program is very strong. Last week was no exception. We weren’t as strong as what we typically are, but we still have all the resources to go out there and run well. I enjoy it. It’s very difficult and I think that’s what drivers like – to be able to showcase their talent.”
The COTA result didn’t come easy this time around, though. Bell battled steering issues mid-race and narrowly missed Austin Cindric when his No. 2 Team Penske Ford broke loose and spun out.
Bell was convinced the hairy moment with Cindric would result in a crash, but savvy driving helped to avoid disaster.
“I saw Cindric spin and it looked like he was going to keep going to the inside of the track and then I don’t know what happened,” Bell said. “He turned his wheels or something, started backing up. I was already committed to go around the outside of him. Then I basically had to ‘baja’ through the grass off the race track and still make the corner. It was very tough.”
Bell has a top five and two top 10s to his credit this season, finishing 23rd or worse in four of the six races so far this year. His other top-10 result came at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, finishing 10th after starting on the Busch Light Pole. He was set to finish second at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but an out-of-bounds penalty on the final lap dropped him down to the last car on the lead lap, a tumble to the 23rd finishing position.
Coming off a micro sprint victory in his home state of Oklahoma the week leading into COTA, the 27-year-old Toyota protégé isn’t letting a rocky start to 2022 affect the confidence in his team leading into this Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
“I think we have potential to run as good as any of them,” Bell said. “Richmond is one of my best race tracks coming up, so I think we all have high hopes with that.”
With a third- and fourth-place finish in two of his three career Richmond starts in the Cup Series, plus three Xfinity Series victories, Bell hopes to continue the JGR success at the .75-mile Virginia short track.
“I hate to keep harping on it, but it’s just that I have really good race cars to drive there,” Bell said. “Richmond is one of JGR’s best tracks as a company. It’s one that we definitely look forward to coming to year in and year out. Between the Xfinity Series and the Cup Series, it’s a place that’s been really good to me.”
Linda Beard spent most of her 30-year professional life teaching third- and fourth-grade students – eventually becoming an elementary school librarian and even an assistant principal in her Mt. Pleasant, Michigan, hometown.
Race fans, however, know her as a team owner in the premier NASCAR Cup Series – the small, family-owned Beard Motorsports team that most recently, and quite dramatically, made the field for the 2022 Daytona 500 with driver Noah Gragson.
It’s quite the career conglomeration, but Beard would tell you one skillset has helped the other – in ways she would never have anticipated.
“I will tell you this, [teaching] helped me to be able to speak publicly,” Beard said. “Going to the Daytona media center after Noah made the 500 to speak to the reporters – and they wanted me up in front – I’m thinking, ‘OK, I guess I can do this.’
“How many times have I been in front of 35 third-graders or having every class in in the school when I taught library? So I thought, ‘I can do this.’
“I just kind of get my stories going. I believe everybody has a story. And we have a story. We aren’t any more special than anybody else there, we just are there because we really want to be there. It’s a little different for us maybe compared to the charter teams. But we just really like what we’re doing and I think we do pretty darn good.”
Beard’s team was unquestionably the Cinderella story of this year’s Daytona 500 – with the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship contender Gragson earning a spot on the grid for the sport’s biggest event by being the top qualifier among teams without a chartered starting position. The qualifying showing was so good, Gragson didn’t even have to “race his way in” into the Daytona 500 in the Blue Green Vacation 150 Duel, a scenario that ended the team’s 500 bid a year ago.
That afforded the team a big exhale – a chance to fully prepare for the race – since it does not have a series charter and automatic race entry. And it gave Gragson a high-profile opportunity to make his debut in the most celebrated event in his sport.
It was a big moment for the 23-year-old Gragson as he moves up the career ladder. And it was an emotional time for Beard and her family-owned team, making their first Daytona 500 start since the family patriarch, her husband Mark, passed away in January 2021. The team did not qualify for the Daytona 500 in 2021, the month after Beard’s passing, so this year’s big achievement was a watershed moment; a huge tribute to Beard and confirmation that this tight-knit family team could carry on with Linda’s leadership.
Image courtesy of Beard Motorsports
“We just kind of decided this was something that we didn’t have to do, but we wanted to do it,” Beard said. “It was something we just felt inside, and I did especially, that I wanted to continue.
“My husband had given us this love of going racing and doing what we did for so many years of our lives and it kind of sticks with you. So, you just kind of like it and then it becomes more. You love it. And it’s hard to give it up.
“I think the main part was just carrying on what my husband Mark had started, just to see what we could do with it,” Beard continued. “When he was in charge, I didn’t worry about it because I knew he could make the decisions. Then all of sudden now, I’m making some of those decisions. So that makes it a little bit harder, but it makes it more rewarding.
“This 500 was pretty special. To make the 500 again. And to do it with Noah. That meant a lot to us.”
The team’s 2021 attempt was a significant moment in the sport as well. Beard was the only woman team owner in NASCAR’s premier series at the time. In February 2022, Jessica McLeod was designated CEO and co-owner of BJ McLeod Motorsports.
Of course, it was never Beard’s vision to be in this position – racing was a partnership venture with her husband of 43 years. Her first exposure to the racing came on dates with him before they got married. But she soon fell in love with the sport as well.
“Would I have ever imagined I’d be doing this? No,” she said. “When Mark started doing this I looked at myself down on the grid with all those people and thought, ‘is this really happening?’ It didn’t bother him at all. He was confident about the whole thing. I’m just like, in awe and so thrilled to be there. And that’s what happens every time I go on the grid and I do this. I’m just very thankful to be there and have that experience.”
Gragson shared that sentiment. Hand-picked by the Beard Motorsports’ former driver and popular veteran Brendan Gaughan to take over the driver’s seat of the No. 62 Beard Oil Motorsports Chevrolet, the 23-year old Gragson couldn’t be more appreciative of the opportunity he got to drive. He ran among the top 15 after starting 39th this February but was involved in a late-race, multi-car accident.
“After what happened in 2021 with the passing of Mr. Beard and not making the race, it was really challenging for that family,” said Gragson, who currently leads the NASCAR Xfinity Series championship standings.
“They made a big financial commitment to run the Next Gen car with only one employee. So it was really, really special to be able to race up against teams that had 400 or 600 employees, teams like that.
“I think they were really excited. You could tell the emotion and excitement. My focus was to execute and do the best job possible for them with the opportunity they gave me. I hope I made them proud. And I hope for the opportunity again.”
That’s certainly the plan for Gragson, who follows an impressive on-track record set by Gaughan, a fellow Las Vegas native, who competed in four Daytona 500s for the team and has the best Beard Motorsports finish of seventh place there in 2020.
“I love the people that buck trends,” Gaughan said. “I come from Las Vegas and I did not come the traditional way to NASCAR. I think I spent most of my career trying to buck trends and the Beard Motorsports team is that way. And the fact you have an extremely strong-willed woman at the head of this thing, who became the head of it in a very unfortunate situation, the fact she was able to take that, run with it and continue to focus, continue to keep everybody working in the same direction and she is going to do it her way. I love her for that.
“I think it is amazing and I think NASCAR should be applauding how this team even competes.”
The only full-time employee at Beard Motorsports is crew chief Darren Shaw, who Beard is quick to praise: “He’s just such an important part of this team, he does so much for us.”
And his hard work at the team’s Charlotte shop means Gragson will have another chance to race the sentimental favorite team forward – April 24 at the GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.
There is no lack of optimism and confidence. This team is motivated by Mark Beard’s dreams and sustained by Linda Beard’s can-do spirit – a shining example of perseverance on many levels.
“I think it definitely can be [an example],” Beard acknowledged of her place in the sport.
“And if that motivates someone else, I’m really happy about that. If they want to look at me and say, ‘maybe I could do that too.’ That would be a great thing. But for me to put myself out there above anybody else, that’s just not me. I don’t do that.
“I’m just here because I love to be here. I want to be here. And we have this passion to do it.”
Naima Lang has won a lot of races at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, through the years.
However, his victory Saturday night on the opening day of 2022 NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series competition at the track holds a special place in his heart.
“I’ve won a lot of big races, but that one right there is probably one of the races that I actually really, really needed,” Lang told NASCAR.com. “Just for my wife, my family and my crew.”
Saturday’s 75-lap race was not the richest race he has ever won, nor was it the six-time Evergreen Speedway track champion’s most prestigious victory. So what made Lang’s trip to Victory Lane so special?
In order to answer that, we have to start on Oct. 3, 2021, when Lang’s life and racing career flashed before his eyes.
Naima Lang following his victory in the NASCAR Pro Late Model division Saturday night at Evergreen Speedway. (Photo courtesy of Evergreen Speedway)
Competing in the Fall Classic at Tri-City Raceway at RMEC in West Richland, Washington, the 52-year-old veteran racer was involved in a violent crash that destroyed his race car and left him seriously injured.
“I haven’t watched any film, and I haven’t seen any pictures,” Lang said when recalling the crash. “I think there were tires issues. They were losing grip. It was a pretty abrasive race track. Three laps before the wreck I came on the radio I told them, ‘I’ve got no control over this race car. This thing is sliding everywhere.’
“Next thing I know I went into the corner, I tagged a lap guy and that sent me straight up into the wall. Where they had the wall was kind of way off the race track so there was a lot of time there before I hit the wall. I don’t remember very much after that. I remember all the pain I was in.”
Lang had to be extricated from his car due to the injuries he suffered, which included a compound fracture to his lower left leg as well as several bruised and cracked ribs. The injuries left him confined to a bed for several months while his body healed.
The driver from Snohomish, Washington, who also owns Lang Autosports in Lynnwood, Washington, admitted he thought his racing days were over.
“I was in a medical bed,” Lang recalled. “We rented one for the house. I was in that thing, and I couldn’t move, and I couldn’t get up. I thought for sure I would never get in a race car again. That was the last thing I thought of.
“I’m an active person. I don’t like sitting down for nothing. So it was really tough mentally for me to get through all that. Thankfully I’ve got close friends and my wife and family that helped me through it.”
As the days and weeks went by, Lang slowly began to recover. It took a few months, but eventually, Lang left the medical bed behind and started to return to his normal life.
Still, it took some time for him to decide if he was going to get back in a race car.
In the end, it was Lang’s desire to go out on his own terms that ultimately motivated him to return to racing after the crash.
“I had over Christmas and January to really think about it,” Lang said. “That’s all I do, just go out in my shop and work on race cars or cars in general. I didn’t want to quit under that circumstance. I wanted to quit on my own, retire on my own. I don’t want to have that and say that’s my last race. I’m too hardheaded.”
Once it was decided Lang was going to return to racing, he had to figure out what car he was going to drive. With his primary race car destroyed and sitting at a friend’s shop, Lang found himself in need of a car to drive.
Luckily there was a car available; the car normally driven by his son, Tyson, the 2020 Evergreen Speedway NASCAR Pro Late Model champion. Tyson Lang recently put his racing career on hold in order to focus on playing quarterback for the University of Washington.
“He put racing on hold until further notice,” Lang said. “That’s the car I’ve been running, which actually belongs to Ron Fritzley of J&R Truck Rentals. We had bought that car for him because he came up racing youth hornets and stuff.”
Lang was nervous before he got in his race car for the first practice of the day Saturday at Evergreen.
So nervous, in fact, that his hands were shaking.
“I was really timid in the first practice. I didn’t want to get anywhere near the wall. It took awhile to get back into my groove,” Lang said. “My hands were actually shaking before I got in for that first practice. It was all mental that I had to fight through.”
By the time the green flag waved for the 75-lap NASCAR Pro Late Model main event later that evening, Lang had mostly worked the nerves out of his system.
His goal entering the day was simply to find his groove again, get comfortable in the race car, be competitive and finish the race.
He ultimately exceeded his own expectations.
After starting seventh, Lang raced his way to the lead with 54 laps left. Contact with the second-place car of Dawson Cox cost him the lead with 42 laps remaining, but Lang later regained the lead during a restart with 30 laps left and held on to win the race.
“I didn’t think I was ever going to race again,” Lang said. “To have that win, it just brought a lot of emotions to the top. It was a surreal moment to actually win the race.
“We couldn’t have finished in any better way.”
Lang plans to continue racing at Evergreen, where he is the defending NASCAR Pro Late Model track champion, as long as he’s having fun. He’ll quit when he is ready, and he’ll do it on his own terms.
“I have no real plans. As long as we’re still having fun, we’ll go racing,” Lang said.
A strong 
