A familiar feeling of pragmatic frustration is following Denny Hamlin back to his home state for the Toyota Owners 400.
Hamlin returns to his hometown track in search of his first win this year and first win at Richmond Raceway since 2016. And he does so amidst one of the worst stretches of his career.
With an 18th-place finish at Circuit of The Americas last weekend, Hamlin has zero top-10 finishes through six starts – the second-longest top-10 drought of his 18-year Cup Series career – and is buried at 22nd in the NASCAR Cup Series standings.
The finishes are frustrating, Hamlin said after a 29th-place finish in the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 two weeks ago, but everything else has been great.
Sound familiar?
The Chesterfield County, Virginia, native led 207 laps in the Toyota Owners 400 last year before surrendering the lead to eventual winner Alex Bowman shortly after a restart with 12 laps remaining. It was Hamlin’s fourth top-five finish at Richmond since winning the Federated Auto Parts 400 in late 2016 and eighth in nine races to open the 2021 season.
“Yeah, we should have won,” Hamlin said after the race. “Certainly the 48 (Bowman) wasn’t better than us all day. Just got to lead the last lap. You’ve got to figure out how to lead the last lap, that’s pretty much all that matters.”
Five months later, in the Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders, it happened again; Hamlin finished second despite leading 197 laps, giving him 2,108 career laps led at Richmond, the most among active Cup Series drivers. And, again, Hamlin was frustrated at the finish. Not how he and his crew navigated the 0.75-mile short track.
In his 31st career Cup Series at Richmond, Hamlin is listed among the favorites in NASCAR odds at the BetMGM online sportsbook. He’s also facing Joey Logano in one of BetMGM’s featured matchups for the Toyota Owners 400 (odds as of Wednesday):
Denny Hamlin (-110) vs. Joey Logano (-110)
Logano, tied with Hamlin for the fourth-best race-winner odds (+1000), left Richmond last April with similar frustration; he finished third in the first two stages and was side-by-side with Hamlin at the late restart before finishing third.
In 25 career starts at Richmond, Logano ranks fifth among active drivers in wins (two), average finish (10.24) and top-10 finishes (15). And only Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. have a better driver rating than Logano (110.1) at the track since 2019.
The public is buying Hamlin in this head-to-head matchup; he has 97% of the tickets and 95% of the handle against Logano.
Tyler Reddick (-110) vs. Ross Chastain (-110)
Two of the track’s least-experienced drivers will command a lot of attention this weekend.
Tyler Reddick’s strong start to the season continued last Sunday in Austin, Texas, as he drove the BetMGM-sponsored No. 8 Chevy to eighth place, his third top-10 finish in the last four races. But his widely anticipated breakthrough win was swiped by Ross Chastain, whose first career NASCAR Cup Series victory came in his 121st start.
Reddick has a marginally higher ticket and handle share for race-winner betting – 3.8% of tickets and 4.8% of the handle to Chastain’s 3.3% and 2.8% – but Chastain is dominating the featured matchup betting. As of Wednesday, he has 92% of the tickets and 96% of the handle against Reddick.
Kyle Larson (-115) vs. Martin Truex Jr. (-105)
Richmond might be Hamlin’s hometown track, but it’s currently owned by Martin Truex Jr.
Truex has dominated the D-shaped, asphalt track recently, posting a driver rating of 128.3 while winning three of the last five races. He leads all drivers in average finish, top-five finishes, laps led and just about everything else at Richmond since 2019.
And the money is on Truex over Kyle Larson on Sunday; Truex has only 33% of the tickets but 78% of the handle in the head-to-head matchup.
Kyle Busch (-150) vs. Alex Bowman (+125)
Kyle Busch is a decade removed from the most dominant run Richmond has ever seen – four straight wins from 2009-12 – but just four years removed from his fifth win. And he’s sitting among the favorites this weekend, tied with Truex for second-best race-winner odds at +900.
To tie Richard Petty for most wins in this event, he must, at minimum, finish ahead of the defending victor, Bowman, whose 2021 victory came after years of struggles at the track.
With 13.5% of the race-winner handle at +1800 odds, Bowman is BetMGM’s biggest liability at Richmond. Larson (+900, up from +1000 at open) is the only other driver with a handle share (11.4%) north of 9%.
And Bowman is a popular pick against Busch in the featured matchup; he has 75% of tickets and 98% of the handle.
When Rajah Caruth makes his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut in Saturday’s ToyotaCare 250 at Richmond Raceway, his blossoming racing career will have come full circle.
Richmond was the track where the Washington, D.C., native attended his first NASCAR race, an Xfinity Series event in 2014. A then-12-year-old Caruth decided that day he would make motorsports his life’s work.
In 2022, now 19, Caruth returns to the famed 0.75-mile oval as a competitor. He does so just a few years after driving a race car for the first time.
Caruth, the 2021 Wendell Scott Trailblazer Award recipient as a result of his accomplishments last year in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series, races full-time in the ARCA Menards Series for Rev Racing. His Xfinity Series debut arrives with Alpha Prime Racing, a new team founded earlier this year by NASCAR veterans Caesar Bacarella and Tommy Joe Martins. Caruth, their first driver signee, is slated for six Xfinity Series races in 2022.
Caruth’s remarkably rapid ascent to this level technically began in 2019, his first year competing in Legends Cars at Charlotte Motor Speedway as part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity Development program. But Caruth’s journey can be tracked back to an earlier date, before real-life racing and even before the online simulation racing that put him on the motorsports map.
Below are the notable moments on Caruth’s racing timeline, and his recollection of each as explained to NASCAR.com.
Rajah Caruth poses for a portrait before the the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 17, 2021. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Rajah Caruth’s racing timeline
2014: A 12-year-old Caruth attends a NASCAR race for the first time, the Virginia 529 College Savings 250 for what was then the NASCAR Nationwide Series at Richmond Raceway.
Rajah’s recollection: “I was a die-hard (NASCAR fan) before then, but I think that race, seeing everything, it emphasized it. As a kid, you don’t think about having to have a job. Sometimes you know what you want to do, but you don’t understand you’ve got to work. From day forward, it was like, ‘OK, this is what I want my life’s work to be.’ I still obviously wanted to be a race-car driver. But that day, it was like, ‘OK, this is my purpose.'”
2018: Caruth races professionally (online) for the first time in the eNASCAR Ignite Series; he finishes 20th in points.
Rajah’s recollection: “That summer, I had gotten on iRacing on June 11, on my 16th birthday. The Ignite Series started on the 18th. And those first two weeks I wasn’t that good, but I spent more and more time on it and got better and better. And actually, during that summer, I not only had my second-ever summer job, but I also had track practice three times a week. Work every day, track three times a week. When I wasn’t doing those things, I was on my rig. I say rig, but it was literally a wheel on the desk with my laptop.”
2019: Having signed with Rev Racing as the first NASCAR Drive for Diversity Development driver with a majority iRacing background, Caruth competes in a real race car for the first time; he finishes 13th racing Legends Cars in the Bojangles’ Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Rajah’s recollection: “It was just hard. I didn’t know what to expect. I had only been on iRacing for one year. I was very inexperienced, so I had no clue what was going on. I was pretty hard on myself. I expected myself to go out and win, but realistically that wasn’t going to happen. It was hard, but things started clicking kind of a year later.”
Rajah Caruth (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
November 2019: Caruth is selected to race a Late Model in 2020 for Rev Racing in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
Rajah’s recollection: “I was actually going to my school’s girl’s soccer championship against our rival school. We were taking the Metro train to their campus to go and watch. I got the text that was like, ‘Hey, you got picked for a Late Model program.’ I was awestruck. In addition, that night, my parents took me out to dinner to tell me the news, as well. It was all kind of at once. It was awesome. So surreal, to be honest with you.”
Sept. 4. 2020: Caruth drives from eighth to second in the “Prelude To The Southern 500” 100-lap Late Model Stock car race at South Carolina’s Florence Motor Speedway, a moment he considers a turning point in his career.
Rajah’s recollection: “The night before, my teammate, Perry Patino, gave me this pep talk, like, ‘Man, you have what it takes.’ I was just like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ Didn’t give it any merit. Then I pass all my teammates and go and try to run down (leader) Sam Yarbrough, who had won the last race ever at Myrtle Beach the weekend before that. That race was an eye-opener for me, because I really questioned myself, and then I go and run pretty decently. It was surreal, because I was just like, ‘Wow, how did that just happen?’ And so there was that race when things started clicking. Later that summer, that’s when the racing stuff really started to kick in for me as a driver. From that point onward, I haven’t really sucked.”
Oct. 3, 2020: Caruth wins his first Late Model race, at South Carolina’s Greenville-Pickens Speedway as part of the Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
Rajah’s recollection: “Honestly, I really wish I remembered more. I was so caught up in it, I didn’t really take a chance to sit and enjoy it. It was a very fun day — I remember that. But I don’t remember too much of it, to be honest with you.”
2021: Caruth runs full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East for Rev Racing and places third in final standings on the strength of two top fives and five top 10s in eight starts. He also picks up a pair of NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series wins in a Late Model at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway, plus a victory at Tri-County Motor Speedway in Hudson, North Carolina.
Rajah’s recollection: “Last year was big. It helped me with confidence getting those Late Model wins — legit wins. Going to the ARCA stuff, I was hoping I would win one race, but to finish third a couple times and run up front, you can’t really asked for more. So to be honest it was just a big year, a big development year. I wanted to win an ARCA race so bad. But I understand you have to run up front to finish up front. It takes seat time and being able to adapt and comprehend. That was a big learning year.”
Oct. 2, 2021: Caruth finishes third in the Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Indiana’s Salem Speedway, his career high in the national touring series.
Rajah’s recollection: “That was a struggle in practice. I was last out of the competitive cars. It was miserable. I was like, ‘What am I doing?’ And my teammate (Nick Sanchez) goes out and qualifies third. I was like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’ I just felt terrible. But in the race, sure enough, I drive all the way up to third, almost got to second on (series champion) Ty (Gibbs), but then he cleared me off of four. I finished third, but at that moment, I was like, ‘I have what it takes.'”
2022: Caruth gets his opportunity to compete in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with startup team Alpha Prime Racing.
Rajah’s recollection: “We’ve been working on this probably since last July. At that point, I was just looking for opportunities to race, because the ARCA races were so spread out, and everybody I was racing against were racing either Xfinity cars, Trucks, Super Late Models or Late Model Stocks. Or even Trans-Am stuff. And I was just kind of sitting for weeks. So the opportunity kind of presented itself. Brad Perez is the one who really started that relationship for real between (team co-owner) Tommy (Joe Martins) and me. We actually made a group text. Brad helped connect us, and it kind of went from there.”
The first road-course race for the Next Gen car delivered as drivers took to the Circuit of The Americas this weekend and battled it out all the way to the last lap. Ross Chastain prevailed after impacts with AJ Allmendinger and Alex Bowman in the closing laps.
Chastain was on his way to his first Cup Series win, so it was understandable he wanted to take the last few turns in a very careful manner. He might have been too careful as Allmendinger and Bowman were able to reach him in an overtime restart, tracked down by multiple Chevrolets that showed similar speed. But even though there was some light carnage, Chastain was able to make it through and get his car over the finish line and to a burnout.
As we discussed Saturday, the chassis and body of the Next Gen car are showing significant durability when it comes to beating and banging in a race, and the fact Chastain was able to bounce off another car and still charge across the finish line further drives that point home. Not only was that car able to finish the race and win, but it is already being converted back to oval spec and will race at Talladega Superspeedway, according to a recent report from Charlotte Observer journalist Alex Andrejev.
This all fits in line with the ease of conversion from oval to road-course spec and back, and the fact the Next Gen car does that change with nuts and bolts, where a previous-generation car may have required specialized cars for each type of track due to certain components being welded on.
Dylan Buell | Getty Images
Some competitors weren’t quite as fortunate when it came to their impacts in the race. Road-course specialist Andy Lally make an early exit after an impact to his No. 78 Ford from the No. 6 Ford piloted by Brad Keselowski. The impact to the rear of Lally’s Live Fast Motorsports entry caused a broken control arm that ultimately resulted in a retirement as that’s not a component that is easily replaceable on pit road.
The No. 78 Ford had to start at the rear of the field and complete a pass-through penalty at the beginning of the race due to three inspection failures, and Lally’s plan — as he shared with us on Twitter Spaces on Sunday morning — was to fight to keep the car on the lead lap while attempting to avoid damage riding at the back of the field until the end of the race. Unfortunately chaos ensued all down the line, and his day was finished quickly. Lally approached the race not only as an opportunity for him, but an opportunity to help a team like Live Fast as he stated he wanted to “try to collect as much data as possible, and since you know you’re not a full-time driver, you really aren’t that concerned about stage wins and stuff, and trying to get in there and possibly damage the car. But race finishes (are) probably going to be pretty significant, so I can see that that whole perspective of trying to to save things and find out what works.”
NASCAR Rule Book
Lally shared his post-race experience on Racing Spaces on Tuesday, stating those three inspection failures on the No. 78 were the result of a deck lid that was not in compliance with the measurements set out in the rulebook as checked by the Optical Scanning System (OSS). The composite decklid reportedly had a bow to it, which resulted in one portion of it being outside of the lines. Crew members worked to heat and reshape the decklid back to spec, but it took them multiple tries to get there and pass. While larger teams might have multiple options for decklids they can swap to quickly, up-and-coming teams such as Live Fast Motorsports may not be as fortunate and the decklid they were using was actually one that was formerly used on a test car by a larger Cup organization they made to work on their car.
While the Next Gen car brings a lot of parity to the field, failures like this will still be common for smaller teams that may not have resources, such as multiple versions of a body part or an in-house OSS to check various parts combinations. In this case, it was not a team chasing performance but merely one trying to make use of the parts they have available to them and being just outside of the tolerance. On the other hand, technical inspectors apply the rules equally to everyone, and parts such as the decklid receive close scrutiny because they are one of the components teams try to shift around slightly to find the best benefit from an aerodynamic perspective.
NASCAR Rule Book
While the Next Gen car has been extremely durable from a body and chassis perspective and teams have been able to reuse cars from multiple races, that broken control arm does highlight a pain point that has been echoed by many in the garage regarding some of the suspension components. According to sources in the Cup Series garage, seeing bent or broken control arms is an issue that has popped up for a few cars after contact during some of these races, and teams have shared their feedback regarding these components in search of improvements. While the control arms are not causing huge issues, the suspension components that have been the largest issue have been the rear toe links, which as we saw Sunday with the No. 22 of Joey Logano, are vulnerable to bend or break upon impact.
The design of components such as these toe links is often a balance of durability of the specific components versus potential damage to the rest of the car, so they are often designed for a certain strength in order to absorb impact without damaging bigger components that may be attached. Finding that balance is key, and in this case, it’s something that has been up for discussion between teams and NASCAR officials, according to reports from recent competition meeting notes.
While it may seem a lot has not changed, the Next Gen car has been under a continuous improvement process, and parts such as these are constantly evaluated so that improvements can be made. According to the latest version of the Engineering Change Log for the car, more than a dozen enhancements have been made since the start of the season, so it is likely different variants of toe links are currently being simulated and we might see some testing of that in the future.
NASCAR Rule Book
The front toe links on the car are a bit thicker than what we see in the rear, and according to reports from the garage, one of the sets that is currently being evaluated would have the rears matched in thickness to the front. Those front toe links are connected to the new rack-and-pinion steering, which saw its points-race debut at a road course this weekend and some of the biggest action that those components have seen.
Drivers seemed to be pleased with the crispness of the steering at COTA from the new system, but a few did run into trouble, with drivers such as Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez losing power steering for portions of the race. Both drivers were able to finish the race but not in an optimal position. According to reports from the garage, most of the steering issues sounded like they were fairly minor and likely related to the stresses of a road course on the rack and likely can be resolved before the next road-course race with some adjustments in how the racks and their components are secured.
NASCAR Rule Book
While COTA was a tough test for these Next Gen cars, they continued to prove to be durable from an overall perspective and surely generated plenty of data for the industry to use to make improvements before the next road-course race and to make the car better overall. Changes such as that rack-and-pinion steering and the independent rear suspension really shined through at this circuit as the cars showed a lot of speed, but without losing their stock-car attitude — a huge part of what makes road-course racing in NASCAR so entertaining.
Check out the qualifying order for Saturday’s on-track action at Richmond Raceway (11:15 a.m. ET on FS1) before Sunday’s Toyota Owner’s 400 (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio).
On most ovals this season, teams will be split into two groups based on odd/even finishing order from the week’s previous race for one warmup/practice session per group. This week’s practice session will be 15 minutes.
That practice will lead directly into single-car, two-lap qualifying that is split up into two groups. The top five drivers from each group will then advance to the second round of qualifying to fight for the pole with another single-car, two-lap run.
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.
A strong 