Looks like we got a good old-fashioned donnybrook on our hands under the Saturday night lights in the final race before the chase.
There’s drama aplenty as Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers race to get into the chase, and everyone from Carl Edwards to Matt Kenseth works to defend their position. The good news for these guys is that though you have the short track feel here, it’s not as cramped as it is at a track like Bristol, with a little more room for side-by-side racing.
According to the Nielsen ratings, the television numbers have been up for NASCAR Cup racing for four races in a row. With all that’s on the line in this event, I expect ,ore of the same.
TRACK FACTS
April 19, 1953 marked the NASCAR Grand National debut of Richmond
International Raceway as a half-mile dirt track. Lee Petty won the first race in a Petty Enterprises Dodge with an average speed of 45.535 (!) miles per hour.
Richmond measures 3/4 of a mile in length. There’s 14-degrees banking in the turns, 8 on the back stretch and 2 on the front stretch. The front stretch is 1,290 feet in length and 860 is the length of the back stretch.
The grandstands at Richmond hold a capacity of 112,029 people.
TOP PERFORMERS
Last spring, Kyle Busch raced from 14th to 1st to win his third race of the season. Jimmie Johnson won the race here a year ago.
“The King”, Richard Petty, holds the record for wins at RIR with 13. Four active drivers have won three times at Richmond- Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and 2-time champion Terry Labonte.
Richard Petty and arch-rival Bobby Allison each have 8 pole awards here. Jeff Gordon leads active drivers with five.
Brian Vickers set the qualifying record in his HMS days. He clocked a lap of 20.772 seconds at an average speed of 129.983 seconds. Vickers also took the pole in the spring race of 2009.
While racing for Robert Yates, Dale Jarrett set a race record with an average speed of 109.047 miles per hour. He accomplished the feat in 2 hours, 45 minutes and 4 seconds.
The record for lead changes is 25, accomplished on two occasions, the most recent being the March 3, 1996 Pontiac 400 won by Jeff Gordon. Seven times there have been only two lead changes, the most recent of those the February 23, 1975 Richmond 500 won by Richard Petty. And the racing was better then? I’m just saying….
Twice there have been a record 15 caution flags flown at Richmond. The most recent came here on May 2, 2009. In spite of the reputation short tracks have for contact, there were NO cautions in the March 7, 1976 Richmond 400 won by Dave Marcis.
Last fall, every driver who started the race finished it. On April 19, 1953, winner Lee Petty was the last man standing at race’s finish. What would have happened if he didn’t finish?
WHERE TO HEAR AND SEE THE RACE
Green flag for the Chevy Rock ‘n’ Roll 400 will wave at 7:43 PM Eastern, 4:43 PM Pacific. NASCAR Countdown kicks off at 7:00 PM Eastern, 4:00 PM Pacific on ABC-TV.
SPEED’s pre-race coverage starts at 5:00 PM Eastern, 2:00 PM Pacific with John Roberts, Jimmy Spencer and “The Hermanator” Kenny Wallace.
The race will be covered on ABC-TV. Dale Jarrett, Andy Petree and Dr. Jerry Punch handle the trackside call. Reports from the pits will be handled by Dave Burns, Shannon Spake, Jamie Little and Vince Welch. Allen Bestwick, Rusty Wallace, Brad Daugherty and Tim Brewer are your studio hosts.
You can even hear the race on radio with Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
WHO’S GONNA WIN
There’s a lot riding on this race. That’s the understatement of the day with so many chase positions up for grabs, not to mention the drivers for rides in 2010.
How will these drivers race? Have they unloaded cars that will give them the leg up to compete and achieve their objectives? Some of it may depend on whether or not you’re a “chaser” (already in the top 12) or a “crasher” (as in a party crasher- trying to break the top 12).
Juan Pablo Montoya topped the speed chart late in Happy Hour. He’s joined in
the top ten by fellow chasers Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin. Drivers who are a bit more secure such as Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin also registered good practice laps- which puts them in good stead for Saturday night.
In first practice, chasers Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle and Kyle Busch all made top 10. In fact, Biffle was second behind “Front Row” Joe Nemechek.
Crashers Brian Vickers and Kyle Busch weren’t as fortunate. Vickers placed 21st in final practice and Busch was 31st.
There’ll be a mixture of controlled aggressiveness among the chasers, along with a more conservative “keep it off the walls” approach. It won’t be a walk in the park, between the differing corners and all the other competitors with differing agendas.
Drivers safely in the chase like Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson and Denny Hamlin all bear watching. The first two aforementioned drivers would no doubt like to rebound after a couple of bum races. As for Hamlin, he’s come so close at what could be called his home track so many times, only to come up short. The flatter track seems to suit his style and he’s been hotter than a black leather seat in July.
The crashers absolutely need a good finish. There’s nothing like winning to get the maximum points to give yourself the feeling you took your best swing at it. Kyle Busch has history on his side at Richmond, something Brian Vickers does not have. The likes of Martin, Biffle and Kenseth have only slightly less pressure on them, but I suspect where Kenseth and Martin are concerned they’ll take the conservative approach that has served them well for the most part, unless opportunity knocks. For Biffle, he’s a more assertive sort and the good news for him is his car looks ready to cooperate.
Just about any of the top 17 drivers, plus guys like Dale Earnhardt Jr. are all capable of winning a race at RIR. The question is one of how the cards will deal out and how the teams fare on pit road. One can see from the practice speeds, there is very little separating the top from the bottom, so more variables will come into play.
I’ve really got my eye on two guys to win this race- but for different reasons .Ironically, both are teammates.
I’m talking about Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin.
Busch will run well because he has to. He’s also got recent history on his side. Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle have been just shaky enough that a door could open and he has to be in a position to run through it. He’s quite capable.
Hamlin is in an entirely different boat. He’s safely close to the front of the points pack and he can just race for bonus points. Richmond is just one of those places where Denny grooves, and Saturday night should be no different. There’s really nothing for him to save, and being close to home works for him as a more emotional driver.
There’ll be a lot of competitors to challenge him, but at the end of the day, Denny Hamlin is red hot and rollin’, and he’s my pick to win at Richmond.
PHOTO CREDITS- Richmond International at night by Philthy Dog. To see more, visit flickr.com or click on the link. Kyle Busch by Rusty Jarrett, courtsey of Getty Images. JP Montoya racing by Jamie Squire for Getty Images. Denny Hamlin photo by Sam Greenwood for NASCAR.
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