Richmond International Raceway Tag

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief One of the big topics heading into this weekend’s event at Richmond International Raceway is NASCAR’s lenient stance on lugnuts tightened during a pitstop, and Kurt Busch believes the time to change that stance is sooner rather than later. NASCAR has taken a ‘less policed’ approach recently, believing that the teams should have the freedom to decide on whether or not to tighten all five lugnuts during a pitstop, a decision far different than in years past when anything less than five would lead to aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief Ryan Blaney is off to a solid rookie season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, already scoring two top-10’s in the opening eight races. However, there is one thing missing for the 22-year-old this season and that has been the chance to race against Tony Stewart. Although Blaney competed against Stewart for several races prior to his official rookie year in 2016, there has been no opportunity this year due to Stewart’s injury that was sustained prior to the start of the season. That all changesRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Erik Jones checked off an entire laundry list of accomplishments last Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway. One, he won the first-ever Heat in a NASCAR XFINITY Series Dash 4 Cash race. Two, he captured the checkered flag in the Fitzgerald Glider Kits 300, defeating 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Kyle Busch in the process. Three, he earned the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash bonus as the highest finisher among NASCAR XFINITY Series regulars who were eligible for the Dash 4 Cash. And four, he clinched theRead More

By NASCAR Wire Service Since 2000, only two drivers have produced five top-10 finishes through the first eight races of their Sunoco Rookie of the Year seasons. One is six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson. The second, current first-year sensation Chase Elliott. Elliott will try to keep pace with Johnson’s mark when he goes for his sixth top 10-showing of the season in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway (1 p.m. ET on FOX). “Richmond has been a special place for me,” Elliott said. “We hadRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer After missing the first eight races of the season following an off-season back injury in which he suffered a burst fracture of the L1 vertebra, Tony Stewart and Stewart-Haas Racing announced on Thursday that Stewart will be back behind the wheel of his No. 14 Chevrolet this weekend in Richmond for the Toyota Owners 400. “As soon as the doctors said they were happy with my scans, I wasn’t going to wait any longer to get back in my racecar,” said Stewart. “I want toRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer As the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond International Raceway this weekend for the Toyota Owners 400, we’ll take a step back in time in this week’s edition of “Throwback Thursday Theater” to look back at one of the most memorable races to ever take place at Richmond, the 1986 Miller High Life 400. Throughout the 1980’s, the feud between Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip continued to grow and by the time the series made their visit to Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway for the secondRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer For Virginia native Denny Hamlin, a trip to Richmond is like coming home. Hamlin grew up in Chesterfield, Virginia, less than 25 miles from Richmond International Raceway, and has taken to his hometown track like a duck to water. Despite early season success of winning the Daytona 500 and two additional top-five finishes in the first five races of 2016, Hamlin and his No. 11 team have been struggling through the month of April, having yet to score a finish higher than 12th in theRead More

RICHMOND, Va. – Joe Gibbs Racing brought guns to a knife fight on Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway. But JGR’s Matt Kenseth did his teammates one better — he brought a howitzer. Leading 352 of 400 laps in a race he owned from the outset, Kenseth pulled away from Kyle Busch after a restart with 18 laps left and won the Federated Auto Parts 400 by .951 seconds over his teammate. Kenseth’s fourth victory of the season, tying him for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series lead with Jimmie JohnsonRead More

RICHMOND, Va. – Reigning NASCAR XFINITY Series champion Chase Elliott was first off pit road under caution on Lap 218 of 250 and held the top spot the rest of the way in breaking a 39-race winless streak on Friday night at Richmond International Raceway. Elliott’s victory in the Virginia529 College Savings 250 trimmed his deficit to 21 points behind series leader Chris Buescher, who finished 10th. Elliott’s first victory of the season was also the first in 24 races for an XFINITY Series regular at RIR. “We always wantRead More

Joe Gibbs Racing announced Wednesday that Denny Hamlin tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee, but is expected to race the remainder of the season and postpone the surgery until after the season finale in Homestead. Hamlin suffered the injury playing basketball Tuesday night, with confirmation coming following an MRI Wednesday morning. The 34-year-old previously tore his ACL in his left knee January 2010, also while playing basketball. The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series heads to Richmond this weekend for the final race before the Chase for theRead More