Toyota Owners 400 Tag

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Penalties, penalties, and more penalties. Over the course of the last week, the NASCAR airwaves have been ablaze with penalty talk, with a stem of appeals being heard and the results that came afterwards only fanning the flames. Hendrick Motorsports was the first to have their appeal heard for a penalty dating back to Phoenix in which the team was alleged to have modified the hood louvers on their four team cars, which went against the rule the sanctioning body put in place for messing withRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor Jeff Gordon believes Hendrick Motorsports has reaped the benefits of a Cup Series caliber backup in Josh Berry over the past month. Sure, it’s easy to say that now given that Berry finished second to teammate Kyle Larson in the Cup Series race at Richmond on Sunday but it would have been easy to pump the brakes on that narrative in the middle of the race when he got spun in traffic due to contact from Ryan Blaney. Berry, the current Xfinity Series championship contender andRead More

By Matt Weaver, Special Contributor For all the accolades and success Kyle Larson has enjoyed over the past several seasons, even someone considered to be a generational racing talent occasionally watches himself on YouTube just to remember happier times. “I was watching just flipping through old YouTube videos this week of my 2021 season so I could remind myself that I used to be good,” Larson said in a familiar self-deprecating way in the media center following his victory on Sunday in the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. … butRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service With the benefit of a fast final pit stop, Kyle Larson was able to put his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet out front at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and then hold off the field in the last 25 laps of Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 to earn his first NASCAR Cup Series victory of the 2023 season. The 30-year old Californian had to out-duel his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Josh Berry on a pair of re-starts in the closing laps to secure the win at the firstRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Following a marathon Sunday at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the short tracks starting with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Though the track has lost some of its luster in recentRead More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Since his last win in the NASCAR Cup Series back in September 2020, Kevin Harvick has had a handful of chances to break his winless streak only to fall short and Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway was another one of those occasions. After starting the day in seventh place, Harvick was a constant fixture in the top-10 throughout the 400-lap duration of the Toyota Owners 400. Harvick would pilot his No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing to a 10th place finish in the first stage and a seventh-placeRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 will be remembered as the one that got away for William Byron. After owning the competition throughout Stage 3, Byron led 122 of 400 laps. However, the No. 24 Chevrolet began regressing once the race reached its final 15 laps. That’s when the long-time veterans hunted the 24-year-old down with Martin Truex, Jr. being the first one attempting to conquer him. Once Truex began cutting the gap, both Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick also took a crack at Byron’s race lead.Read More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service Perhaps there was no better place for Denny Hamlin to finally notch his first win of 2022. Much to the pleasure of the fans at Richmond Raceway, the hometown favorite from Chesterfield, Virginia took the lead of the Toyota Owners 400 from William Byron with five laps remaining and held off the field for a .552-second victory over Kevin Harvick and Byron. It was amazingly Hamlin’s first top 10 of the 2022 season, though it marked his fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory at theRead More

By Holly Cain, NASCAR Wire Service For the second consecutive race and third time of the seven-race old season, Penske Racing’s Ryan Blaney will start from the Busch Light Pole – earning the top position Saturday in qualifying for Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Blaney’s No. 12 Penske Racing Racing Ford Mustang turned in a lap of 119.782 mph to take the top position by only .20 over William Byron in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Blaney – who,Read More

By David Morgan, Associate Editor Fresh off a thrilling race at the Circuit of the Americas and the road course debut of the Next Gen car, the NASCAR Cup Series heads back to the short tracks starting with Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway. Often described as the perfectly designed race track by drivers, the 0.75-mile track lends itself to not only short track characteristics of beating and banging, but also the characteristics of a larger track with the side-by-side racing that will take place throughout the event. Richmond kicksRead More