Toyota Owners 400 Tag

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor For Roush-Fenway Racing, 2017 has been a year of resurgence after a poor outing last season led to off-season restructuring for the team. Leading the charge thus far for the team’s return to relevance has been Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and Sunday’s race at Richmond was just another example of how far the team has come in so little time. After qualifying fourth, Stenhouse was strong early in the going in the 400-lap event as he held steadfast in the top-five, but contact with the TurnRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor Joe Gibbs Racing has had their hands full this season as they still search for their first win as an organization, but Richmond International Raceway looked like it would be the place for one of their drivers to finally break through, given that the team had won the three previous races at the track heading into Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400. Leading the JGR charge through the weekend was the elder statesman for the team, Matt Kenseth, who blazed his way to the pole on FridayRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer The Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway was a mixed bag for the 2017 Sunoco Rookie of the Year (ROTY) contenders in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. All of the rookies have had previous experience at Richmond in other NASCAR Series. Two of the ROTY contenders ran relatively well, others fell short. Daniel Suarez had the best starting position of the five rookies, placing his No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry 11th on the starting grid. Early in the final stage, Suarez nearly hitRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – Matt Kenseth won’t have to come from the middle of nowhere, as he did last Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he started 22nd, charged toward the front in the closing laps and finished fourth. Quite the contrary. In Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 (on FOX at 2 p.m. ET) at Richmond International Raceway, Kenseth will lead the field to the green flag in the ninth Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race of the season after winning the pole during Friday’s knockoutRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Editor After a rain delayed race at Bristol Motor Speedway last weekend produced one of the best races of the season, the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series packs up and heads to another short track, the third in the last four races, with Sunday’s running of the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International 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 aRead More

By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief After a spectacular afternoon at Richmond International Raceway, it was a Carl Edwards shove to move teammate Kyle Busch out of the way en route to claim his second consecutive victory of the season. Without any further delay, here are my takeaways from Sunday’s Sprint Cup Series race at the short track oval. 1) Back to Sunday’s a win for NASCAR For the first time in nearly two decades NASCAR returned to a daytime spring race (last year’s race was run on Sunday due to aRead More

By Seth Eggert, NASCAR Writer Kasey Kahne earned his first top five of the season at Richmond International Raceway. This was also Kahne’s first top five finish since the 2015 Kansas Chase race, 14 races ago. This is only the fourth top five for Kahne since he won at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Labor Day Weekend in 2014. In the weekend’s two practice sessions, Kahne was eighth and second fastest. The move from night to day, combined with the 2016 aero-package seemed to be a perfect match for the HendrickRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service RICHMOND, Va. – The honeymoon at Joe Gibbs Racing may be over. Yes, on Sunday at Richmond International Raceway, Carl Edwards won his second straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race in the Toyota Owners 400 and the fourth in a row for JGR, but he did so with a last-lap bump-and-run on teammate Kyle Busch, who was seeking his third victory in four events. “We did everything right – be smart,” Busch was told on his radio, after Edwards moved the No. 18 ToyotaRead More

By Toby Christie, NASCAR Editor Dale Earnhardt Jr. had a great race Sunday in the Toyota Owner’s 400 at Richmond International Raceway, unfortunately it won’t be remembered that way after he finished an unimpressive 13th. Earnhardt, who was looking for a weekend sweep after winning the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, started the day from the 16th position, and for the first half of the race he looked to have a 12th-place car. However, as the race got into the closing stages Earnhardt and his crew chief Greg Ives keptRead More

By David Morgan, NASCAR Writer There must be something in the water in Virginia. Just like Martinsville three weeks ago, the five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series rookies all struggled at some point in Sunday’s Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond. With the spring Richmond race reverting to a day race for the first time since 1997, the bright sunshine beating down on the 0.75 mile short track created handling difficulties for all of those in the field, rookies and veterans alike. Falling a lap down early with an ill-handling car, ChaseRead More