Tag: Richmond Raceway

Wallace sees upcoming NASCAR races as a chance for a season reset

Bubba Wallace is as aware as anyone in the Toyota Racing camp that the stretch of races in the NASCAR Cup Series lays out perfectly over the next month. Given that, the agenda is simple: don’t fumble. “We’re all hyper-sensitive about where we’re …

Bubba Wallace is as aware as anyone in the Toyota Racing camp that the stretch of races in the NASCAR Cup Series lays out perfectly over the next month.

Given that, the agenda is simple: don’t fumble.

“We’re all hyper-sensitive about where we’re at,” Wallace said at Richmond Raceway about his 23XI Racing team.

Richmond’s Toyota Owners 400 (Sunday, 7 p.m. ET, FOX) is the first stop where a Toyota driver has pulled into victory lane in five of the last 10 races. Wallace led 80 laps at Richmond Raceway in the summer race last season.

Sitting 18th in the championship standings, Wallace has two top-10 finishes with 21 laps led. He’s earned just 12 stage points. The sluggish start Wallace, crew chief Bootie Barker and the No. 23 team have had is another reason the stretch ahead sets up well and is all the more critical.

“After race four, we were having a come-to-Jesus meeting,” Wallace said. “I don’t care that it’s early (in the year). It’s the same start that I’ve always had, and I said I didn’t want that. So, we’re looking to turn it around.”

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Wallace initiated the meeting. The season had started with back-to-back fifth-place finishes before a stuck lug nut in Las Vegas cost Wallace multiple laps and resulted in a 35th-place finish. It was a 16th-place result at Phoenix Raceway. A flat tire cost the team at Bristol Motor Speedway (29th).

“We had two, three races where stuff would happen, and we’re finishing last or wherever,” Wallace said. “So, we have to get our stuff together. I just set the tone (with the meeting).”

Martinsville Speedway (April 7), Texas Motor Speedway (April 14), Talladega Superspeedway (April 21), Dover Motor Speedway (April 28), and Kansas Speedway (May 5) take the series toward summer. Wallace won the pole, led 111 laps, and finished third at Texas last season. It was a race that got away when Wallace gave up control on a late-race restart. He is a former winner at Talladega and Kansas.

There has been a mix of races through the first six races. Wallace for a stretch of oval racing.

“I’m excited,” he said. “We’ll be good.”

It starts with Richmond, where Wallace qualified fifth.

“Denny [Hamlin] said the next five weeks there is no reason why Toyota shouldn’t be in victory lane, so make sure it’s one of ours,” Wallace said. “So that’s enough motivation to go out and get the job done. We learned a lot here in the fall; got behind on a little bit of strategy, but I think it’s a new opportunity for us.

“We’re really invested (in) what we need to do for this weekend.”

Larson tops Richmond Cup practice

Kyle Larson was fastest in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond Raceway with a lap of 121.836mph (22.161s). Joey Logano was second fastest at 121.490mph and Chris Buescher was third fastest at 121.463mph. John Hunter Nemechek was fourth …

Kyle Larson was fastest in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series practice at Richmond Raceway with a lap of 121.836mph (22.161s).

Joey Logano was second fastest at 121.490mph and Chris Buescher was third fastest at 121.463mph. John Hunter Nemechek was fourth fastest at 121.403mph and Alex Bowman completed the top five at 121.354mph.

Larson is the defending winner of the spring Richmond race. Buescher won the summer race.

Ty Gibbs was sixth fastest at 121.277mph, Ryan Blaney was seventh fastest at 121.207mph, and Josh Berry was eighth fastest at 120.849mph. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was ninth fastest at 120.530mph and Justin Haley rounded out the top 10 in practice at 120.417mph.

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Cup Series championship points leader Martin Truex Jr. was 21st fastest. Truex’s lap was 118.499mph.

Ty Dillon, making his return to the Cup Series with Kaulig Racing, was 35th fastest in practice at 117.683mph. Ross Chastain was last at 116.646mph.

There were no incidents in practice. Thirty-six drivers are entered in the Toyota Owners 400.

Ryan Blaney was fastest in the best 10 consecutive lap average. It was Blaney over Alex Bowman, Joey Logano, Chris Buescher, and Kyle Larson.

Nitrocross going back to its roots with new round at Richmond

Nitrocross’ announcement that it will start its 2024-25 season at Richmond Raceway is one that takes the series back to its origins. Before Nitrocross there was Global Rallycross, which – between 2011-17 – raced at a number of NASCAR facilities, …

Nitrocross’ announcement that it will start its 2024-25 season at Richmond Raceway is one that takes the series back to its origins.

Before Nitrocross there was Global Rallycross, which – between 2011-17 – raced at a number of NASCAR facilities, including Charlotte, New Hampshire, Bristol, Texas, Atlanta and Daytona. Until now, Nitrocross hadn’t followed the same path, instead largely adopting rallycross and off-road facilities.

Speaking of the decision to add Richmond to its roster of events, Nitrocross general manager Chip Pankow said that the venue’s existing infrastructure, along with NASCAR’s market-leading position in U.S. motorsport, made it an attractive proposition.

“NASCAR has been a mainstay in American racing, and as a part of that, they’ve built amazing facilities,” he said. “One of the things we have with Nitrocross is we don’t lock ourselves into any particular formula of track. Here [in Phoenix] we’re on mostly dirt, we’ll race on snow and ice, and Travis [Pastrana] and I traveled to a NASCAR race and we started looking around and [realized] this could be a really really cool event.

Pastrana wheeling his Global Rallycross Dodge around Charlotte Motor Speedway in 2012. Stellantis Media

“So you take all of that infrastructure that’s there, and we think we can take a really really great race to the fans. That’s the most important thing — to have a great fan experience.”

The Richmond event will also serve as something of a home race for Nitrocross pioneer and occasional NASCAR racer Travis Pastrana, who hails from Maryland.

“For me, Richmond was always one of the tracks we went to as kids, as a family – usually Dover and Richmond were the two closest to the house,” he said. “It’s so cool to be back on the East Coast. We always want to do something north east, everything from Charlotte on up, and we’ve had some good rallycross races in past series up in the northeast. Really excited to go back there, excited to bring all of my family – my dad doesn’t go anywhere he can’t ride his Harley to so it’s going to be good to get him to one of these.”

The agreement with Richmond is a multi-year deal. The track itself is only expected to take 10-12 days to build, and will be a balanced mix of loose and sealed surfaces, according to Pankow.

“We’ve gotten very efficient at building these tracks, so that’s going to be probably a 10-12 day build,” he said. “Richmond has so many great resources and assets already there. We’re going to bring some dirt into the facility – we like that hybrid dirt and pavement – but when we’re done with that one it will probably come out to being about a 50-50 dirt/pavement mix. Just because of where everything is at Richmond, it lays out very well; it really lends itself to one of our tracks.”

Nitrocross heading to Richmond to kick off 2024-25 season

Nitrocross revealed its schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will start at Richmond Raceway, a new venue for the series. The Richmond opener will be held on September 7-8 and will be the series’ first event in the eastern United States since the …

Nitrocross revealed its schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will start at Richmond Raceway, a new venue for the series.

The Richmond opener will be held on September 7-8 and will be the series’ first event in the eastern United States since the 2022 event at ERX Motor Park in Minnesota. A month later, the series returns to its home at Utah Motorsports Campus. The 2024 leg of the season will conclude at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park – currently hosting this weekend’s races – before Glen Helen Raceway in California picks things up in the new year.

The series’ annual trip north of the border to Calgary will take place at the start of February and is the only non-doubleheader round, with the entire championship concluding in Las Vegas at the start of March.

Of the six events on the schedule, five will be at locations previously visited, including Las Vegas, which debuts later this season. Richmond will be the only new addition.

“We go back to events that we think work; we go back to events that we like,” said Nitrocross general manager Chip Pankow. “More than that, it’s also a little bit of payback for the fans. It’s those fans that believed in us when we first started, and as new things come into town, they put their hard-earned money down and they bought a ticket and we want to reward that, so growing events is really important to us.”

Changes to returning tracks are anticipated.

“The tracks are the one thing I want to continually make better and better,” said Travis Pastrana, series pioneer and mind behind venue selection. “Every time we go out there we learn what doesn’t work and what works well.

“This is a sport built by the drivers, for the drivers, and at the end of the day we’re going to push the limits, we’re going to push the boundaries and as the drivers evolve and the cars evolve, we’re going to continually make it more and more challenging. It’s like motocross back in the 1970s didn’t have any jumps, and you look at Supercross now with whoops and jumps and it’s a lot more technical, but the riders have evolved, the machinery has evolved.

“We’re going to continually take this series and the vehicles in this series to the absolute limit of what we can and we’re going to continually fix the areas that cause too much conflict, but we’ve got to keep it challenging and interesting as well.”

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Pankow added: “That’s the beauty of not having a set formula. We can do that and we continue to refine and make better. If somebody has a great idea and we think it can work, we’re willing to try it.”

He also confirmed that the agreement with Richmond Raceway is a multi-year deal: “All of our agreements are long-term agreements. We’re not looking to go anywhere and do a one-and-done. If it works, we’ll keep coming back.”

A notable absence, however, is that of Jay, Oklahoma. The 2023-24 season began at the Visions Off-Road festival on an all-new, purpose-built track lauded by fans and drivers alike. While it will not feature next season, Pankow hasn’t ruled out it being on future schedules.

“We feel it’s one of the most amazing tracks out there. We’re looking at a lot of different ways to go back to Oklahoma,” he said. “Travis built a track there that the world has never seen anything like, and maybe it wasn’t quite ready for it. But again, it’s just like everything we’re doing – with continual refinements and everything, I think there’s a future there.”

There will also be no rounds outside North America for the second consecutive season. Nitrocross raced in the UK and Sweden in 2022-23, and had planned to go to Finland and Saudi Arabia as well, but facility and logistical issues derailed those plans. The series has since chosen to consolidate and build upon its strong U.S. foundations, although it is leaving the door open for future international rounds.

“We took the decision to come to the U.S., really strengthen the series, get the formula down right, have big crowds here, [and] get the tracks exactly how we like them,” said Pankow. “Once we do that and we’re in that position and things are growing – and we’re in the midst of it now – we’re willing to take a look at anything and go anywhere as long as it makes sense for the series. Right now, no concrete plans, but we’re always looking.

2024-25 Nitrocross schedule

Rd. 1 & 2 – September 7-8, 2024: Richmond Raceway (Richmond, Virginia)

Rd. 3 & 4 – October 4-5, 2024: Utah Motorsports Campus (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Rd 5 & 6 – November 15-16, 2024: Wild Horse Pass Motorsport Park (Phoenix, Arizona)

Rd. 7 & 8 – January 11-12, 2025: Glen Helen Raceway (Los Angeles, California)

Rd. 9 – January 31-February 1, 2025: Calgary Stampede Park (Calgary, Alberta)

Rd. 10 & 11 – February 28 – March 1, 2025: Las Vegas Strip (Las Vegas, Nevada)

Hail Mary falls short for Hamlin

Denny Hamlin took his shot, but didn’t execute when given the chance to battle Chris Buescher for the race win Sunday afternoon at Richmond Raceway. Hamlin admitted he went for the Hail Mary in Turn 1 on the final restart to try and overtake …

Denny Hamlin took his shot, but didn’t execute when given the chance to battle Chris Buescher for the race win Sunday afternoon at Richmond Raceway.

Hamlin admitted he went for the Hail Mary in Turn 1 on the final restart to try and overtake Buescher. It was all Hamlin could do against Buescher’s race-winning pace and dominant run in the second half of the race.

“There were so many things I did wrong on those last few laps,” Hamlin said after finishing second. “But honestly, you still want to capitalize on them, for sure, because I thought that our speed was still better those last few laps.

“But, yeah, I was so close to him into Turn 1 when I shipped it in there, I had no air on the nose and the left-front tires just locked all the way up. Just bad driving on the initial restart and bad driving into Turn 1 took us out.”

Buescher was leading Hamlin by over five seconds when the caution flew with 10 laps to go. It was the only natural caution of the race, giving Hamlin and the field a chance to pit for tires one last time before the restart.

Buescher and Hamlin came off pit road first and second, just as they’d entered. Buescher chose the inside lane for the restart and Hamlin took the outside. It was a clean restart for Buescher, who got broke away in the lead. It was with two laps to go that Hamlin “shipped it” into Turn 1 and slid up the racetrack.

Without having reviewed the tape, Hamlin wasn’t sure where the RFK Racing cars were better than the field. Buescher and Brad Keselowski combined to lead 190 of 400 laps.

“I’m not really sure, but they certainly had more grip than we did,” Hamlin said. “Hats off to them. I know as a small two-car organization, how hard it is to get to this point, so hats off to Brad and Fenway Group and Steve Newmark for what they put on the racetrack today.”

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Hamlin led three times for 20 laps and earned points in both stages. And early in the day, it was Hamlin and his two 23XI Racing cars that were pacing the field in the top three positions.

“It was just a day where I thought I was going to get beat by my own stuff,” Hamlin said. “That team has really struggled at this racetrack, and they worked closely with the 11 car this week, and I worked hard on the sim for all three cars. We came here with the same stuff, and we all ran about the same until some stuff happened in the middle of the race.

“I thought the RFK cars were just a little better in the middle of stages and we had a different strategy there at times, but we always would cycle back to second. So, it just seems like they were a little bit better than us, and luckily for us, we had a late-race caution to kind of give us a chance.”

Reddick wins off-the-wall pole at Richmond

Tyler Reddick bounced off the wall in the first round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Richmond Raceway before coming back in the second round to earn the pole for Sunday’s Cook Out 400. Reddick claimed the top spot with a lap of 113.749 mph …

Tyler Reddick bounced off the wall in the first round of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying at Richmond Raceway before coming back in the second round to earn the pole for Sunday’s Cook Out 400.

Reddick claimed the top spot with a lap of 113.749 mph (23.749 seconds). It is Reddick’s first pole win of the season and first at Richmond.

The 23XI Racing driver hit the wall on the frontstretch coming to finish his lap in the first round of qualifying. Reddick ran out of room coming off Turn 4 but didn’t lift, and the lap advanced him into the final round.

Although there was damage to the right rear and right front of his Toyota, it didn’t keep Reddick from the final round of qualifying. Reddick is hopeful the team will not need to make significant repairs and force him to start at the rear of the field.

Kyle Busch qualified second at 113.636 mph. Virginia native Denny Hamlin qualified third at 113.536 mph.

Chase Elliott qualified fourth at 113.503 mph. Not only is it Elliott’s best qualifying effort of the season, but the first time the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will start inside the top five.

Bubba Wallace was fifth at 113.374 mph and William Byron sixth at 113.369 mph. Ty Gibbs qualified seventh at 113.355 mph. Kevin Harvick, the defending race winner, qualified eighth. Harvick’s lap was 113.246 mph.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. qualified ninth at 112.843 mph and Martin Truex Jr. qualified 10th at 112.622 mph.

Noah Gragson earned a 12th-place starting position in the No. 42 Chevrolet. It is just the second time Gragson will start inside the top-15.

Michael McDowell, who is on the Cup Series playoff grid bubble, qualified 18th. BJ McLeod qualified 21st in his Live Fast Motorsports Ford.

In his first Cup Series qualifying effort, Derek Kraus was 36th fastest in the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet. AJ Allmendinger was going to start at the rear of the field anyway because he will be in the car Sunday after competing in the Xfinity Series.

RESULTS

Racing on TV, July 27-30

All times Eastern; live broadcasts unless noted. Thursday, July 27 Motor Mile Speedway, Va. 9:00- 11:00pm Friday, July 28 Spa practice 1 7:25-8:30am Spa practice 1 7:25-8:30am Spa qualifying 10:55am- 12:00pm Spa qualifying 10:55am- 12:00pm Road …

All times Eastern; live broadcasts unless noted.

Thursday, July 27

Motor Mile
Speedway, Va.		 9:00-
11:00pm

Friday, July 28

Spa
practice 1		 7:25-8:30am

Spa
practice 1		 7:25-8:30am

Spa
qualifying		 10:55am-
12:00pm

Spa
qualifying		 10:55am-
12:00pm

Road America
practice/
qualifying		 5:00-7:00pm

Saturday, July 29

Spa sprint
shootout		 5:55-7:00am

Spa sprint
shootout		 5:55-7:00am

Spa
sprint		 10:25am-
12:00pm

Spa
sprint		 10:25am-
12:00pm

London
race 1		 11:30am-12:00
pre-race
12:00-1:00pm
race

London
race 1		 12:00-1:00pm

Sonoma
qualifying
1		 12:00-1:30pm

Richmond
practice/
qualifying		 12:30-2:30pm

Road
America		 2:30-3:00pm
pre-race
3:00-6:00pm
race

Richmond 7:00-7:30pm
pre-race
7:30-10:00pm
race

Sunday, July 30

Belgian
GP		 7:30-8:55am
pre-race
8:55-11:00am

Belgian
GP		 7:30-8:55am
pre-race
8:55-11:00am

London
race 2		 11:30am-
1:00pm

Sonoma
qualifying 2		 2:30-4:00pm
(D)

Richmond 2:30-3:00pm
pre-race
3:00-7:00pm
race

Motegi 4:00-5:00pm
(D)

Sonoma
finals		 4:00-7:00pm

Sonoma 5:00-6:00pm
(D)

Key: SDD: Same day delay; D = delayed; R = Repeat/Replay

A variety of motor racing is available for streaming on demand at the following sites:

  • SRO-america.com
  • SCCA.com
  • Ferrari Challenge
  • The Trans Am Series airs in 60-minute highlight shows in primetime on the MAVTV Network. For those wishing to tune in live, the entire lineup of SpeedTour events will stream for free on the SpeedTour TV YouTube page. SpeedTour TV will also air non-stop activity on Saturday and Sunday (SVRA, IGT and Trans Am). You can also watch all Trans Am event activity on the Trans Am YouTube page and Facebook page.
  • All NTT IndyCar Series stream live on Peacock Premium.

More penalties for Hendrick following NASCAR inspection

Hendrick Motorsports has been penalized once more by NASCAR after the Nos. 24 and 48 cars were torn down at the R&D Center this week. NASCAR officials chose the cars of William Byron and Alex Bowman for further inspection and teardown after Sunday’s …

Hendrick Motorsports has been penalized once more by NASCAR after the Nos. 24 and 48 cars were torn down at the R&D Center this week.

NASCAR officials chose the cars of William Byron and Alex Bowman for further inspection and teardown after Sunday’s race at Richmond Raceway. Bowman finished eighth in the Toyota Owners 400 and Byron finished 24th after leading the most laps.

Hendrick Motorsports was levied an L1-level penalty for violations of the NASCAR Rule Book sections 14.1.D Overall Assembled Vehicle Rules and 14.1.2.B Engineering Change Log.

The violations were modifications made to the greenhouse area of the race cars.

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Byron and Bowman have been docked 60 points and five playoff points. Brian Campe, Byron’s crew chief, and Greg Ives, Bowman’s crew chief, have been fined $75,000.

Both crew chiefs were also suspended for two NASCAR Cup Series races. However, because they are both interim crew chiefs, as the four Hendrick Motorsports crews finish out their four-race suspensions for the modified hood louvers last month at Phoenix Raceway, the suspensions for Campe and Ives are effective Thursday, April 13.

Hendrick Motorsports released a statement saying, “We are reviewing the penalties issued today by NASCAR and will determine next steps following Sunday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway.”

TV ratings: Australia, Pomona, Richmond, Texas

It was another busy weekend for racing on the tube, with F1, IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA all among the series vying for viewers. The Richmond NASCAR Cup Series race marked the first cable-network telecast of the year for the series, and Sunday’s …

It was another busy weekend for racing on the tube, with F1, IndyCar, NASCAR and NHRA all among the series vying for viewers.

The Richmond NASCAR Cup Series race marked the first cable-network telecast of the year for the series, and Sunday’s coverage on FS1 averaged a 1.30 Nielsen rating and 2.303 million viewers, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from the previous week’s race at COTA on FOX (1.81/3.129m) and from this race last year, which aired on FOX (2.30/3.958m). The first 2022 race on FS1 to be run in a comparable Sunday timeslot without a rain postponement was Darlington in early May, which averaged a 1.45 rating and 2.614m viewers.

Saturday’s Xfinity Series race from Richmond on FS1 averaged 0.50/847,000 viewers, closer to last year’s 0.53/833K on the cable network.

The NTT IndyCar Series stayed on broadcast network NBC for its race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, which averaged an 0.53 rating and 830,000 viewers. That was down from last year’s 0.62/954K, also on NBC.

NASCAR’s Craftsman Truck Series was supporting IndyCar at Texas this year and averaged 0.37/644,000 Saturday afternoon on FS1. That was down slightly from the previous week at COTA (0.43/697K).

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series delayed coverage of the finals from Pomona faired much better on FS1 this week, likely due to it following directly from NASCAR’s Cup race. It averaged 0.36/597,000, up from the  0.20/324,000 for the previous week’s Phoenix finals on FS1 in the same timeslot.

Formula 1 faced its first significant airtime challenge of the year with the Australian Grand Prix. ESPN’s live coverage of the race that started at 1am ET averaged 0.30 and 556,000 viewers — curiously, less than ESPN’s coverage of the race’s qualifying session at the same time the previous day (0.36/605K) albeit only down slightly from 2022’s Australian GP (0.34/568,000) which also aired on ESPN. This year’s race was also replayed on ESPN2 at 9:30am, and garnered another 217,000 viewers.

Despite its late night/early morning obstacle, F1 continued to do well among the coveted 18-49 demographic, pulling in more than half its live viewership (324,000) from that age group. NASCAR had 457,000 18-49 viewers from its 2.3m total, followed by Xfinity at 187K, IndyCar at 178K, Trucks at 143K and NHRA at 130K.

Richmond dominance scuppered late for Byron

For the first 470 laps Sunday at Richmond Raceway, the day played out as well as William Byron could have hoped. Byron won the first stage and led the most laps (117). The Hendrick Motorsports driver was trying to fend off a challenge from Martin …

For the first 470 laps Sunday at Richmond Raceway, the day played out as well as William Byron could have hoped.

Byron won the first stage and led the most laps (117). The Hendrick Motorsports driver was trying to fend off a challenge from Martin Truex Jr. when the first bad break of his day occurred with 29 laps to go.

As Byron and Truex were side-by-side for the race lead, the caution flew for a Tyler Reddick spin. With another chance at fresh tires, the field came to pit road, where the next bad break occurred as Bryon fell from the lead to third place.

On the ensuing restart with 21 laps to go, the No. 24 made it to the entry of Turn 1 when the straw finally broke the camel’s back. Byron was tagged in the left rear by Christopher Bell, sending the Hendrick Chevrolet spinning into the outside wall.

Byron finished 24th in the Toyota Owners 400.

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“It just looked like the No. 20 (Bell) got in there and overcooked the corner,” Byron said of the incident. “He was put three-wide and he just blew the corner and I was the victim.”

Bell initially said Ross Chastain forced the issue, resulting in him getting into Byron. However, Bell later took full responsibility through a tweet when he saw the replay.

It was the second consecutive spring race Byron left Richmond without a win that he and his team were capable of. He led 122 laps in the same race a year ago but finished third when the field split on strategy in the final stage.

“I don’t know about dominating the race, but we definitely were a top-three car, which is good for this place,” Byron said. “You just want to be in contention and have a shot. It was good to have another great car, but it sucks to finish in the 20s and hit the wall that hard. That’s never fun, but it is what it is.

“We had a great car. We did almost everything we could do to put ourselves in position to win; it was us and (Truex), and unfortunately, it just didn’t work out that way. So that’s the way it goes.”

Through the first seven races, Byron has been one of the best in the series. He scored back-to-back wins in early March, has five stage wins, and has led nearly 400 laps.

“We’re doing a really good job, so we just have to keep it up,” Byron said. “It’s a long season, so got to keep it up.”