Tag: Richmond

Cup rivals come to Hamlin’s defense over Richmond restart

A trio of NASCAR Cup Series drivers were unfazed Tuesday about the final restart at Richmond Raceway when leader Denny Hamlin fired off early. “I didn’t see any issue with what happened,” Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry said. “I’ve raced a lot of …

A trio of NASCAR Cup Series drivers were unfazed Tuesday about the final restart at Richmond Raceway when leader Denny Hamlin fired off early.

“I didn’t see any issue with what happened,” Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry said. “I’ve raced a lot of short tracks and I’ve raced a lot of different rules — restart lines, restart zones, all these different things — and it’s really easy to completely handicap the leader. I think there’s got to be some flexibility there.”

Hamlin admitted he rolled early because he could see Martin Truex Jr. and Joey Logano lagging back to get a run. As the leader, Hamlin didn’t want to lose his advantage of being the control vehicle, and it was clear on video replay that he took off before hitting the line, which signifies the restart zone.

“I think the leader is the leader for a reason; he needs to have the right to control the restart and a lot like what Denny said, a lot of the times you’re judging what you’re going to do as the leader based off the car in second, third,” Berry noted. “These guys are laid back trying to time the run — they’re all trying to time it right, and sometimes you’ve got to push the envelope a little bit to basically not end up getting screwed out of the lead. Just in general, I think it’s really blown out of proportion.

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. I don’t think there needs to be data and policing. We need to have flexibility, and drivers need to be able to race and make decisions. If you wanted to make a call over a couple of feet of going early in the restart zone or before the restart zone, I think you just as easily make the same call if someone is laid back 3 feet versus 2 feet. I don’t think there’s a big issue with the restarts to me. It’s just blown out of proportion.”

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Berry’s teammate, Ryan Preece, was just as passionate about the fact that there was no need for a ruling from NASCAR. Preece, who also has a short-track background, agreed the leader is sometimes at a disadvantage with a restart zone.

“You’re at the mercy of if I don’t go at the first line and you wait further into the box, well, what happens if the guy in second goes and has a nose out there and that’s not called?” Preece said. “Well, now you’ve lost the advantage. Or if you wait and then Joey [Logano] rolls up and has momentum on you and pulls out at the start/finish line, you get put three-wide going into Turn 1. It’s a lose-lose situation.

“So, at the end of the day that’s racing. I would have done the same thing (as Hamlin).”

Both agreed Hamlin did what he had to do. Sunday night, in the immediate aftermath, NASCAR senior vice president of competition Elton Sawyer said it was “awful close” but the restart was good. Tuesday morning, during his weekly appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Sawyer admitted that Hamlin went early, and if it had been earlier in the race, it would have been dissected and reviewed differently.

“I think we all feel like they definitely are policed differently (depending on the lap),” Berry said. “The reality is that everyone wants transparency and they (NASCAR) were transparent, and now everybody doesn’t like that. We kind of know that if you just jump the opening start, you’re more likely to get a penalty than if it’s racing for the lead. Everyone is going to have a different opinion if that’s right or wrong, but I think that’s a thing. And as a driver, you feel like that’s a thing. So, I don’t know.”

Former Cup Series champion Brad Keselowski appreciated hearing from Sawyer. However, he wasn’t up in arms about what happened and pointed out how the conversation was about too much officiating a week before on the Circuit of The Americas road course.

“I really respected Elton Sawyer’s answer when he said they just missed it,” Keselowski said of the restart. “I think that’s OK. I think that happens in sports. In the ideal scenario, we don’t put them in a position where an official has to make a decision. We have all the technology and all the things to where everything is black and white. But the world is not that perfect, and the technology to do everything is hard to ascertain and make bulletproof.

“Sometimes things slip through the cracks. You get mad at them and then a week later, everybody seems to forget about them. But I think holistically, you’d like to solve for challenges like that just being careful that you don’t fall into the natural law of unintended consequences that seems to follow that. I saw Chad Little a few weeks ago and we were sharing a joke at COTA with respect to track limits of, this is what happens when you have definitive and perfect technology. You end up with 40-something penalties over a race weekend.

“So, I think COTA was a perfect example of how this can go the other way where you have the technology to solve challenges and you create black and white, remove some of the gray judgment calls, and people don’t like that either. I totally understand the challenge that those guys must face in picking a path for this (one). It’s the challenge of the week, and to be honest, if that’s the worst challenge we have coming out of Richmond, I think we probably had a pretty good week.”

Preece conceded it was a tough situation but doesn’t want to see judgment calls from NASCAR. In a way, Preece said restarts are predictable if the field knows when the leader will go because of the restart zone.

“We all know how to perform restarts and go do them,” Preece said. “We know when there’s games. Now, I don’t want to see leading that in the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 decides to pick it up 10 miles an hour and then step on the brake. That’s something you do when you race go-karts or quarter midgets. When you get into a full-size race car when you know there’s a box, it’s consistent pace and then go. But I’m a fan of not having calls for a situation like that.”

In the end, the Stewart-Haas drivers humorously said it comes down to who was involved. If NASCAR were to have penalized Hamlin and taken the win away, there wouldn’t be the same uproar over officiating.

“No, because it was him,” Berry said. “If it was one of us, people wouldn’t even think about it, honestly. It’s subjective. If it’s myself or Ryan going for our first win, are you really going to call it because they went two feet early?”

Hamlin ruffles feathers en route to hometown win at Richmond

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a clutch pit stop to emerge with the lead out of the pits and then he was able to hold the advantage on a two-lap overtime shootout to claim the Toyota Owners 400 victory Saturday night at his …

Denny Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing team gave him a clutch pit stop to emerge with the lead out of the pits and then he was able to hold the advantage on a two-lap overtime shootout to claim the Toyota Owners 400 victory Saturday night at his home track, Richmond (Va.) Raceway.

It was Hamlin’s 53rd career NASCAR Cup Series win, second of the season and his fifth victory at the three-quarter mile Richmond oval – a 0.269s margin of victory over Team Penske’s Joey Logano. And it came at the expense of his JGR teammate Martin Truex Jr. who finished fourth despite leading a dominant 228 of the race’s 407 laps.

“This was a team win for sure,” said Hamlin, who led 17 laps on the night. “Each one of these pit crew members just did an amazing job; they’ve been killing it all year.

“Such a great feeling when you can come in and have a pit crew like that.”

It was a certainly a frustrating ending for Truex, who had been out front 54 consecutive laps in his No. 19 JGR Toyota when a caution flag flew with only two laps of regulation remaining. On the ensuing pit stop, Hamlin beat him off pit road and Truex was unable to take the lead back in that final two lap run, ultimately getting passed by Logano for second and polesitter Kyle Larson for third.

 

“It’s unfortunate, but it’s happened a few times over the years,” Truex said. “We were in a great spot and had a great Auto Owners Camry all night long and the guys did a really good job. Just got beat out of the pits and then he [Hamlin] jumped the start and just used me up in Turn 1.

“Definitely sucks. Another car capable of winning. We’ll just have to come back next week and try to get one.”

The silver lining for Truex is that he still holds the championship lead by 14 points over Larson, who had a busy ending to the race. Contact between Hendrick Motorsports’ Larson and 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace brought out the final yellow flag to force the first overtime period for a NASCAR Cup Series race this season.

Larson was still able to come out fourth place on the pit stop and challenge for the win, although he and Truex banged doors in the closing laps fighting for position.

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“My pit crew did a really good job to get us off pit road and get us those spots to restart fourth and gain one more,” Larson said. “I’ll take third after what could have been a lot worse there on the front stretch. Proud of the HendrickCars.com team.

“It was a good weekend for us, winning the pole, winning a stage and getting back to third. Happy about that.”

As for the late race contact between him and a frustrated Truex, Larson said, “I think he was just mad. He was mad the No. 11 [Hamlin] used him up on the restart and that’s probably where it really started from.

“I think he was more mad at Denny but I was the closest one for him to take his anger out on,” Larson added with a smile.

Larson’s Hendrick teammate – and fellow front-row starter – Chase Elliott finished fifth.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, Hendrick’s William Byron, RFK Racing teammates Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher and 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick rounded out the top 10. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry finished 11th, having run in the top 10 most of the night, and Wallace, who also ran top 10 most of the race, finished 13th after that late race contact with Larson.

Of note, with the track still damp from afternoon showers, the field started the race on wet weather tires. NASCAR threw a competition caution at lap 30, bringing the cars down pit road for a mandatory change to racing slicks. Cars returned to the track in the order they were running at the time of caution. The move to use the wet weather tires allowed the race to start only a few minutes late and was widely praised.

The NASCAR Cup Series moves to another short track challenge next Sunday with the Cook Out 400 (3 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. Larson is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

C. Smith cruises to Xfinity win in an all-Gibbs podium at Richmond

Chandler Smith led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon cruising to a 4.495s victory over teammates Aric Almirola and Tanner Gray in the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race. It marks back-to-back wins in this …

Chandler Smith led a Joe Gibbs Racing sweep at Richmond (Va.) Raceway Saturday afternoon cruising to a 4.495s victory over teammates Aric Almirola and Tanner Gray in the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race.

It marks back-to-back wins in this race for Smith – answering his first career Xfinity Series victory last Spring – and he led the final 60 laps in the No. 81 JGR Toyota, 76 laps on the day for his third career win, second of the season. It was his teammate Almirola, who won both stages and led a race best 95 of the 250 laps in his No. 20 JGR Toyota, but the former full-time NASCAR Cup Series driver ultimately could not catch Smith, who pulled away in the closing laps.

“Never give up, never give up,” said Smith, who has top-10 finishes in all six races this year. “This car was not good. Stage 1 wasn’t good, but we were able to do some strategy there with this No. 81 Supra in Stage 2.

“Back here winning races on a consistent basis and took over the points lead too, I’m just blessed,” he added.

 

For his part, Almirola acknowledged he just didn’t have what he needed to catch the 21-year old Georgia-native in the closing laps. He’ll have another chance at victory next week as he’s in the car again at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

“We just got a little bit too loose,” Almirola said. “The run before that in Stage 2, when I took off my car was really, really good. At the end, it just felt a little tight and that last run, for whatever reason, different set of tires or what, I let Chandler go and when I started to just creep back to him, I didn’t have anything to go with.

“I was too loose in and couldn’t get throttle down on exit. Hate that to win both stages and feel like we had the dominant car, and then to let it slip away there at the end is disappointing.”

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The JGR team can also take pride in its third-place finish – considering it was the 19-year old Gray’s series debut. NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series full-timer Corey Heim was fourth followed by series rookie Jesse Love.

It was also a big outing for renowned late model racer Bubba Pollard, punctuating his series debut with a sixth-place finish in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet – particularly impressive considering Pollard started 37th.

“I just got behind in qualifying there and it made for a long day,” Pollard said. “But these guys gave me a great race car, JR Motorsports.

“I needed that long green flag run just to get in a rhythm. This place is tough, it’s technical and probably one of the toughest places I’ve been to, and I’ve been to a lot of places.

“I’m happy with it. I enjoyed it and had fun and hopefully the fans enjoyed it too.”

Big Machine Racing’s Parker Kligerman, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Hill, JR Motorsports Sammy Smith and reigning series champion Cole Custer rounded out the top 10. The 20-year old Parker Retzlaff, who won his first career pole position Saturday, finished 16th in the No. 31 Jordan Anderson Chevrolet and led a career high 27 laps.

With their work, Smith, Almirola, Love and Kligerman have qualified for next week’s Dash 4 Cash event at Martinsville Speedway, and the highest finisher of the four Dash 4 Cash drivers in the race will collect an extra $100,000 bonus.

With the win, Smith takes a 10-point driver standings lead over Hill to next Saturday’s DUDE Wipes 250 (7:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). John Hunter Nemechek is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

Bell and JGR have a Richmond win squarely in sight

Christopher Bell was plenty happy to talk about all things Richmond Raceway for multiple reasons Saturday. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver attracted a crowd when he entered the media center. Bell was the other player in the highly publicized pit road …

Christopher Bell was plenty happy to talk about all things Richmond Raceway for multiple reasons Saturday.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver attracted a crowd when he entered the media center. Bell was the other player in the highly publicized pit road confrontation at Circuit of The Americas when Kyle Busch marched to his car to give him an earful about their contact on the racetrack. After Busch had earlier visited with the media, sharing his side of their phone conversation earlier this week, Bell knew the questions were coming.

The first two questions were indeed about Busch. The third shifted the conversation to the Virginia short track.

“And we’ve got the first winner that’s a non-Kyle question,” Bell quipped.

The change in topic had Bell eager to talk about something else, and do so with a smile on his face and enthusiasm in his voice. Richmond is a place Bell loves to compete at twice a year, and the betting favorites for Sunday night’s Toyota Owners 400 are Joe Gibbs Racing drivers.

“I just like driving for JGR here,” Bell said. “Their resume speaks for itself and the cars are super, super fast. This is arguably JGR’s best racetrack, so I just love going to racetracks where I know I’m going to have a shot at it.”

Of the active tracks on the Cup Series schedule, Joe Gibbs Racing has been the most successful at Richmond. Gibbs has won nine of the last 16 races in Virginia, and the 18 total they have celebrated through the years are the most for the organization at any racetrack.

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“It feels like this is JGR’s playhouse,” Bell said.

Although Bell has not contributed to those Cup Series victories, he does have an average finish of 7.7 at Richmond Raceway in seven starts. In a five-race stretch between 2021 and 2023, Bell finished no worse than sixth at Richmond with a runner-up effort in the summer of 2022. He’s led 99 laps at the track.

Sunday is an opportunity for Bell and the No. 20 team. With one check mark already notched in the win column, the hunt is on for more and the valuable playoff points that come with the accomplishment. Bell and his group aren’t tracking how the competition stacks up with playoff points, but he knows how many he has and that the long runway ahead offers more.

The long season and its many points available also means trying to keep up the same pace, and Bell doesn’t want to look too far ahead lest he veer off the right path. The good news is that Bell is driving cars right now that he described as the strongest he’s ever had in his Cup Series career.

“For me, I just focus on the task at hand,” he said. “I try not to look at the big picture and just focus on what’s coming up this week, and this week we’ve got a great racetrack for myself at Richmond and a great racetrack for our team, and a place that should suit our new car. With all those combined, you need to make the most of it.

“Whenever we go to another place in the future that might not be [our] place, the mentality’s going to be a little bit different. Definitely, here at Richmond, we have winning circled, and that’s what we want to do … whenever we think we have everything lined up to do it.”

Larson, Elliott lock out all-Hendrick front row at Richmond

Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott delivered a Hendrick Motorsports front row in qualifying at Richmond Raceway. Larson, the defending race winner, earned the pole with a lap of 120.332mph (22.438s). It’s his second pole at Richmond Raceway. “It …

Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott delivered a Hendrick Motorsports front row in qualifying at Richmond Raceway.

Larson, the defending race winner, earned the pole with a lap of 120.332mph (22.438s). It’s his second pole at Richmond Raceway.

“It definitely helps for sure,” Larson said of going into Sunday’s race. “The number one pit stall here means a lot, so yeah, happy. Happy to do that. Happy to be in Group A, for sure. And then the sun coming out a little bit there helps also. Chase got real close there, so I was a bit nervous but awesome day for Hendrick Motorsports, the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet [and] everybody involved. It’s good to get another pole. We’ll see if it translates to tomorrow’s race.”

It was Larson’s 17th Cup Series pole.

Elliott qualified second at 120.321mph. The 2020 series champion has never won at Richmond Raceway in 15 previous starts and his best finish is second in 2018.

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Ross Chastain qualified third (120.059mph), Alex Bowman, fourth (119.861mph) and Bubba Wallace, fifth (119.819mph). Bowman scrapped the frontstretch wall during his lap.

Todd Gilliland qualified sixth (119.760mph), Martin Truex Jr., seventh (119.585mph), Ty Gibbs, eighth (119.517mph), Austin Cindric, ninth (119.111mph) and Joey Logano, 10th (119.069mph).

Denny Hamlin qualified 11th, Ryan Blaney, 12th, William Byron, 13th, Chris Buescher, 14th and Kyle Busch, 15th. Tyler Reddick qualified 19th.

Further back in the field, Brad Keselowski only managed 23rd. Christopher Bell qualified 29th and Josh Berry, 30th. In this race a year ago, Berry finished second substituting for Elliott.

NEXT: Toyota Owners 400 at 7 p.m. ET Sunday on FOX.

RESULTS

Michigan State football: Best quotes from Mel Tucker’s press conference previewing Richmond match-up

Best quotes from Mel Tucker’s press conference previewing Richmond match-up

After a sluggish start, Michigan State football was able to handle business and take care of Central Michigan, 31 to 7.

Now, the Spartans will look to hold off Richmond, who will look to rebound after being upset in their week one match-up.

Before the week of prep, Mel Tucker spoke to the media about his team and their upcoming game. You can find the best quotes from that media session below.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.

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Diamond Hogs add another transfer in the portal

Got transfers? Dave Van Horn added another to the Arkansas baseball program on Thursday.

Dave Van Horn is always searching for talent.

He found some more on Thursday, as Richmond infielder Jared Sprague-Lott committed to the Razorbacks.

 

Sprague-Lott was second-team all-Atlantic 10 a year ago, and drew 44 walks which was good for a tie for second in the conference.

He had 13 home runs and 43 RBI, and his bat should be an immediate shot in the arm for the Arkansas lineup.

The former Spider joins a transfer class of Ty Wilmsmeyer, Lincoln Riley, Jack Wagner, Ross Lovich, Hudson White, Stone Hewlett, Wehiwa Aloy and Mason Molina.

Wallace solemnly celebrates good, albeit frustrating, day at Richmond

Bubba Wallace had a little help Sunday afternoon piloting his 23XI Racing Toyota around Richmond Raceway, which is why he wanted much more than the 12th-place finish he earned. “Once I get past the frustration, I know it was a really good day for …

Bubba Wallace had a little help Sunday afternoon piloting his 23XI Racing Toyota around Richmond Raceway, which is why he wanted much more than the 12th-place finish he earned.

“Once I get past the frustration, I know it was a really good day for us,” Wallace said. “Emotional day.”

Longtime friend and spotter Freddie Kraft lost his father, Tommy Kraft, Saturday morning and was not in Richmond for the weekend.

Before climbing into his car, Wallace and the No. 23 team removed his name from above the driver’s side door. Using tape, Wallace replaced his name with “Tommy Kraft.” After the race, Wallace got emotional all over again when he happened to see the door again when climbing out.

“[We were] racing with a lot there,” Wallace said. “He (Tommy) was driving the [expletive] out of it. I told him at the start of the race I’m just going to sit back and let him wheel it and man, we were awesome.”

Wallace led twice for 80 laps at Richmond. The time he spent at the front was not only the most he has done at Richmond (previously having led one lap in 10 starts), but it was the most laps Wallace has led in a single NASCAR Cup Series race in his career.

The race turned for the No. 23 on lap 175, though, when he made a green flag pit stop. Wallace was leading at the time he came to pit road, and the pit stop was hindered when the jack came down while the team was changing tires on the right side of the car, costing track position.

“Just had a hiccup on a pit stop but just never rebounded,” Wallace said. “The balance went away. Man, it’s just hard. This place is tough finding the right line and the right balance, and we just fell off of it.

“One of them here had the worst restart – [Kevin] Harvick – and held us up, unfortunately. It is what it is. We finished 12th. All in all, a good points day. I don’t know where we’re at; I know we put a pretty good gap [on the cutline], I’m assuming, so it’s a good day.”

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Wallace finished second in the first stage. After the slow pit stop, he finished fourth in the second. Although he was still a top-10 car, it was hard to regain the lost track position.

“It’s not really hard to pass; I was getting passed a lot,” he chuckled about the team’s change in fortune. “It’s just it gets harder. We’re at the Cup level. We’ve got multimillion dollars — billion dollars — all throughout this garage, and a lot of smart people, so we can get our setups within a very small window where that’s pretty good, and that’s when it gets hard.

“We fell out of that window and made it easier for people to get by us and lose that track position. When you’re falling and bleeding, you’re trying to do everything you can and it’s just tough.

“It was a good day for McDonald’s Toyota, the No. 23 car. I thought it was a good day for the team, I’m not sure what happened to the No. 45 but all in all, we’ll take it.”

Wallace entered the weekend with a 26-point advantage on the playoff grid cutline. By earning 41 points Sunday, his advantage grew to 54.

He still doesn’t feel comfortable as the regular season moves toward a conclusion, however.

“I’m glad a car in front of us won,” he said. “I think I watched who’s leading at that point more than what we’re doing. Congrats to [Chris Buescher]. We didn’t lose a spot.

“We keep saying it — Bootie [Barker] will keep saying it — you keep throwing your name in the hat, our time will come. Obviously we know Michigan is next week, so just have to learn from this one and build off of it and go into there.”

Buescher, RFK dominate en route to sweltering Richmond victory

Chris Buescher capped Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s dominant day at Richmond (Va.) Raceway with a trophy, holding off the field on a restart with three laps remaining to win the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 Sunday afternoon – his and the RFK …

Chris Buescher capped Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing’s dominant day at Richmond (Va.) Raceway with a trophy, holding off the field on a restart with three laps remaining to win the NASCAR Cup Series Cook Out 400 Sunday afternoon – his and the RFK team’s first victory of the season.

Brad Keselowski (also a co-owner of RFK) and Buescher combined to lead a race-best 190-of-400 laps – Buescher’s 88 laps out front was the most laps he’s ever led in a race in his eight-year NASCAR Cup Series career. It all results in an important automatic bid into the 16-driver Playoff field with only four races remaining in the regular season.

The No. 17 RFK Ford ultimately held off last week’s race winner Denny Hamlin by a slight 0.549s although Buescher had held more than a 5s advantage on Hamlin’s No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota up until that caution flag flew for an accident involving Noah Gragson and Daniel Suarez in the closing laps.

“It was smooth sailing trying to take care of this Fastenal Mustang. It was so good, and trying to take care of it there…about the time (crew chief) Scott (Graves) said over the radio, ‘It’s working perfect, keep it up,’ and then there’s a caution,’’ said Buescher with a smile.

“But we were so strong during the race, I had a good feeling there about it,’’ added Buescher who now has three career NASCAR Cup Series wins. “So awesome to pull it off. I’m proud of everybody. That was a long way from the back.’’

That late-race yellow flag was the only caution flag on the day other than the two stage breaks, with the afternoon racing at the Richmond three-quarter mile track being physically demanding under intense heat – over 130 degrees inside the race car. As seventh-place finisher Martin Truex Jr. said smiling after the race, “My cheek feels like it’s sunburned. It was like a hair dryer blowing on you.’’

The 30-year old Texas native Buescher, however, handled the heat and the field, starting 26th but steadily working his way forward. He first cracked into the top five by lap 160 of the 400-lap race, chasing down then-leaders Bubba Wallace, Tyler Reddick, Keselowski and Hamlin.

For a race with so many green flag laps, it was actually issues on pit road that thwarted several winning efforts, not problems racing on the track.

Wallace’s 80 laps out front mid-race in the No. 23 23XI Racing Toyota marked the most laps led in a single race in his career, but he ultimately had to play catch-up when his team had a slow tire change on green flag pit stop on lap 175. He finished 12th.

With 56 laps remaining, race polesitter and Wallace’s 23XI teammate Tyler Reddick got flagged for violating the commitment line coming to pit road for green flag stop, relegating him from running among the top three to desperately trying to remain on the lead lap with the laps counting down. He finished 16th after leading 81 laps early – every lap of stage one en route to claiming his fourth stage win.

Similarly, Keselowski suffered a misstep in the pits after his No. 6 RFK Ford led a race-best 102 laps. He made an awkward turn into his pit during a green flag stop with 115 laps remaining and it cost just enough time to allow his teammate Buescher to take the lead with under 100 laps remaining.

“We wanted to finish 1-2. That’s the ultimate goal, but we still had a heckuva day,’’ said Keselowski, who finished sixth and won stage two — his third stage win of the season.

Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch – the all-time active winner at Richmond – finished third, his best showing on a short track this season. Team Penske’s Joey Logano rallied in the late laps to finish fourth and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Ryan Preece turned in his best showing of the season with a fifth place run.

Keselowski and Truex finished sixth and seventh followed by SHR’s Aric Almirola, Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon and SHR’s Kevin Harvick. Chase Briscoe finished 11th giving SHR one of its best full team efforts of the season – all four cars inside the top 11.

Every car in the 36-car field finished the race, the first time the full field was running at the end since 2018.

Buescher is now the 12th driver to win a race in 2023, leaving four Playoff positions still available for a new winner or the top drivers in points. Harvick and Keselowski hold more than a 100-point advantage on the 16th place cutoff. Wallace is up 54 points and Front Row Motorsports driver Michael McDowell holds an 18-point buffer on Joe Gibbs Racing rookie Ty Gibbs for that 16th position. Kaulig Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger is 22 points behind McDowell.

Four races now remain to settle the 2023 Playoff field. The series moves north next week for Sunday’s Firekeepers Casino 400 at Michigan International Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Harvick is the defending race winner.

RESULTS

Hocevar uses tire gamble to win Truck Series regular season finale at Richmond

Carson Hocevar’s race started in the pits with a flat tire even before the green flag for Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and ended with a celebration in Victory Lane. The 20-year-old driver of the No. 42 Niece …

Carson Hocevar’s race started in the pits with a flat tire even before the green flag for Saturday night’s Worldwide Express 250 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and ended with a celebration in Victory Lane.

The 20-year-old driver of the No. 42 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet passed the night’s most dominant driver, Ty Majeski, with only three laps remaining thanks to pit road strategy and a fast Chevy Silverado to claim his third win of the season by 2.308s.

“We didn’t come here to run second,’’ Hocevar said, adding, “I knew we had to do something different and new tires prevailed.’’

Corey Heim officially secured the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 2023 regular season championship with a third-place finish in the opening stage. The 21-year old driver of the No. 11 TRICON Garage Toyota will start the seven-race Playoff portion of the season with an important 15-point bonus thanks to an incredible run to the regular season title that included a pair of wins. He finished sixth on Saturday – his series best 13th top-10 finish in 16 races.

“It really means a lot,’’ Heim said. “With TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing coming such a long way from the beginning of the year, I really felt like we had a lot of progress to make in the first four or five weeks and we’ve really been improving ever since.

“Tonight, it was a rough night at Richmond. It is kind of a unique race track. On the normal tracks, we’ve been really consistent. Still a good finish for us, but definitely want to do better leading into the Playoffs.”

After earning his second pole position of the season, Majeski absolutely dominated much of the race, sweeping both stage wins for the first time in his career and leading a dominating 168 of the 250 laps in the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford. His truck was so good Saturday that he even overcame a mid-race pit stop speeding penalty to regain the lead late race and try to hold off Hocevar. Majeski stayed out while Hocevar pitted for tires with 40 laps remaining, however, and was ultimately unable to hold off the fresh tires in the closing laps.

“Just didn’t have enough there,’’ a frustrated Majeski said. “Obviously made a mistake there, speeding on pit road, but we had a chance to win even with the penalty. It’s just so disappointing. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a dominant vehicle that much faster than the field and to not win with it is so hard.

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“But we have fast race trucks and we’ll make a run at the Playoffs,’’he added.

The Playoff field – in points order – includes Heim, the 2022 series champion Zane Smith, who finished third at Richmond, Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger, Majeski, 2021 series champion Ben Rhodes, rookie Nick Sanchez, Matt DiBenedetto and three-time series champion Matt Crafton.

Stewart Friesen came into the race ranked 11th, trailing Crafton by nine points, but Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Friesen Racing Chevrolet had a disappointing qualifying run – 23rd – and never really mounted a challenge forward on Saturday. He finished 27th.

“We brought a dull knife to a gunfight tonight,’’ a disappointed Friesen said.

Hocevar led 64 laps on the evening – moving into the lead position while Majeski was recovering from his pit road penalty.

“We passed every single truck here. The No. 98 (Majeski) was the class of the field but I thought we were second and won with the second best truck because I have the first best pit crew and first best crew chief on the box,’’ Hocevar said.

“I just love it,’’ he added.

Rookie Jake Garcia and Matt Mills rounded out the top five. Heim finished sixth, followed by Crafton, Sanchez, Enfinger and 16-year old William Sawalich making only his third series start.

The 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs begin on Aug. 11 with the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (9 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Enfinger is the defending race winner.

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