2017 NASCAR Week 26: Richmond

Federated Auto Parts 400

Richmond Raceway

By Richard Tix

What to Watch For?

Final Regular Season Race of 2017

• It's everyone's last chance to steal the show in the regular season. After Richmond NASCAR will basically reset the points (minus some playoff points and seeding). So, Richmond is now the last chance to help improve your playoff odds. So, the focus this weekend (other than the cut line) will be who can grab a few extra point for the playoffs and how will they effect each round going forward?

Matt Kenseth vs Jamie McMurray

• The cut line, or bubble line as some may say, will be all the talk this weekend at Richmond. This is the final race until the playoffs start and guys like Joey Logano, Erik Jones, Dale Earnhardt Jr, and Daniel Suarez all need wins to get into them. While those guys will be fighting for a win, Kenseth and McMurray will be doing the same, but with a twist. See, a win locks them in, but they're both currently in on points. The kicker here is, that if one of the other mentioned guys like JoLo gets a win, than Kenseth and McMurray would be fighting for the final spot and one would miss out on the playoffs. What's even better? Well, currently only one point separates the No. 20 and No. 1 in the standings so literally the most points at Richmond (almost straight up) would advance. Things could get dicey if the No. 77 finds himself leading late and Kenseth and McMurray are near each other in running order.

Richmond Raceway

• How many time will someone say RIR or Richmond International Raceway? If you want a drinking word that isn't elimination, bubble, or cut line so that you can still remember the race afterwords, it would be something to do with RIR. This is the drinking word to get a buzz, but not go overboard. All of this because the track is re-branding and renaming to Richmond Raceway and this will be the first race under its new name. So, get used to it because it isn't going away.

**This section is just a quick look at some of Cup drivers latest finishes. This is not a tool for fantasy purposes and NBTW only is looking at end results. No deep statistic's are involved, but rather it is just a quick way to get ready for the race and get caught up on who has finished well at each track**

The Good

• Kyle Busch- Four total wins here at Richmond for Rowdy, but none since 2012. He still has three top 10's (two seconds) in the last four trips here.
• Denny Hamlin- Fresh off a win at Darlington, Hamlin heads to another one of his best tracks (Martinsville and Darlington are also in his top 3). Last year he won from the pole at this race heading into the playoffs.
• Joey Logano- Boy, does Joey need this. Richmond is the spot of his all too famous encumbered win earlier this year. NASCAR may have taken his win from counting, but he still has seven straight top tens here (though he will need the win).

The Middle

• Kevin Harvick- This is more like the "Good" sections extra credit. "Happy" has three straight 5th place finishes here and five top fives in the last six.

The Bad

• Ryan Blaney- In three starts Richmond has not been Blaneys track. Although, he did start on the front row (second) earlier this year, so things could turn around.
• Paul Menard- 21 starts, 1 top ten. Worse yet? In his last seven he has one top 15 and only two top 20's.
• Austin Dillon- AD has a sole top 15 in his first seven Richmond starts, however he does have four top 20's.

About the Track: Richmond

Track Stats

• Richard Petty once won 7 RIR races in a row, 9 of 10, and 12 of 17. All were from 1967 to 1975
• In 2013 Kevin Harvick and Carl Edwards won from the 17th and 26th positions. Joey Logano won in 2014 (Spring) from the 17th position as well. 
• In 2009 and 2010 Kyle Busch won both early season races and Denny Hamlin won both late season. Kyle also won the early season RIR race in 2011 and 2012 making it 5 straight Toyota wins and 6 in 7 (actually 7 of 8 because Bowyer won late in 2012).
• Richard Petty has the most career RIR wins with 13.
• Of current drivers Kyle Busch has the most total wins with 4.
• Richard Petty also has the most career top 5's (34), top 10's (41), and Poles (tied with Bobby Allison with 8).

Track Info

• Surface - Asphalt
• Length - 0.75 miles
• Banking
• Turns: 14 degrees
• Frontstretch: 8 degrees
• Backstretch: 2 degrees