NASCAR
Stratta’s Six: Who Can Surpass the Short Track at Richmond Raceway?
Easter Sunday marks the NASCAR Cup Series’ annual spring trek to Richmond Raceway. The 3/4-mile bullring in the Old Dominion State’s capital city will host a night race for the first time since 2020. Many short track aces enter Richmond with very short odds, eyeing another victory. Toyotas are also historically strong at this track, with nine of the last 16 wins. Here are some drivers to watch out for in Sunday night’s Toyota Owners 400.
Denny Hamlin
The crafty veteran hopes to remain perfect on short tracks in 2024. Denny Hamlin most recently won this race two years ago, the latest of four Richmond triumphs. Hamlin also rides a streak of top-fives in five of the last six Richmond races, with 565 laps led since 2020. Coming a few weeks after his Bristol win, the Toyota standout hopes to shine again in front of his hometown fans.
“I expect we’ll see a lot of the same that we’ve had at Richmond the past few years,” Hamlin said. “It’s definitely a race where you have to manage the car over the long run because it tends to run long and have green-flag pit cycles. That always brings in some strategy if you want to pit early or pit late and the risks that come with both of those scenarios. The crew chiefs will definitely have their work cut out for them to figure out the best strategy. Overall, it’s a fun race. I feel very confident about our chances this week, but we’ll have to execute and stay in position throughout the race and see what happens.”
Entering Sunday tied as the co-favorite, a lot is lining up in Hamlin’s favor for another win. If the No. 11 team stays on top of strategy and brings their usual performance, they should be a strong threat for the checkered flag.
Kyle Larson
The defending Toyota Owners 400 winner, Kyle Larson led a Hendrick domination last spring. The No. 5 led 93 laps for his second Richmond win and first since 2017. Despite being the most recent man to tame the Toyota Owners 400, Larson is not overlooking a lackluster July race.
“It seems like Richmond has been hit or miss for us,” Larson said. “We’ve done really well on short tracks recently and we won a race at Richmond last year. But we didn’t have a good race there in the summer, so we’re hoping to improve on that so we can challenge for another win there.”
All of Hendrick Motorsports was on fire last April at Richmond, only to flame out in July. With Sunday’s race being at night, the cooler track temps may throw every team a curveball. Larson should be at the head of the pack though, challenging Toyota heavyweights. Whether or not he’s able to beat them may come down to late race luck.
Martin Truex Jr
Current Cup Series points leader Martin Truex Jr is still looking for his first win of 2024. Richmond Raceway has been very kind to the 2017 champ in recent years, with three wins and a 5.1 average finish since 2018. Across four Next Gen races, MTJ also has three top-10s. Truex is excited to race at one of his favorite tracks again.
“I’ve always really liked Richmond, to be honest,” Truex said. “From the first time I raced there in 2003, I’ve always enjoyed the track. There was a long period where I didn’t have great numbers there, but I felt like I loved the track and always ran well there and had a lot of crazy things happen there throughout my career. Once I got to Furniture Row (Racing), we started leading a ton of laps there. We also had a couple of heartbreaking finishes there where we should have won the race but didn’t and I wondered if it was ever going to happen. Then we went on a streak there, so it’s been a great track and it’s a ton of fun. Last year, the short tracks were tough to make passes and we would get stuck a car length behind someone. You would run them down and get a car length back and you couldn’t make any moves because of the dirty air. Hopefully we’ve been able to help that some and we can go back to putting on a great show at places like Richmond. I hope for myself and my team we can get our Auto-Owners Insurance Toyota back in victory lane there like we’ve done before.”
Night time may be a big question mark for most teams at Richmond. It’s the right time for Truex however, being apparently when he shines brightest. The last four Richmond night races have been excellent for MTJ. Driver 19 has all three of his Richmond wins under the lights, and a runner-up in 2020’s race. The No. 19 Toyota enters Sunday night as a favorite once again.
Alex Bowman
2021 Richmond spring winner Alex Bowman has been inching forward over the past few weeks. Back-to-back fourth place runs at Bristol and COTA have the No. 48 team seemingly showing their past consistency. Bowman was also right there with his teammates in this race a year ago, finishing eighth. With two Hendrick cars already locked into the Playoffs, Bowman hopes to be loving Virginia once again.
“Richmond is really slick and really difficult to get a hold of-even when you’re fast,” Bowman said. “The fall race was rough on us last year, but in the spring race we were pretty decent. Hopefully it will be more like the spring race for us. I feel like historically for Hendrick Motorsports when it’s cooler out, we’re better off. When it’s warmer out, we struggle. With this Sunday being a night race and cooler in the spring we should be a little bit better. I’ve also spent a lot of time in the sim trying to improve on things too.”
Bowman’s last Cup Series win is now more than two full calendar years in the rearview mirror. Consecutive top-fives for the first time since 2020 however do have the 48 team walking a bit more on cloud nine heading to a track they have conquered. Much like his past Richmond triumph, Bowman cannot be counted out Sunday until the checkered flag flies.
Ty Gibbs
Nobody has been closer to a breakthrough maiden Cup Series win this year than Ty Gibbs. Driver No. 54 has also been more consistent than nearly everyone, with five top-10s putting the 21-year-old second in points. Gibbs’ best result so far has been third in two of the last three weeks. With nearly 200 laps led in this same span, it looks like only a matter of time until Gibbs wins.
“We’ve run well and hopefully we can have another good race this week in Richmond,” Gibbs said. “It’s been great. I work really well with my team. Chris Gayle – he has been my crew chief since 2021. I feel like we have a good connection. Also my engineer – Kyle Abrahims – he’s also been with me and Chris Gayle since 2021. We’ve all been working really well together and we are going to keep hammering down.”
Richmond has been a very solid track for Gibbs in his young Cup career. Three starts have seen one top-10, with the 54 ninth here last April. The young phenom also has laps led and a win across both of his Richmond Xfinity starts. Gibbs said over the offseason that he feels strongest on road courses and short tracks. Sunday provides another golden opportunity for Gibbs to become a Cup Series winner.
Kyle Busch
While Hendrick Chevrolets fell off in last summer’s Richmond race, the opposite was true for Kyle Busch. After finishing a dismal 14th in April, the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet was third in July. Despite this strong result, the six-time Richmond winner still knows a lot can change on Sunday.
“We qualified second and finished third,” Busch said. “I felt like we had some good ideas going into that race and they seemed to pay off and work well for us. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for some of the other short tracks we went to last year. We still have a lot of work to do.”
Rallying back from a spin to finish ninth at COTA, Kyle Busch still has yet to see a fully clean race this year. Should the No. 8 team be mistake-free on pit road and Busch remain rolling, there is little reason he can’t be among the favorites late Sunday night.
Marking the second short track race in three weeks, Richmond allows many teams an opportunity at victory lane. The Toyota Owners 400 goes green Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on FOX, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. While Toyotas have this place mastered in recent years, both Chevrolet and Ford could earn the win.
Written by Peter Stratta
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