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Sprint Cup
CUP: A Little Less Sparkle At Richmond?
Richmond has been more of a red-letter stop on the tour than some of the Chase races...
Many NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers name Richmond International Raceway as one of their favorite tracks. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
The second race at Richmond International Raceway – always the “money” event in the hunt for Chase spots because of its positioning as the last run of the regular season – has had its own special aura since the Chase began in 2004.
In fact, Richmond has been more of a red-letter stop on the tour than some of the Chase races, largely because high drama has been attached to its Saturday night 400-lapper. Drivers have come into the race on the ragged edge, their Chase future – or lack of it – to be determined by an evening of tight racing on one of America’s best short tracks.
Typically, there are several drivers hovering around the cutoff mark for the Chase, with Richmond results to determine which ones get in and which ones spend the rest of the season in the relative ignominy of “everybody else”.
As teams approach this year’s Air Guard 400, scheduled Saturday night at the .75-mile track, the sense of drama is blunted. Ten spots in the 12-driver Chase have been clinched. And the final two seem virtually in the hands of 11th-place Greg Biffle and 12th-place Clint Bowyer.
Ryan Newman, who gained two spots by finishing eighth in Atlanta, is 13th, but he’s 117 points behind Bowyer. Behind Newman are Jamie McMurray, 128 behind Bowyer, and Mark Martin, 147 back.
The pressures of being in the group trying to land the final Chase spots can be intense.
“Oh man, I’ll tell you, being in that position it is not a fun position to be in,” said Jeff Gordon. “Every week you are just focusing on each position, each point. There is just a tremendous amount of stress. To me, there is as much stress right now for the guy that is trying to make the Chase as there is at the end of the season when it comes down to a couple of guys trying to win the championship.
“It is really that intense. It’s that important to be in the Chase. When you are that close to it, especially if you have been in it before or if the expectations are that you should be in it, that intensity and that kind of pressure is hard to deal with because it is the intensity of what’s going on within the team. You are already putting a lot of pressure on yourself, but then it is the added pressure of the media and the fans and all the expectations from outside.”
Saturday would have to be the best and worst of times – the worst for Bowyer and the best for one of his pursuers – for any of his challengers to beat him for the 12th Chase position. Early wreck? Blown engine? Anything is possible, but the smart money already has Biffle and Bowyer penciled into the Chase.
Does the relative lack of Chase theatrics make Richmond less compelling? Somewhat, yes. There is not likely to be any late-race jousting among Chase contenders for critical positions, and the post-race garage area won’t be bubbling with the emotions of drivers who barely made it or barely missed it.
Still, Richmond is Richmond, and it typically showcases some of the best racing on the circuit.
“It’s a really difficult race track,” said Jeff Burton, who, like Gordon, is locked into the Chase. “It’s a fun race track. It’s a blast to run on.
“The thing about Richmond is that you never know is it going to be a multiple-groove track, or is it not? It’s hard to figure out where to go. That’s the biggest challenge about Richmond is its corners are tight and it’s a small short track. Well, it’s a big short track, but for our cars it’s a small short track, and it’s really hard to get your car to turn there. It’s hard to make forward grip. It’s a challenging race track.”
Even in years when the Chase isn’t so challenging.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
In fact, Richmond has been more of a red-letter stop on the tour than some of the Chase races, largely because high drama has been attached to its Saturday night 400-lapper. Drivers have come into the race on the ragged edge, their Chase future – or lack of it – to be determined by an evening of tight racing on one of America’s best short tracks.
Typically, there are several drivers hovering around the cutoff mark for the Chase, with Richmond results to determine which ones get in and which ones spend the rest of the season in the relative ignominy of “everybody else”.
As teams approach this year’s Air Guard 400, scheduled Saturday night at the .75-mile track, the sense of drama is blunted. Ten spots in the 12-driver Chase have been clinched. And the final two seem virtually in the hands of 11th-place Greg Biffle and 12th-place Clint Bowyer.
Ryan Newman, who gained two spots by finishing eighth in Atlanta, is 13th, but he’s 117 points behind Bowyer. Behind Newman are Jamie McMurray, 128 behind Bowyer, and Mark Martin, 147 back.
The pressures of being in the group trying to land the final Chase spots can be intense.
“Oh man, I’ll tell you, being in that position it is not a fun position to be in,” said Jeff Gordon. “Every week you are just focusing on each position, each point. There is just a tremendous amount of stress. To me, there is as much stress right now for the guy that is trying to make the Chase as there is at the end of the season when it comes down to a couple of guys trying to win the championship.
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“It is really that intense. It’s that important to be in the Chase. When you are that close to it, especially if you have been in it before or if the expectations are that you should be in it, that intensity and that kind of pressure is hard to deal with because it is the intensity of what’s going on within the team. You are already putting a lot of pressure on yourself, but then it is the added pressure of the media and the fans and all the expectations from outside.”
Saturday would have to be the best and worst of times – the worst for Bowyer and the best for one of his pursuers – for any of his challengers to beat him for the 12th Chase position. Early wreck? Blown engine? Anything is possible, but the smart money already has Biffle and Bowyer penciled into the Chase.
Does the relative lack of Chase theatrics make Richmond less compelling? Somewhat, yes. There is not likely to be any late-race jousting among Chase contenders for critical positions, and the post-race garage area won’t be bubbling with the emotions of drivers who barely made it or barely missed it.
Still, Richmond is Richmond, and it typically showcases some of the best racing on the circuit.
“It’s a really difficult race track,” said Jeff Burton, who, like Gordon, is locked into the Chase. “It’s a fun race track. It’s a blast to run on.
“The thing about Richmond is that you never know is it going to be a multiple-groove track, or is it not? It’s hard to figure out where to go. That’s the biggest challenge about Richmond is its corners are tight and it’s a small short track. Well, it’s a big short track, but for our cars it’s a small short track, and it’s really hard to get your car to turn there. It’s hard to make forward grip. It’s a challenging race track.”
Even in years when the Chase isn’t so challenging.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 28 years. He has written several books on NASCAR, including "NASCAR: The Definitive History of America's Sport" and "Then Tony Said To Junior: The Best NASCAR Stories Ever Told". He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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