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NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
CUP: Richmond Proves Size Really Does Matter
Richmond International Raceway is the only 0.75-mile track on the NASCAR schedule...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted September 08, 2010   Charlotte, NC
Crown Royal will no longer serve as a race sponsor at Richmond International Raceway beginning in 2012. (Photo: LAT Photographic)
Want to know a dirty little secret about NASCAR Sprint Cup racers? To them, size matters.

And nowhere is that truer than at the D-shaped, three-quarter-mile Richmond International Raceway oval, which on Saturday night will host the Air Guard 400, the 26th and final race of the lengthy Sprint Cup regular season.

If you go through the garage, you won’t find too many racers who don’t like RIR, and the reason is all about size. At 0.75 miles, it slots neatly size-wise in between the half-mile bullrings at Bristol and Martinsville, and the one-mile ovals at New Hampshire, Dover and Phoenix. According to the drivers, RIR is just the right size.

“The other short tracks we run – Bristol and Martinsville – they’re cool in their own right, but there’s a lot of congestion at those two tracks,” said Tony Stewart, who is coming off a big victory at Atlanta last weekend. “But at Richmond, it just seems like that extra quarter-mile, and that three-quarter-mile shape, and how wide the groove gets there, allows for good racing.”

According to Stewart, a three-time race winner here, the size of Richmond requires a somewhat different strategy.

“It seems like we have to race ourselves and race the race track versus racing each other a lot of times,” he said. “You do have to race each other, obviously, but there are a lot of times during the race when you have the flexibility to move around on the race track and try to find a spot your car likes better than somewhere else. A lot of times on a short track you don’t have the flexibility. You’re more narrowed down with what groove you’re going to be in.”

Virginia native Jeff Burton, driver of the No. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, is equally bullish on racing at RIR.

“I just think for the teams, for the fans and for everybody that it takes to make this sport work, Richmond is the best all-around track,” said Burton. “Richmond has good racing action. It’s big enough where it’s not wreck after wreck, but small enough where it’s close side-by-side action since you have multiple grooves.”

He should know: In 1998, Burton and Jeff Gordon waged one of, if not the, best race ever at RIR, going door-to-door over the final 30 laps in a display of racing that was simultaneously brutally contested and cleanly executed. Burton ultimately prevailed in that race, but it was in doubt down to the final corner of the final lap.

But just because the racers enjoy the track doesn’t mean it’s easy to go fast here. Far from it.
Tony Stewart says there's no track like Richmond. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

“We haven’t done very well since the introduction of this car (in 2007) at Richmond,” said Matt Kenseth of Roush Fenway Racing. “We ran pretty good there before this car, but lately, as the track has been wearing out, it seems like the biggest issue is getting off the corner straight and not spinning the rear tires. You’re always working on rear grip without killing the front end in the middle.”

Juan Pablo Montoya is another driver who likes RIR but typically struggles in race conditions.

“The schedule and the track are unlike any other we go to,” said Montoya, who in seven previous RIR starts has a best finish of sixth and a finishing average of 23.429. “It’s an impound race so we don’t get any practice time at night, which makes it difficult to set up the car for race conditions. And the track itself is pretty tricky. It’s two-wide racing and you have to fight hard for position. Our Target Chevrolets have been fast, and we’ll just go out there and try to run a smart race.”

One guy who doesn’t have to play it safe Saturday night is Stewart, who will be looking to add 10 more bonus points to his total.

“Richmond is my favorite track,” Stewart said. “It’s not one of them, it’s the favorite track of mine on the circuit. I’ve just always thought it’s the perfect-sized track for a Cup race.”

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of Speed,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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