RICHMOND RACEWAY (0.75-MILE OVAL)
LOCATION: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA
EVENT: NASCAR CUP SERIES (RACE NINE OF 36)
TUNE IN: 6:30 P.M. ET, SATURDAY, APRIL 21 (FOX/MRN/SIRIUSXM)
Chase Elliott
No. 9 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Chase Elliott Hometown Dawsonville, Georgia
Age 22 Resides Dawsonville, Georgia
2018 Season
23rd in standings
8 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
3 top-10 finishes
8 laps led
Career
85 starts
0 wins
3 pole positions
23 top-five finishes
41 top-10 finishes
926 laps led
Track Career
5 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
1 top-10 finish
0 laps led
NAPA BRAKES: This weekend at Richmond Raceway, Chase Elliott will pilot the No. 9 NAPA Brakes Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The last time NAPA Brakes was on track was September 2017 at Chicagoland Speedway, where Elliott finished second. The scheme comes ahead of NAPA AUTO PARTS’ brakes promotion that will run during the month of May. Customers can earn a $50 Visa gift card when they purchase $250 in qualifying NAPA brake products at participating NAPA AUTO PARTS stores.
RICHMOND STATS: Elliott is set to make his sixth start at Richmond Raceway Saturday night. In the Dawsonville, Georgia, native’s five previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at the track, he has earned one top-10 finish. Additionally, he has made four starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the 0.75-mile oval, never finishing outside of the top five and collecting a win in 2015. In the Xfinity Series, Elliott has an average starting position of 5.0 and finishing position of 2.5 at Richmond.
BRISTOL REWIND: The 22-year-old driver raced his No. 9 Mountain Dew Baja Blast Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to a 29th-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway after being collected in a multi-car incident early in the race.
RICHMOND TICKET PACKAGE: Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports teammate William Byron have partnered with Richmond Raceway to offer a Hendrick Motorsports ticket package. The package includes tickets to both the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Friday, April 20, and the NASCAR Cup Series race on Saturday, April 21. In addition to attending two races under the lights at Richmond, fans will have access to a special autograph session with Elliott and Byron. Click here for more information and to purchase tickets.
William Byron
No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver William Byron Hometown Charlotte, North Carolina
Age 20 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2018 Season
19th in standings
8 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
1 top-10 finish
17 laps led
Career
8 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
1 top-10 finish
17 laps led
Track Career
0 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
AXALTA, BACK AGAIN: Axalta returns for the second week in a row as the primary partner of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. The bright flames will be featured on the No. 24 Chevy for 10 races in which Axalta is the primary partner in 2018.
BYRON AT RICHMOND: William Byron made two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Richmond Raceway in 2017, earning a best finish of seventh. He also raced at the 0.75-mile oval in the regional NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2015, winning the pole and finishing sixth. Richmond Raceway is tough on NASCAR Cup Series rookies, as they have only finished in the top five 15 times at the Virginia short track even with two races per year. On the bright side, Kyle Busch earned top-five finishes in both of his rookie season starts at Richmond in 2005 while driving for Hendrick Motorsports, and Byron will have a chance to match that stat.
HOME TRACK: Keith Eads, tire specialist on the No. 24 Axalta Chevy, grew up in Arlington, Virginia, approximately two hours north of Richmond Raceway. Eads, who is in his ninth year at Hendrick Motorsports, visited the track as a child with his father for his first NASCAR Cup Series race.
RICHMOND TICKET PACKAGE: Richmond Raceway and Hendrick Motorsports have partnered for a ticket package that includes tickets to both the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Friday, April 20, and the NASCAR Cup Series race on Saturday, April 21. Along with the two race tickets – for the same seat for both races in the Capital or Commonwealth grandstands in Rows 6-10 – fans will have access to a special autograph session with both Byron and Chase Elliott. The package is only available for a select time and a limited quantity is available. The autograph session will be held in the amphitheater and begins at 3 p.m. local time.
RACE DAY APPEARANCE: On Saturday, Byron will make an appearance at the Xfinity Zone stage in the midway at Richmond Raceway at 4 p.m. local time.
Jimmie Johnson
No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Jimmie Johnson Hometown El Cajon, California
Age 42 Resides Charlotte, North Carolina
2018 Season
17th in standings
8 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
1 top-five finish
2 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
Career
587 starts
83 wins
35 pole positions
223 top-five finishes
343 top-10 finishes
18,663 laps led
Track Career
32 starts
3 wins
2 pole positions
7 top-five finishes
13 top-10 finishes
461 laps led
FIRST TOP-FIVE FINISH: Jimmie Johnson and the No. 48 Lowe’s for Pros team departed Bristol Motor Speedway Monday afternoon on a positive note: Johnson scored his first top-five finish of the season with a third-place result. He qualified 17th but started the event at the rear of the field due to the post-qualifying discovery of a cut tire. His practice speeds throughout the weekend were in the top 10 and when rain forced NASCAR to postpone the event until Monday, Johnson was running eighth. In the race’s final two stages, Johnson powered forward, running consistently inside the top five en route to the third-place finish. In the process, the No. 48 team jumped from 20th up to 17th in the point standings.
RICHMOND SWEEP: Johnson has three career wins at Richmond, and two of them came in the 2007 season, when the driver won both the spring and fall events, leading 104 and 105 laps in each event, respectively. His most recent win at the 0.75-mile track came in September 2008, when Johnson started third and led 32 laps en route to Victory Lane.
CONSISTENCY IS KEY: Over a seven-race span at Richmond since September 2014, Johnson has finished in the top 10 five times and just outside of it in 11th twice. That stretch has included a pair of top-five finishes — both third-place results.
SHORT TRACK WINNER: Johnson has 14 total wins on short tracks around the NASCAR Cup Series circuit. In addition to his three victories at Richmond, Johnson has two at Bristol Motor Speedway and nine at Martinsville Speedway. His last win on a short track was in April 2017 at Bristol.
AT LEAST TWICE IS NICE: There are 17 tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit where Johnson has multiple wins. Among them: Dover International Speedway (11), Martinsville Speedway (nine), Charlotte Motor Speedway (eight), Texas Motor Speedway (seven), Auto Club Speedway (six), Atlanta Motor Speedway (five), Indianapolis Motor Speedway (four), ISM Raceway (four), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (four), Darlington Raceway (three), Daytona International Speedway (three), Kansas Speedway (three), New Hampshire Motor Speedway (three), Richmond Raceway (three), Pocono Raceway (three), Bristol Motor Speedway (two) and Talladega Superspeedway (two).
CLIFF DANIELS’ HOME TURF: The race this weekend at Richmond hits close to home for team engineer Cliff Daniels, who is from Smithfield, Virginia. Prior to becoming an engineer in NASCAR, Daniels was a driver himself, racing Late Model stock cars at Langley, Southside and South Boston Speedways in Virginia. He received a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and has been an integral part of the No. 48 team since December 2014.
NEXT UP, 84: Johnson’s next trip to Victory Lane will be his 84th points-paying NASCAR Cup Series win. He secured his 83rd in June 2017 to tie NASCAR Hall of Famer Cale Yarborough for sixth on the all-time wins list. An 84th win would tie Hall of Famers Darrell Waltrip and Bobby Allison for fourth all-time. Johnson is currently 10 wins behind former teammate Jeff Gordon, who has 93 victories and is third on the list. Johnson has the most wins of all active drivers and No. 48 team crew chief Chad Knaus has the most wins of all active crew chiefs with 81.
JJ LIVE ON FS1: Johnson will be a guest on FOX Sports 1’s “Special Edition of Race Hub Weekend” taking place live on Friday, April 21, at 3:30 p.m. ET from the Hollywood Hotel at Richmond Raceway. Johnson will banter along with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Darrell Waltrip, and FOX analysts Jeff Gordon and Mike Joy discussing the “50 Greatest Drivers” in NASCAR history.
LAST WEEK TO NOMINATE FOR BLUE BUNNY HELMET OF HOPE: Nominations will be accepted through April 20 for the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope through the Jimmie Johnson Foundation. Five non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations will be eligible to receive $25,000 grants through the program, totaling $125,000 and will be awarded in May. The program, which started in 2008, gives fans the chance to nominate their favorite education-based charities to receive a $25,000 grant, a Blue Bunny ice cream party and special recognition on Johnson’s race helmet. Since its inception, the Blue Bunny Helmet of Hope program has given over $1 million to 101 different charities. To nominate a charity click here.
Alex Bowman
No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Driver Alex Bowman Hometown Tucson, Arizona
Age 24 Resides Mooresville, North Carolina
2018 Season
13th in standings
8 starts
0 wins
1 pole position
1 top-five finish
2 top-10 finishes
13 laps led
Career
89 starts
0 wins
2 pole positions
1 top-five finish
5 top-10 finishes
216 laps led
Track Career
4 starts
0 wins
0 pole positions
0 top-five finishes
0 top-10 finishes
0 laps led
BRISTOL REWIND: Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, qualified eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway and maintained a position inside the top 10 for most of the race. The 24-year-old driver collected four valuable stage points after finishing Stage 2 in the seventh position. Bowman continued his push forward and moved into fifth by Lap 321, ultimately holding that position until the end of Monday’s rain-delayed race and earning his first NASCAR Cup Series top-five finish. He became the 23rd different driver to earn a top-five finish for Hendrick Motorsports.
SHORT-TRACK SUCCESS: After finishing seventh at Martinsville and fifth at Bristol, Bowman is one of five drivers to have finished inside the top 10 in both races on short tracks in 2018. He joins Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano. The season’s third short-track event is Saturday night at Richmond Raceway.
NATIONWIDE AT RICHMOND: The colors of majority sponsor Nationwide will once again be on board the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 with Bowman this weekend at Richmond Raceway. Nationwide has been the primary partner on the No. 88 Chevrolet four times at Richmond with a best finish of fifth coming back in 2015 with driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.
IVES AT RICHMOND: Crew chief Greg Ives has called the shots five times for the No. 88 team at Richmond with drivers Earnhardt and four-time Cup Series champion Jeff Gordon. The crew chief’s résumé at the track in the Cup Series includes one top-five finish. The Michigan native has four starts at the track as a crew chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, never finishing outside of the top five, including two consecutive runner-up finishes with driver Chase Elliott. When Ives served as a race engineer with the No. 48 team from 2006-12, he earned three wins at Richmond.
BOWMAN AT RICHMOND: Alex Bowman has four career starts at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Cup Series and logged his best finish of 28th in 2014. The Tucson, Arizona, native has three starts at the Virginia track in the Xfinity Series, where he captured one top-10 result in 2016 when he finished ninth in the No. 88 Chevrolet for JR Motorsports.
SELFIE SESSION #POCONOSTYLE: Pocono Raceway announced this week that during its race weekend in June it will hold its first-ever “Selfie Session,” a modern twist on the conventional autograph session. Fans will be able to pose for a selfie with Bowman, the driver of the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, on June 2 in the infield of the two-mile track. Fans can pre-register at www.poconoraceway.com/selfiesesh. To pre-register for the event, fans must purchase gate admission for that date.
NATIONWIDE’S PAWS AND RACING PROMOTION: For the second year, Nationwide is offering one lucky pet owner an opportunity to get his or her pet’s picture on the No. 88 Nationwide Camaro ZL1 for the Sept. 22 race in Richmond. Last year, more than 25,000 pet owners participated in the promotion. From now until April 30, pet owners and NASCAR fans can go to www.pawsandracing.com to submit a photo of their pet. At the end of the promotion, one lucky photo will be selected to win a VIP race experience including hot passes, race tickets and a meet-and-greet with Bowman and Earnhardt.
Hendrick Motorsports
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT RICHMOND: At Richmond Raceway, Hendrick Motorsports has 10 wins, 17 pole positions, 57 top-five finishes and 105 top-10s – the organization’s third-most top 10s at a single track. Johnson earned the three most recent wins for the organization at Richmond: a sweep in 2007 and another trip to Victory Lane in 2008. Since then, the organization has earned five runner-up results at the 0.75-mile oval, bringing its total to 18 second-place finishes at Richmond – the team’s most at any track.
RICHMOND 4,000: With just three laps led this weekend, Richmond Raceway would become the fifth track where Hendrick Motorsports has led 4,000 laps. The other four are Martinsville (9,241 laps led), Dover (6,652), Bristol (5,752) and Charlotte (5,037). The organization has led 3,997 laps at Richmond.
BIG ON SHORT TRACKS: Hendrick Motorsports leads all active teams at short tracks in wins (50), poles (50), top-five finishes (217), top-10s (367) and laps led (20,617). The organization has won at least one short track race in each of the last five seasons and in 15 of the last 16 (all but 2011). Hendrick Motorsports has gone to Victory Lane at a short track in 27 different seasons.
250 ON THE HORIZON: The next points-paying win by a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet will be the organization’s milestone 250th in NASCAR Cup Series competition. With 268 Cup victories, only Petty Enterprises has more. Junior Johnson and Associates is third all-time at 153 wins, followed by Joe Gibbs Racing with 150 and Roush Fenway Racing with 137.
16 MAKES 249: Sixteen different drivers have contributed to Hendrick Motorsports’ total of 249 points-paying Cup wins. Only the Wood Brothers team, which has sent 19 different drivers to Victory Lane, has more. Junior Johnson and Associates won with 13 different drivers.
FIRST-TIME WINNERS: If Chase Elliott, William Byron or Alex Bowman wins at Richmond, it will mark the ninth time a driver has recorded his first career Cup Series win while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. Hendrick Motorsports and Roush Fenway Racing share the all-time record, having each sent eight first-time winners to Victory Lane in Cup Series competition.
ORGANIZATION STATS: To date, Hendrick Motorsports has totals of 12 championships, 249 race victories, 214 pole positions, 1,032 top-five finishes and 1,748 top-10 finishes in points-paying NASCAR Cup Series competition. Its teams have led more than 67,000 laps since 1984.
QUOTABLE /
Chase Elliott on racing at Richmond:
“That place was really good to me in the Xfinity Series and I kind of expected that to roll over into the Cup side, and it hasn’t to this point. I think we’ve gotten better, but definitely not to the level that I felt like I was at on Saturdays.”
Elliott on the difficulty of racing at Richmond:
“The thing that makes it hard is it is easy – that is what makes it hard. The track has a lot of character and it’s very straightforward. Not a lot of bumps, nothing really that makes it really stand out and because of that, everyone is very equal and everyone knows how to get around there – it’s very hard to be different.”
William Byron on racing at Richmond:
“I’ve always liked Richmond. I’ve raced there a few times over the years. It’s always just a fun short track – especially at night when you can see the sparks, which is exciting. I can use the same style of driving there that I used growing up racing late model stock cars and the weather is usually similar to what it was when I raced Langley (Speedway) and the other short tracks up there (in Virginia). The biggest thing at Richmond is getting your car to roll the bottom and hook that line, kind of like at Atlanta (Motor Speedway). If you can do that, it seems like you’re usually pretty good in the race. It’s going to be a fun race, and a typical short-track race.”
Byron on whether he can take anything from Bristol to Richmond:
“The level of aggression (is similar). On mile-and-a-half racetracks, you’re still very aggressive, but everything is more spread out and you have time to think. At tracks like Bristol and Richmond, everything is packed in, especially on restarts when you’re trying to fight for position. The whole rooting-and-gouging thing is going to be the same as it was at Bristol, so you can take that style and mindset to Richmond.”
Jimmie Johnson on racing at Richmond after a top-five finish at Bristol:
“The finish in Bristol is exactly what this team needed. I’ve known that every week we have been getting better, but it’s nice to finally have a finish to back that up. Now if we could just fix these bouts of bad luck we have been having. I’m already ready to get back in the Lowe’s for Pros Chevy and looking forward to Richmond. We have put together some solid runs there lately and with the momentum from Bristol, I’m ready to roll.”
Alex Bowman on night-racing vs. day-racing at Richmond :
“I don’t think it really matters. Richmond gets really slick and widens out either way. It will be fun. I think all the improvements that they are doing there will be really cool to see.”
Bowman on the Richmond track changes:
“We will definitely have to work around the changes and see when we get there what it is like. It’s like when we got to Pocono that year and all of a sudden there was a Motocross jump in the Tunnel Turn – so, we will just have to work around it.”
Bowman on selfies:
“I think this selfie session at Pocono in June will be a great event for the fans. Pocono always comes up with exciting things for fans to do during the race weekend, so this is just one more event added to their lineup. I think I need to get a book on how to take really good selfies so that I don’t let any of these fans down.”
