RICHMOND 2
Saturday, August 10 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, August 11 — NASCAR Cup Series, 6 p.m. ET (USA)
NASCAR returns to action after a two-week break for the Olympics with a doubleheader at Richmond Raceway featuring the NASCAR Craftsman Truck and NASCAR Cup Series. Both events will take place at night as the Truck Series concludes its regular season on Saturday and Chris Buescher looks to defend his Cup Series win from 2023 on Sunday.
BUESCHER TRYING FOR REPEAT
Chris Buescher enters this weekend’s event at Richmond Raceway as the defending winner of the Cup Series race and would like to repeat that on Sunday to clinch a spot in the playoffs. Buescher, who finished ninth in the spring race, currently sits 15th in the playoff standings and is 17 points above the cut line with four races remaining in the regular season. He used this race a year ago as a springboard to a strong regular season finish, leading 53 of the final 54 laps to claim his first win of 2023. Buescher went on to win the following week at Michigan International Speedway and again at Daytona International Speedway to close out the initial 26-week schedule.
RICHMOND ONE OF LOGANO’S BEST
It would be easy to look at Joey Logano’s two career wins at Richmond and say it’s got to be one of his best tracks on the circuit, but the statistics provide further proof. In 30 career starts, Logano has 14 top 5 and 19 top 10 finishes, which gives him an average finish of 9.7. That’s his best average finish on tracks where he’s run more than 10 races. He’s coming off a second-place run in the spring and has finished seventh or better in seven of the last eight Richmond races.
KESELOWSKI SOLE RICHMOND WINNER IN 2020
Richmond Raceway hosted two NASCAR Cup Series events a year from 1959-2019, but in 2020 the track had only one event due to COVID and Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski took the checkered flag in dominating fashion. Keselowski led 192-of-400 laps in recording his second career Cup win at the Virginia short track, and automatically advanced to the Round of 12. Overall, Ford led 297 laps on the night and had five drivers finish in the top 10, including Joey Logano (3rd), Kevin Harvick (7th), Aric Almirola (8th) and Clint Bowyer (10th).
REGULAR SEASON FINALE
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series concludes its regular season on Saturday night with Ty Majeski looking to win consecutive races after taking the checkered flag at Indianapolis Raceway Park. That officially clinched a spot in the 10-driver playoff field for the Wisconsin native while defending series champion Ben Rhodes is on the bubble. Rhodes is ninth in the playoff standings, 17 points ahead of 10th-place Tanner Gray and 22 points above the cut line. Matt Crafton (-43), Layne Riggs (-75) and Jake Garcia (-82) need a win in order to make the postseason.
FORD NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS
AT RICHMOND
1957 – Paul Goldsmith
1959 – Tom Pistone and Cotton Owens
1960 – Speedy Thompson (2)
1963 – Ned Jarrett (2)
1965 – Junior Johnson (1)
1968 – David Pearson (1)
1969 – David Pearson (1)
1970 – James Hylton (1)
1979 – Bobby Allison (2)
1980 – Bobby Allison (2)
1981 – Benny Parsons (2)
1984 – Ricky Rudd (1)
1986 – Kyle Petty (1)
1988 – Davey Allison (2)
1990 – Mark Martin (1)
1992 – Bill Elliott (1)
1993 – Davey Allison (1)
1994 – Ernie Irvan (1)
1995 – Rusty Wallace (2)
1996 – Ernie Irvan (2)
1997 – Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett
1998 – Jeff Burton (2)
1999 – Dale Jarrett (1)
2001 – Ricky Rudd (2)
2002 – Matt Kenseth (2)
2005 – Kurt Busch (2)
2013 – Carl Edwards (2)
2014 – Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski
2017 – Joey Logano (1)
2020 – Brad Keselowski
2022 – Kevin Harvick (2)
2023 – Chris Buescher (2)
