Cook Out 400: Richmond Raceway
Richmond, VA – August 11, 2024
AUSTIN CINDRIC No. 2 MENARDS/LIBMAN FORD MUSTANG
START: 18TH STAGE ONE: 19TH STAGE TWO: 20TH FINISH: 24TH POINTS: 20TH
RACE RUNDOWN: In what turned out to be a chaotic end to Sunday’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway, Austin Cindric finished 24th in the No. 2 Menards/Libman Ford Mustang. The Team Penske driver took the green flag from the 18th position and muscled forward immediately, climbing to 13th within the opening ten laps. As the opening run went on, the handling of the No. 2 Ford Mustang began to fade and Cindric lost position, ultimately finishing 19th in the opening stint. He then marched to pit road for a new set of the yellow Prime tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment, lining up 18th for the restart. He continued to be tasked with an ill-handling race car and returned to the attention of the Menards/Libman pit crew on Lap 122 for the red Option tires and eventually climbed back inside the top 15. Just over 40 laps later, Cindric returned to the Prime tires and on Lap 177 alerted the team that he was losing power steering. Despite the unexpected hurdle, the former NASCAR Xfinity Series champion flexed his muscle and forged ahead to finish 20th in Stage 2. Cindric opted against the team diagnosing the issue under the break as he would lose valuable positions in the running order and just took four fresh Option tires and fuel. He restarted 20th and informed the team on Lap 283 that he was starting to lose grip. He navigated back to pit road to receive a set of Prime tires and jetted back off, pitting just once more later in the race before finishing 24th as a hectic last-lap incident involving the race leaders played out.
CINDRIC’S THOUGHTS: “Yeah, it was unfortunate. I felt like we spent about 100 laps there as the lucky dog to start Stage 3. We started Stage 2 and I lost power steering, so that definitely made my day more physical than I probably had expected. So it was a bit unfortunate for the No. 2 Menards/Libman Ford Mustang. I thought we had a decent run going there – got some good spots on the start. So, yeah, we’ve just got some stuff to clean up. I learned a lot about the Option tire and all the different strategies, so there’ll be plenty to review if we do this in the future.”
RYAN BLANEY No. 12 BODYARMOR SPORT WATER FORD MUSTANG
START: 11TH STAGE ONE: 14TH STAGE TWO: 14TH FINISH: 11TH POINTS: 5TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Ryan Blaney battled his way back to an 11th-place finish Sunday night at Richmond Raceway in the Cup Series’ second trip to the Virgina short track. After starting 11th, Blaney settled into 12th in the running order for a majority of the opening stage as the BODYARMOR Sport Water Ford experienced a tight-handling condition in the center of the corners. Blaney ultimately settled for a 14th-place finish in the first 70-lap stage before crew chief Jonathan Hassler dialed in a round of adjustments during the team’s four tire stop under caution. The entirety of Stage 2 saw green flag racing as teams were forced to make a pair of scheduled green flag stops. After cycling to third in the running order at the start of the first round of pit stops, Blaney was called to pit road on lap 131 for four tires and a round of adjustments before his final stop of the stage came on lap 177 for the same service. Blaney managed to work his way back to 14th by the end of the second stage as he reported improvement in turn in the center of the corner despite being tight at the start of each run. The 12 team began the final stage on the softer option tire the saw Blaney charge into the top-10 shortly after the restart. Blaney climbed the leaderboard to third before his scheduled green flag service on lap 281, but a slow stop mired the No. 12 back to 17th in the running order and fighting to get back on the lead lap. The 12 team altered their strategy for the final green flag cycle of the night, opting to run long before pitting for its last set of option tires on lap 357 to make ground on the leaders with the harder prime tire. Blaney made his way through the field in the closing laps to get back inside the top-10 with 12 to go before the caution came out with two laps to go, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Blaney pitted for four prime tires prior to the final restart and ultimately took the checkered flag 11th.
BLANEY’S THOUGHTS: “I actually thought it was a good night for us. We were able to fight back to get in the top-10 before the last caution and ended up 11th. Overall, it was a good night. I definitely think it could have been better, but not bad.”
JOEY LOGANO No. 22 SHELL-PENNZOIL FORD MUSTANG
START: 9TH STAGE ONE: 4TH STAGE TWO: 4TH FINISH: 19TH POINTS: 15TH
RACE RUNDOWN: Joey Logano and the No. 22 Shell-Pennzoil team put themselves in position to pick up their second win of the season Sunday night at Richmond but were taken out off the exit of turn four coming to the checkered flag, resulting in a 19th-place finish. Logano displayed top-five speed from the drop of the green flag, charging his way into the top-five just 12 laps in before crossing the line fourth at the end of Stage 1. Despite a tight-handling condition at the beginning of the first few runs of the night, Logano continued to hang with the leaders throughout a second stage that featured a pair of green flag stops on laps 123 and 176. Logano ultimately came away with a fourth-place finish in Stage 2 before crew chief Paul Wolfe made the call to use the team’s first of two sets of option tires to begin the final segment. After restarting fourth, Logano reached second in the running order on lap 246 before Wolfe called the Shell-Pennzoil Ford to pit road for four prime tires on lap 280 as Logano cycled back to second in the running order, this time chasing the No. 11 for the lead. As the two battled through lapped traffic with 100 laps to go, Logano made his final green flag stop of the night on lap 331 as he reported the front turn was beginning to fade, prompting the 22 crew to service him with four prime tires and a round of adjustments. While running third with two laps to go, the caution flag flew to set up one final trip to pit road before the green-white-checkered finish. Wolfe made the call to put on the team’s final set of option tires and a fast stop saw Logano come off pit road second, allowing him to restart from the outside of row one. Logano charged into turn one from the outside lane and cleared the No. 3 off turn two as he came around to take the white flag, but as the field made its way into turns three and four for the final time, the No. 3 got into the rear bumper of Logano and sent him spinning up into the outside wall, ending his chance to pick up his third-career win at Richmond.
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to action on Sunday, August 18 for the FireKeepers Casino 400 at Michigan. Coverage begins at 2:30 p.m. ET on USA, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
