NASCAR Cup Series

Short Trackin' At Night...Justin Allgaier will make his second NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) start in the No. 51 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) this Saturday night.

For Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race is equivalent to the bottom of the ninth in baseball, the 18th hole in golf and sudden death in hockey.

Roush Fenway Racing rookie of the year contender Ryan Reed will make his fourth start at Richmond International Raceway (RIR) this Friday. Reed made his first career NASCAR Nationwide Series start with Roush Fenway at RIR in 2013, finishing 16th. In the next two starts, Reed finished ninth and 12th, respectively.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series travels to Richmond International Raceway this weekend. With one race remaining before the 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup field is set, Clint Bowyer finds himself just outside the 16-car field.

1. Jeff Gordon: Gordon was running second early at Atlanta when he blew a tire, sending him into the wall. He fell two laps down, but battled back to regain the lead lap and finished 17th.

A bigger Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup – in both size and stature – awaits, and to help launch the brand new championship format, NASCAR announced today unprecedented media and fan activities throughout the sport’s “playoffs.”

“We did have a strong run at Richmond earlier this year. We led quite a few laps and we had a Ford Fusion that was capable of winning. This is another one of the tracks where our results are not indicative of our performance. We need to fix that this weekend.

“I think our FedEx team has shown over the past couple months a lot of improvement at a variety of different tracks, and we are close to hitting our stride right when the Chase is about to start. Obviously, Richmond is one of my favorite tracks to race at, and one that we have had success on in the past, but we didn’t run all that well there the last couple times.

“I think it’s going to be a battle. It’s going to be intense. It’s not just about the guys on the cusp for points, it’s about anyone that can win. The intensity is going to kick in. To be honest with you, it’s been there all year. I think that every week you show up, your goal is to win and you do everything you can to try to get that win.”

After qualifying for this weekend's race at Richmond International Raceway (RIR), the final race before The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Aric Almirola and the No. 43 team will officially make The Chase. Last weekend, the team turned their momentum around with a Top-10 finish and look to continue building momentum leading into The Chase this weekend at RIR as Almirola pilots the No. 43 Gwaltney Ford in the 400-mile event.