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Post-Race Report | Richmond Raceway

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Post-Race Report | Richmond Raceway
Toyota Owners 400


AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

Start: 26th
Stage 1 Finish: 30th
Stage 2 Finish: 29th
Finish: 27th

“That was a tough day. The guys did all they could to try to make our No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1 better. I just fought super loose in and burnt the rear tires off it. I wasn’t ever able to get a good balance. We made the best of what we could, it just wasn’t very pretty. Our pitstops were really good – our guys did a great job all day. I just need to be better, so we will keep trying.” – AJ Allmendinger


Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1

Start: 36th
Stage 1 Finish: 27th
Stage 2 Finish: 25th
Finish: 29th

“We couldn’t catch a break today in our LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1. We bounced back early from our drive-through penalty but struggled with an ill-handling car for the majority of the day. We had a pit-road issue on our last green-flag stop, which really sealed our fate at the end. I’m looking forward to getting to Martinsville and putting today behind us.” – Justin Haley

ToyotaCare 250

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AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet

Start: 9th
Stage 1 Finish: 4th
Stage 2 Finish: 5th
Finish: 4th

“This place is really slick and the tires feel hard, so you just kind of slide around. There was no grip, so we were fighting so hard all day. We got everything we could out of our No. 16 Action Industries Chevy. I was hoping we’d get a yellow with like 30 (laps) to go and then have a restart with some new tires. I thought we least could hang with the Gibbs cars for that long. We got top five out of it and haven’t been out of the top 10 yet this year. We’re happy with that, but we know we have some more work to do as a group.” – AJ Allmendinger


Daniel Hemric, No. 11 AG1 Chevrolet

Start: 16th
Stage 1 Finish: 15th
Stage 2 Finish: 13th
Finish: 6th

“It was a tough start to the day for us having to start at the rear after of changing the radiator. Great catch by the No. 11 AG1 team to notice the issue after practice and qualifying and to be willing to trust the speed of our racecar to be able to go to the back and race our way back up. We did that pretty well during the first stage. I put us into a little bit of a hole by speeding in a section that’s notorious for speeding here. It was fun to kind of put it back on my shoulders and for the race to go green like it did and prove I could race back up to the front. I’m proud of our top-10 finish as a group today.” – Daniel Hemric


Landon Cassill, No. 10 Carnomaly Chevrolet

Start: 36th
Stage 1 Finish: 16th
Stage 2 Finish: 14th
Finish: 15th

“It wasn’t the finish we wanted at Richmond in our No. 10 Carnomaly Chevy. I just didn’t save my tires like I am usually pretty good at doing here. We know for next time that we will just have to be better about it when we come back to Richmond. I feel like I can do better than I was today, so we will take what we learned and apply it next time.” – Landon Cassill


About Kaulig Racing™

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and made the Championship 4 round in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons. They will continue fielding three, full-time NXS entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by Landon Cassill, the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Daniel Hemric, and the No. 16 Chevrolet driven by AJ Allmendinger. With multiple wins, Kaulig Racing has come to be one of the top competitors on track each weekend. The team made multiple starts in the NCS in 2021 and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The young team has acquired two charters for the 2022 NCS season, with Justin Haley competing as its first, full-time driver in the series. The team’s second entry will be shared by part-time teammates AJ Allmendinger, Daniel Hemric and Noah Gragson. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

CHEVY NCS AT RICHMOND: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

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NASCAR CUP SERIES
RICHMOND RACEWAY
TOYOTA OWNERS 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES
APRIL 3, 2022

TEAM CHEVY TOP-20 UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
3rd WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1
5th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
8th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
10th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1
12th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1
14th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 A SHOC CAMARO ZL1
16th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
19th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ONX HOMES / IFLY CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kevin Harvick (Ford)
3rd William Byron (Chevrolet)
4th Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)
5th Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Martinsville Speedway with the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 on Saturday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd
“Thought we probably did the best job we could. It didn’t quite work out. I thought there at the end they told me I was just racing the 19. I’m like ok I got him, but then the 4 and the 11 were on a totally different planet. That’s just part of it. There wasn’t anything I could do about them, so it was probably four or five to go and Brandon (Lines) was coaching me on keeping the tires underneath it and having good exits and entries. Especially making those guys go around me on the top was definitely better. The times that guys would get underneath me was really, really hard to get back connected and get a good lap put together. The middle of the race we were terrible and we just couldn’t get in the corner at all and if you can’t get into the corner you can’t put consistent laps together. It’s nice to have a run like we had today.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th
“I assume we netted out good with our strategy or better than we were. I didn’t think those guys the 11 and the 4 were going to get to us, but then all of a sudden, our tires kind of fell off a cliff there and got really slick. We just kind of had to nurse it home. Glad we got a top-five after three bad finishes in a row. We will move on to Martinsville and try to get a good run there.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 16th
“It was a tough day. I just feel like we missed it the entire weekend. We didn’t have the speed yesterday. We didn’t have the speed in qualifying. Today was a battle. I feel like we were OK in the long runs at times, but overall, we just didn’t have a lot of speed. We just have to go back home and try to learn what we did right, what we did wrong and come back strong.”

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 27th
“That was a tough day. The guys did all they could to try to make our No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1 better. I just fought super loose in and burnt the rear tires off it. I wasn’t ever able to get a good balance. We made the best of what we could, it just wasn’t very pretty. Our pitstops were really good – our guys did a great job all day. I just need to be better, so we will keep trying.”

JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 29th
“We couldn’t catch a break today in our LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1. We bounced back early from our drive-through penalty but struggled with an ill-handling car for the majority of the day. We had a pit-road issue on our last green-flag stop, which really sealed our fate for the end. I’m looking forward to getting to Martinsville and putting today behind us.”

TEAM CHEVY – RACE QUICK NOTES
STAGE ONE
· William Byron led the field to the green from a front row starting spot, his third top-10 start of 2022.
· Three Camaro ZL1’s placed in the top-10 at the end of stage one, led by William Byron in second. Ross Chastain was third to conclude the stage; with Chase Elliott rounding out the Team Chevy top-10 in sixth.
STAGE TWO
· Stage two saw the 160-lap run go caution-free.
· Pit strategy played a huge role in track position throughout stage two, with teams making the run either a one or two-stop stage.
· Three Camaro ZL1’s placed in the top-10 of stage two, with Ross Chastain capturing his second top-five stage finish of the day in third. Chase Elliott finished the stage in sixth; with Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, rounding out the Team Chevy top-10 in ninth.

FINAL STAGE
· After a string of cautions at the beginning of the final stage, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 Crew Chief, Rudy Fugle, made a pit strategy call to not pit following the fifth caution of the day, giving William Byron a front row restart position.
· Byron took advantage of the track position, piloting his No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 to the lead on the restart, making it the first time Byon has led in his NASCAR Cup Series career at Richmond Raceway.
· Byron led Team Chevy to two in the top-five and four of the top-10 in the final running order. In seven points-paying races thus far, the Camaro ZL1 has now posted 20 top-five’s and 32 top-10’s to lead all manufacturers.
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Harvick and Blaney Post Top 10 Runs To Lead Ford in Richmond Cup Race

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Toyota Owners 400 – Sunday, April 3, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
2nd – Kevin Harvick
7th – Ryan Blaney
11th – Chase Briscoe
13th – Brad Keselowski
15th – Chris Buescher
17th – Joey Logano
18th – Harrison Burton
20th – Austin Cindric
21st – Aric Almirola
22nd – Cole Custer
25th – Todd Gilliland
30th – Michael McDowell
33rd – JJ Yeley
34th – BJ McLeod
36th – Cody Ware

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Triple Action Formula Ford Mustang – YOU WERE CHASING HAMLIN DOWN AND JUST FELL A LITTLE BIT SHORT. “Yeah, I’m just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for just staying in there and having a great strategy and doing everything that they did all day. It was really the first clean day that we’ve had all year. The cars have been fast and had a shot there at the end. I wanted to be close enough with the white to just take a swipe at him, but the lapped cars kind of got in the way and I lost a little bit of ground. Still, it’s a great day for us and hopefully a little bit of momentum in a positive direction.”

STAGE POINTS IN ALL THREE STAGES FOR A SOLID DAY. “Yeah, it was a good day. We kept chipping away at it and they had the right strategy to win the race and just wound up one short. We finally had a day where nothing went wrong.”

IF WE WENT A LITTLE LONGER WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE RESULT? “That wouldn’t have mattered. The race is what it is as far as distance. I’m just really proud of everyone on our Mobil 1 Ford Mustang. They did a great job. I was hoping to have a shot there when we took the white to be close enough to at least get to his bumper, but I got stuck behind a couple lapped cars there and never really had a chance. It’s still a great day for us. The cars have run good all year. It’s really the first clean day that we’ve had with nothing going wrong, so that’s a good thing.”

WHAT IS THE TAKEAWAY WITH THIS CAR ON A SHORT TRACK? “We’ve run good at both of them, so hopefully that continues.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang — “It’s tough. There were a handful of cars that could kind of run up and run in traffic pretty good and we just weren’t really good enough to run in traffic. Once we lost track position I struggled a little bit, but it’s nice to win a stage. It’s cool to get the pole and good stage points. We finished seventh, my best finish here. Overall, a fun day. It was kind of frustrating because we were running so good early. I wanted to run better, but I can’t complain about it too much. Overall, not a bad day. We just have to find a little bit more speed, but it was nice that we kind of put together some decent notes and have an OK run at Richmond.”

IS TODAY AS MUCH THE CAR HELPS WITH YOUR IMPROVEMENT OR IT’S JUST PART OF YOUR PROGRESSION AT THIS TRACK? “I don’t know. It’s kind of hard to tell like this new car, does it suit me better here? I don’t know. I think it’s a little bit of everything – a little bit of car, a little bit of me just trying to figure out what the heck I need to do here to run better. I still have a lot of figuring out to do, but I think it’s a little bit of everything – car, us working on figuring out what we need to do to kind of hang on here and me studying some stuff, so it’s all kind of all in one.”

YOU HAD A BACK AND FORTH WITH THE 1. HOW DID YOU VIEW THAT EXCHANGE? “I was inside of him into three and I kind of got loose and washed up half a lane and we never touched. I went down into one and he just decided to send me, so the next restart I sent him, so now we’re even, I guess.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – “We obviously had a really good starting position, but in the beginning we fought a lot of balance issues and I think we fell all the way to 28th from fifth. It wasn’t looking the greatest, but we just continued to get our car better. That’s definitely the farthest off we’ve been all year and to still be able to finish 11th is a good day. We got lucky and got a quick caution and was able to get the lucky dog, and from there our car was actually driving pretty good and was able to drive up in the top five at one point. We just tried the gamble strategy with the win already and it didn’t work out. To finish 11th, we probably could have run a little bit better if our tires had held on a little bit more, but after being 25th at one point and a lap down with about 200 to go, we’ll definitely take it.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang – “It’s frustrating because I feel like we were better than 18th, but track position is really hard to get here now. We struggled with being aero tight behind guys, so it was really hard for me to kind of move forward throughout the run because of that. I felt like we had a pretty decent Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang. If we keep going in this direction, I feel like we’re getting a little better every time. It’s good to start running up with guys that we should be running with and building that direction.”

WHAT HAPPENED LATE WHEN YOU WERE THREE WIDE AND SMOKED THE TIRES? “I’m not sure exactly what happened. I know the 9, I think we were four-wide or something. There’s just not a lot of room, so got hit and then smoked a tire, but, other than that, a pretty smooth day so we’ll take it.”

Toyota Gazoo Racing North America NHRA Las Vegas Qualifying Report — 4.2.22

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TOP FUEL TOYOTAS POISED IN TIGHT FIELD FOR LAS VEGAS FOUR-WIDE NATIONALS
GR Supra Funny Cars of DeJoria and Todd Post Top-10 Qualifying Effort

LAS VEGAS (April 2, 2022) – NHRA takes to The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday for the first four-wide event of the 2022 season. Toyota Top Fuel dragsters all qualified within six one-hundreths of a second to each other while the GR Supra Funny Cars qualified top-10.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series
The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 4 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

NameCarQualifying PositionFirst Round Opponent
Mike Salinas3.722Top Fuel Dragster*1A. BrownT. Schumacher
Justin Ashley3.748 Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster4C. MillicanA. ProckJ. Maroney
Doug Kalitta3.759Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster6L. PruettS. LangdonR. Passey
Steve Torrence3.761Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster7B. ForceJ. HartC. Ferre
Antron Brown3.762Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster8M. SalinasT. Schumacher
Shawn Langdon3.808DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster11L. PruettD. KalittaR. Passey

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

NameCarQualifying PositionFirst Round Opponent
Ron Capps3.883NAPA Funny Car*1J. CampbellT. WilkersonJ. Todd
J.R. Todd3.943DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car9R. CappsJ. CampbellT. Wilkerson
Alexis DeJoria3.958Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car10J. ForceB. BodeC. Pedregon

(*non-Toyota driver)

McDowell races to XR Super Series Late Model victory; Madden scores $100,000 series bonus to close out Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway

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Veteran racer Dale McDowell scored the $50,000 XR Super Series Late Model victory Saturday night in the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway. It is McDowell's second Bristol victory as the Georgia racer also won a Super Late Model victory at Bristol in 2000 when BMS first converted the track to a dirt surface.

BRISTOL, Tenn. (April 2, 2022) – Veteran racer Dale McDowell earned the $50,000 payday Saturday night for winning the 50-lap XR Super Series Late Models feature race to close out two strong weeks of racing during the Karl Kustoms Bristol Dirt Nationals.

In other racing tonight at Bristol Motor Speedway, Brandon Gibson Jr. won the Hornets feature, Jody Knowles won the 604 Late Model feature and Michael Asberry earned the Open Modified victory.

The night’s other big winner didn’t take a checkered flag but he took home the biggest check. Second-place Super Late Model finisher Chris Madden claimed the $100,000 XR Super Late Model Series bonus for earning the most points during the four-race, two-weekend event. With his two victories, runner-up finish, 12th place finish and the series bonus it brings Madden’s total two-week earnings to more than $230,000.

Madden won his heat race but was penalized two spots for an infraction that was discovered during post-race inspection. He started 12th in the feature and had to work his way to the front to secure the $100,000.

“It’s pretty awesome, we overcame a mountain tonight and we came back and did what we had to do to get the bonus,” Madden said. “We had to take a two-spot knock and start 12th and it says a lot about my team and how we can bounce back. Our car was good enough to get us back in it and it says a lot for our team. I never doubted us being able to do it. Our car, our team is in a great position to be able to win some races and get some things done.”

It was McDowell’s second Bristol victory as he also claimed the 2000 Super Late Model victory the first time BMS was converted to a dirt track.

“It’s unbelievable, we’ve had a really good year,” McDowell said. “I can’t thank the guys who work on this thing enough because they made my job easier. This one is for the old guys. It’s awesome to be back here at Bristol 22 years later. We had a little misfortune and had to change front pinons while the B-Main was going on. I’ve got to thank the good Lord above for making all this possible.”

Chris Ferguson finished third, Scott Bloomquist was fourth and Jimmy Owens finished fifth. NASCAR Cup champ Kyle Larson won his heat race and qualified well but had a problem at the start of the feature and posted a 21st place finish.

Kyle Strickler set a track record during his heat race victory with a best lap time of 14.879 seconds at a speed of 128.96 mph, but fell to 14th in the feature. Mike Marlar also had a strong car in the heat race but crashed into turn four when a tire went down. The crash totaled his car and he had to pull out the backup car for the feature and ultimately finished 24th.

In Open Modified, Crossville, Tenn. native Michael Asberry scored the 30-lap feature victory, his third feature win of the week. Asberry held off Kyle Strickler, Clay Harris, Zach Johnson and Mitch Thomas for the win.

“It felt great,” Asberry said. “We worked on the car every day for the last two months. The track felt faster to me this year, it was really smooth out there. Just to be here and say you’ve won at Bristol, it’s a big deal.”

Gibson, from Dry Ridge, Ky., worked his way to the front in the 30-lap Hornets feature and took over the lead on lap 14 and he held on for the victory.

“It felt really good through the center of the corner,” Gibson said. “I started in the back every race this week. I’ve been really good having patience and not trying to win on the first lap. This deal is a different animal. This track is so fast, it’s a lot of fun.”

John Windham, Brandon Dalton, Walker Windham and Jake Benischek completed the top five.
Knowles, from Tyrone, Ga., took home the $5,000 prize for winning the 604 Late Model feature. Knowles led all 20 laps of the race and took the checkered flag in front of Monk Gullege and John Winge.

“I knew all week it was going to be about getting a good starting spot and I just really wanted this one,” Knowles said. “This is awesome man. Those first two were special, but this one is what we’re here for. I was here last year and didn’t have any luck but we got it done this time. You really couldn’t ask for no better with the track, this place is fast.”

Dirt racing action continues at BMS during the month of April with the return of NASCAR to the dirt with the running of the Food City Dirt Race under the lights on Easter Sunday, April 17, and the Pinty’s Truck Race on Dirt on Saturday night, April 16. The World of Outlaws Bristol Bash, featuring both the NOS Sprint Cars and the Case Construction Late Models, returns to the high banks April 28-30. It is the first time in history that the two World of Outlaws premier classes will compete together on the same weekend.

XR Super Series Late Model Results

  1. Dale McDowell
  2. Chris Madden
  3. Chris Ferguson
  4. Scott Bloomquist
  5. Jimmy Owens
  6. Earl Pearson Jr.
  7. Darrell Lanigan
  8. Ross Bailes
  9. Garrett Smith
  10. Ricky Weiss
  11. Brandon Sheppard
  12. Kyle Bronson
  13. Mark Whitener
  14. Kyle Strickler
  15. Ricky Thornton Jr.
  16. Dakotah Knuckles
  17. Jonathan Davenport
  18. Devin Moran
  19. Joseph Joiner
  20. Jason Papich
  21. Kyle Larson
  22. Brandon Overton
  23. Shane Clanton
  24. Mike Marlar

Open Modified Results

  1. Michael Asberry
  2. Kyle Strickler
  3. Clay Harris
  4. Zach Johnson
  5. Mitch Thomas
  6. Jason Ingalls
  7. Jake Hartung
  8. Trevor Anderson
  9. Jonathan Olmscheid
  10. Phil Dixon
  11. Ryan Stiens
  12. Jason Beaulieu
  13. Tyler Nicely
  14. Shad Badder
  15. Brandon Hutchinson
  16. Daniel Sanchez
  17. Richard Lentz
  18. Eddie Martin
  19. T.J. Tolleson

604 Late Models Results

  1. Jody Knowles
  2. Monk Gulledge
  3. John Winge
  4. Jake Cheatham
  5. John Trowbridge
  6. Tommy Eastridge

Hornets Results

  1. Brandon Gibson Jr.
  2. John Windham
  3. Brandon Dalton
  4. Walker Windham
  5. Jake Benischek
  6. Jack Pflum
  7. Joe Pflum
  8. Chuck Fullenkamp
  9. Brad Chandler
  10. Ryan Eversole
  11. Nathan Chandler
  12. Pete Doxey
  13. Josh Barnes
  14. Jay Lowman
  15. Josh Lank
  16. Cyle Hawkins
  17. Harvey Yoder
  18. Clint Cox
  19. Brody Rivest
  20. Donavan Beacham
  21. Colton St. John
  22. Nate Coopman
  23. Josh Lank Jr.
  24. Corey Crispin

Three Camaro ZL1’s qualify in the top-10 at Richmond Raceway

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William Byron will lead the field to the green Sunday afternoon from the front row after qualifying second.  

FOX will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway live at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow, Sunday, April 3. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

2nd WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1
5th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
8th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ONX HOMES / IFLY CAMARO ZL1
14th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
15th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 A SHOC CAMARO ZL1
16th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1
21st KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
23rd LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 VOYAGER: CRYPTO FOR ALL CAMARO ZL1
25th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1
26th AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1
28th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
30th TY DILLON, NO. 42 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1
31st COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 NATIONS GUARD CAMARO ZL1
32nd RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 SUNNYD CAMARO ZL1
36th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1
37th GREG BIFFLE, NO. 44 NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:

1st Ryan Blaney (Ford)
2nd William Byron (Chevrolet)
3rd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
4th Chase Briscoe (Ford)
5th Erik Jones (Chevrolet)

FOX will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway live at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow, Sunday, April 3. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

RCR NXS Post Race Report: Richmond

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Sheldon Creed Shows Never-Give-Up Attitude at Richmond Raceway in the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet

Finish: 22nd

Start: 13th

Points: 12th

“I really thought we were going to have a strong No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet today at Richmond Raceway. We started the race 13th and fired off decent at the beginning of the run. Unfortunately, it didn’t stay that way. We struggled for most of the day with handling issues and a lack of drive, but this Richard Childress Racing team never gave up. I’m so proud of them for all of their hard work. We’ve got some work to do in the shop and I will go back and study my notes for this track. We’ve got a lot of fight left in this team. On to Martinsville.”  Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Battle Hard at Richmond Raceway

Finish: 18th

Start: 4th

Points: 9th

“I thought we were pretty decent at the start of the race. Our Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet was free on entry and a little tight in the center. The main thing I needed at the beginning of Stage 1 was forward drive. It fired off better on that next run, but toward the end of Stage 2, I thought something happened to the left front. We were keeping up with the No. 7 car and then we suddenly got really tight. It was like a light switch. We pitted for tires and adjustments and got back inside the top 10 but with about 40 laps to go the same thing happened with the left front. It’s frustrating but we’ll bounce back next week at Martinsville Speedway.” Austin Hill

Herbst Scores Strong Fifth-Place Finish at Richmond

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Monster Energy Driver Earns Third Top-Five of 2022

Overview:

Riley Herbst wheeled his No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang to a strong fifth-place finish in the Richmond 250 Saturday at Richmond (Va.) Raceway. The 23-year-old from Las Vegas started 24th in the 250-lap race around the .75-mile oval, but he didn’t stay there long. Herbst was 13th at the end of the first stage and thanks to quick pit work by his Stewart-Haas Racing crew, Herbst was among the top-10 for the start of the second stage, ultimately finishing ninth to pick up two valuable bonus points. The third and final stage consisted of 100 laps and Herbst was methodical on every tour of the track as the race stayed green through to the finish, with Herbst rising to fifth when the checkered flag waved to earn his third top-five of the season.

Event: Richmond 250 (Round 7 of 33)

Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series

Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway (.75-mile oval)

Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (75 laps/75 laps/100 laps)

Start/Finish: 24th / 5th (Running, completed 250 of 250 laps)

Point Standing: 11th (179 points, 124 out of first)

Race Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Winner: John Hunter Nemechek of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 2 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“That was good from qualifying so far back to finishing fifth. It’s just frustrating. I feel like we need to fire off better on runs and then start up front and we can win some races. We’ve just been coming from behind the whole year and it’s frustrating. All in all, though, fifth is better than a DNF (Did Not Finish).”

Notes:              

● Ty Gibbs won the Richmond 250 to score his seventh career Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his first at Richmond. His margin over second-place John Hunter Nemechek was .116 of a second.

● There were three caution periods for a total of 24 laps.

● Nineteen of the 38 drivers in the Richmond 250 finished on the lead lap.

● AJ Allmendinger leaves Richmond as the championship leader with a 20-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:          

The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 Powered by Call 811.com on Friday, April 8 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The race starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  

Ford Performance NASCAR: Blaney Wins Third Straight Pole, Takes Top Spot at Richmond 

By
Official Release
-

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes

NASCAR Cup Series

Toyota Owners 400 Qualifying

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Ford Qualifying Results:

1st – Ryan Blaney

4th – Chase Briscoe

7th – Kevin Harvick

10th – Aric Almirola

11th – Joey Logano

12th – Cole Custer

17th – Harrison Burton

18th – Chris Buescher

19th – Brad Keselowski

20th – Austin Cindric

22nd – Todd Gilliland

24th – Michael McDowell

33rd – Cody Ware

34th – BJ McLeod

35th – JJ Yeley

POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters Ford Mustang — THIS HASN’T BEEN YOUR BEST TRACK, BUT THINGS HAVE BEEN GETTING BETTER.  WHAT HAS CHANGED AT THIS PLACE FOR YOU?  “I will say it’s definitely not been my best place at all.  I struggled here really bad for years and I still don’t feel like I’m great here at all or let alone very good.  We’ve worked really hard on figuring out what to do better here from myself to how we kind of unload with the car to be more competitive in the race, and that’s been years in progress of me just trying to figure out what the heck I need to do.  I feel like everyone has done a really good job to bring a fast car.  Qualifying on the pole here is one thing.  Racing here is a completely other thing.  It’s great we got the pole, but now it’s time to switch to race mode and, ‘OK, what do we have to do to be able to hold on in the race?’  The new car is a little bit different here driving-wise.  It’s kind of a fresh start for me having a new car here at this place and just working really hard with everybody at Penske on the 12 team to figure out, ‘OK, what do I need to do to just get more competitive here.’  Even though it’s not in the playoffs this year, you don’t want to run bad anywhere.  You need to be able to adapt to different racetracks, so just a fast car and a lot of hard work.”

HOW MUCH WAS SAVING THAT ONE LAP BY DESIGN AND THEN TO HAVE IT WORK OUT?  “We planned on running two.  I feel like most guys were better on their second lap and we just put down a good lap on our first lap and Josh called me off of two.  I think that helped out, for sure.  The air-pressure stuff, we didn’t really bank on having crazy high air-pressure for like we just need one lap, but it just worked out that way to where we were able to save half-a-lap on tires and I think that definitely played into it.”

HAVE YOU SEEN THINGS CHANGE THE LAST 5-7 YEARS WHERE THIS SPORT HAS BECOME MORE CUT-THROAT TO WHERE GUYS HAVE TO DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO WIN?  “Yeah.  I feel like it’s all situational.  Obviously, the playoff system and the way it is you have to take your opportunity when you can to try to get in – win and get in.  The deal last week, a lot of people gave Ross a hard time for that, but he got moved first and he moved AJ back and the 48 was unfortunately just kind of an innocent bystander, but I thought it was fair game last week.  Restarts get more aggressive, ramped up than I’d say they used to be.  I wish I could tell you why, but that’s just kind of the way it is and you have to adapt and do the same as everyone else because if you’re not the aggressor, you’re getting used up by somebody else who is going to be the aggressor on these restarts and throughout the race.  I think just a huge emphasis on winning, especially when you’re going for your first win.  I think that’s fair, but that’s kind of the way things are right now.  You have to be the aggressor to an extent.  You can’t really do anything malicious.  I’ve never really been that way, but you have to do what it takes to try to win the race and put yourself in the best spot possible to have a good end of the season.”

ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT TAKING CARE OF TIRES WHEN YOU MENTION RACING DIFFERENTLY?  “Yeah.  The tires fall off so bad here and you have to kind of be able to separate the two from qualifying.  You’re not gonna run any laps in the race like we just ran in qualifying as far as how you drive the car.  You just can’t abuse the tires like that or else you’re really gonna be struggling, so we made a really long run in practice.  We made one 45-lapper and just try to get your head back in that mindset of, ‘OK, this is what I’ve got to do to save my tires,’ and things like that.  It’s just such a different mindset from qualifying to the race here, I feel like, more than most other racetracks that we go to just because the pace slows down so much and your grip after three laps just continues to go away.  So changing that mindset up and trying to change your car up a little bit to account for that and hopefully, we hit it right and hopefully I can do a good job tomorrow and learn from what we’ve learned here in the past.”

YOU WERE FASTEST IN 10-LAP AVERAGE?  “Yeah, I felt like we were OK there.  We’ll try to get better, just like late in a run – like 35 laps on.  There were some guys that were better than us, so just trying to work on that.”

WHAT ABOUT THIS NEW CAR HAS ALLOWED YOU TO QUALIFY SO WELL?  “Yeah, it’s been really neat and fun Saturdays for sure.  I think that’s three poles in a row for us – every time we’ve qualified – Phoenix, COTA and here.  It’s been a lot of fun.  I don’t know.  I wish I could pull one thing out.  Obviously, really fast race cars.  Jonathan Hassler has done a great job of unloading pretty quick this year, right away, and then backing it up with pretty fast race cars even though some of the finishes we’ve had hasn’t really reflected on how we’ve been running this year.  I feel like we’ve had a really good year, it’s just trying to clean some stuff up and get some things better.  We’ve got really fast race cars.  I thought the race car kind of saved me a little bit today in the second round.  I thought I had a pretty ugly lap I put together and the car had enough speed to put up a good lap.  Everyone on the 12 group, Jonathan Hassler and everybody, is doing a good job and continue to do it.”

CONSIDERING THE SEVERITY OF LOSING A WHEEL.  HAVE YOU SPENT MORE TIME FOCUSING ON THAT ASPECT OF YOUR PIT STOPS?  “It’s a big penalty.  We’ve tried to put a big emphasis on that from day one.  When there was a handful of guys who had that problem at Daytona that kind of got sorted out as far as the way they make the wheels.  To be honest with you, we’ve kind of been too hesitant on that to an extent of having too much torque on our nuts – making sure that doesn’t happen and it slows the stop down by making sure of that.  So, it’s a balancing act between the two.  How tight do you want these things to get torqued each pit stop, which you’re losing time, but the penalty and the risk is huge.  We have a great pit department.  They do a great job on figuring out what things need to happen and what things absolutely cannot happen.  It’s about communication, too, from changer and jackman.  I mean, those guys have to be on the same page.  If the jackman drops it early and the changer doesn’t know, it’s a bad deal.  We’ve put a big emphasis on it, for sure, but sometimes it kind of catches guys out to where you don’t know maybe if it’s loose and it comes off before you can even get to pit road.  It’s not like last year where I’ve got a few lug nuts off, I’ve got to come back down and put lugnuts on it.  You’re most likely not making it back to pit road if it’s that loose, so it’s a thing our team really has focused on because it’s a big penalty – for a lot of guys.”

F1 ANNOUNCED A THIRD U.S. RACE BEING ADDED TO VEGAS.  WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT AND IS IT BECOMING A COMPETITION FOR THIS SPORT AND OTHER FORMS OF MOTORSPORTS IN THE U.S.?  “I don’t think it’s a competition.  Have at it.  Come over here.  I love F1.  I think if you ask anybody in motorsports, you’re just fans of other forms of motorsport.  You’re fascinated by what’s different and what’s the same, how they operate compared to us.  I got the chance to go to an F1 race in Spa a few years ago and it was really, really cool just to see their world.  There are a lot of similarities in how it operates, but a lot of different things, so I think it’s great.  It’s cool that they’re coming to two brand new tracks in the U.S. from Miami and then Vegas, so I think it’s great and it’s definitely not a competition.  It’s not gonna hurt our sport any.  I think it’s just great to have a different form of motorsport over here because for the longest time there were no F1 races in America very much and I think it’s good to have more interest from America into the F1 scene.  I think it helps motorsports all around,j so I would definitely like to go to the race if I get the chance next year, but, no, I think it’s just great for motorsports in general and I welcome them with open arms.”

Ford Performance NASCAR: Three Ford’s Post Top 10 Xfinity Runs at Richmond 

By
Official Release
-

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes

NASCAR Xfinity Series

ToyotaCare 250

Saturday, April 2, 2022

Ford Finishing Results:

5th – Riley Herbst

9th – Ryan Sieg

10th – Parker Retzlaff

16th – Ryan Preece

29th- Joe Graf Jr.

32nd – JJ Yeley

34th – Joey Gase

37th – Kyle Sieg

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang — “That was good from qualifying dead last to finish fifth.  It’s just frustrating.  I feel like we need to fire off better on runs and then start up front and we can win races.  I feel like we’ve just been coming from behind the whole year.  It’s frustrating, but, all in all, fifth is better than a DNF.”

DO YOU FEEL YOUR RACE STRATEGY IS GOOD, YOU JUST NEED TO FOCUS ON PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING?  “I think so.  It’s just a fight to get our balance and then once we do get our balance we’re fast.  I think qualifying if huge and we’ve got to get it.”

WAS STAGE 3 THE BEST THE CAR HAD BEEN ALL DAY?  YOU RAN FROM 12TH TO 5TH IN THAT STAGE.  “We didn’t have any setup changes all day through the stages.  It’s just track position.  We saved a little bit better than other people, but it’s just frustrating.”

RYAN SIEG, No. 39 A-Game Ford Mustang – “The right-front tire is corded.  We struggled all day with that with the 75-lap runs and then we had a 100-lap run, so it just fell apart at the end.  All in all, it was a good day.  We knew it was like that, but we tried to manage with air pressure.  We made it better in the middle run and then this last run we tried to adjust and we got it turning too good, but we knew that we had to get camber out of that right-front for the air-pressure, but, all in all, it was a good day for our A-Game Ford.  We were so good the first two stages that I wanted to finish it off, but that long run fell apart on us.”

DO YOU FEEL THIS TEAM IS COMING TOGETHER?  “Yeah, definitely.  We’re getting better and better each week.  We’re gaining on it.  Each week we’re closer to the top five, which is a big gain for us.  We just have to keep at it and luckily we go to another short track, so hopefully, this will carry over and we’ll pick up where we left off at the beginning of this race.”

PARKER RETZLAFF, No. 38 Ponsse Ford Mustang – HOW ARE YOU MAKING THIS LOOK SO EASY IN JUST YOUR SECOND START?  “I passed a lot of cars and then we got a penalty on pit road, so I had to go back to last.  I just followed Noah and Josh up through the field and it ended up just working out for me.  It was just such a good car from everyone at RSS.  I don’t know.  I’m speechless.”

HOW DID REALITY COMPARE TO VIRTUAL AND THE IRACING WORLD?  “It’s really a lot cooler just being on TV and everything and me being able to compete this good.  Hopefully, we can take this momentum to next week.”

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