With just two races remaining in the regular season, the stars of the NASCAR Cup Series vie for one of the three remaining playoff spots at none other than the Action Track.
Armed with super soft tires this weekend, Richmond Raceway’s abrasive surface offers the perfect venue for veteran drivers that take care of their equipment over an arduous 300-mile, 400-lap journey.
This long-standing short track owns a number of NASCAR’s most famous and most infamous moments. Whether it be the site of Tony Stewart’s maiden Cup Series victory or Austin Dillon’s double takedown on Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin, Richmond never fails to generate conversation amongst the fanbase.
Just 13 drivers managed to win in the regular season to this point, which means one driver is guaranteed to coast into the playoffs on points. But, will someone like Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher, or Ryan Preece risk it all to get a victory?
At a place like Richmond Raceway, there’s simply not enough room to take it easy or play it safe. Find out who advances tonight, under the lights, at Richmond Raceway.
Last Week at Watkins Glen…
Ryan Blaney started on pole last week in the Finger Lakes region of New York, and while he managed to keep himself in front of Shane van Gisbergen for the entire first stage and a half, the deft Kiwi staggered his pit strategy, which inevitably vaulted him to the top spot.
Much like most road course races to this point in the 2025 season, SVG pulled away to a double-digit margin over the field and marched to his fourth win of the season, breaking the all-time mark for a rookie. For a more detailed breakdown of last week’s race, check out the venerable Joe Sell’s recap of the Go Bowling at the Glen.
This Week in NASCAR
Much like the weeks preceding this one, Monday kicked off the news week with a bang as Spire Motorsports’ Truck Series outfit decided to part ways with driver Andrés Pérez de Lara, effective immediately.
Not even five minutes later, Niece Motorsports jumped at the chance to add the reigning ARCA Menards Series champion to their driver lineup after Kaden Honeycutt’s dismissal.
Back in the courtroom, NASCAR filed a motion for a show cause order in their antitrust case against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports last week, but Judge Kenneth Bell struck the motion down.
Xfinity Series driver Connor Zilisch’s fall in victory lane at Watkins Glen last week resulted in a broken collarbone, which he had surgically repaired this week. Zilisch is expected to make a full recovery from the injury, but no announcements have been made regarding his schedule for the remainder of 2025.
In other news, Xfinity Series driver Josh Williams landed on his feet this week by taking a partial schedule with Alpha Prime Racing for the rest of the 2025 season.
Williams’ recent dismissal from Kaulig Racing after a year-and-a-half together came as a shock of many, but the fan-favorite racer looks to have a new, temporary home for the rest of the season.
In the Craftsman Truck Series, a familiar face took the pole. Corey Heim set the fastest time in qualifying and sprinted out to an early lead as the green flag fell.
Though Heim seemed to have the dominant truck on the short run, defending series champion Ty Majeski scooted by him around the 30-lap mark, allowing the Wisconsinite to pull away and sweep both stages.
Unfortunately for Majeski, a race that seemed pretty well in hand got ripped away by a teammate’s mistake as the lapped truck of Matt Crafton dove to Majeski’s inside in turn 3, hit some fluid on the bottom line, and ran his ThorSport teammate over with 40 laps to go.
This set up a run to the finish between Heim and Majeski that now favored the 11 truck, and with the damage sustained in the crash with Crafton, Majeski’s truck lost some speed.
In the end, Corey Heim continued gis pure domination this season, winning the Eero 250 to claim his seventh victory of the year.
Back to the Cup Series, RFK Racing driver Ryan Preece landed the pole for tonight’s Cook Out 400 with 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick joining him on the front row. Here is a look at the starting lineup.
The Race
Today’s race airs on USA Network at 7:30pm Eastern time with Leigh Diffey, Jeff Burton, and Steve Letarte on the call.
The Cook Out 400 runs for 300 miles over 400 laps, which will be split up into three stages ending at the following laps: 70-230-400.
As for the average Richmond summer race, it looks something like this: 6 cautions for 36 caution laps, 17 lead changes, and an average duration of 3 hours and 3 minutes.
When it comes to late in the race, the lapped truck of final caution flies somewhere around lap 335 (or 66 laps to go) while overtime has only occurred three times since 2015, including in last year’s race.
Writer’s Pick
Last week, I took Shane van Gisbergen, and because of that, I won again as well.
This week, I’m taking Denny Hamlin to come away with the Cook Out 400 crown.
In a race where tire wear seems like it’ll play a significant factor in today’s outcome, there are few drivers in the field I trust to manage their cars at a high level. One of those drivers is Hamlin, a Virginia native chasing that elusive first Cup Series title.
(Top Photo Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
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