This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series went to the 3/4 mile Richmond Raceway. One of the oldest circuits in NASCAR, having held Cup Series races at the tenured facility since 1953.
Ryan Preece and Tyler Reddick led the field to the green flag as the sun set in the background. Chris Buescher dropped early with an ill-handling car, hurting his track position as he fights on the cutline
Pit stops start on lap 31 with Kyle Larson and William Byron being the earliest of takers and about half the field pitting before lap 40 sans a handful of drivers who attempted to gain a tire advantage for the end of the race. These include pole sitter Preece, Chase Elliott, Alex Bowman, Carson Hocevar, and his Spire teammates of Michael McDowell and Justin Haley.
Denny Hamlin and the rest of the field on fresh rubber made quick work slicing into the advantage of those on the alternate strategy, Tyler Reddick got by team owner Hamlin and leader Preece on lap 59, setting sail aiming for a stage win to widen the gap to the cutline. Bubba Wallace also got by his team owner to sweep the top two positions of the stage for 23XI
Stage One Results:
- Tyler Reddick
- Bubba Wallace
- Denny Hamlin
- Austin Dillon
- Austin Cindric
- Christopher Bell
- Ryan Blaney
- Brad Keselowski
- Josh Berry
- Daniel Suarez
Pit stops during the stage break saw Wallace beat Reddick off pit road. Penalties were handed down for Hamlin for speeding, as well as A.J. Almendinger and Chase Elliott for vehicle interference. Wallace held serve on the start of stage two as Christopher Bell got past second as the field settled in for the second stage. Hamlin and Elliott were able to make ground up quickly through the field but Almendinger ended up falling a lap down before most green flag pit stops even started outside of a few early takers in Preece and McDowell who tried to three-stop the stage. Buescher, Elliott and Hamlin followed a few laps later. This dominoed into a flurry of pit stops for the rest of the field. Kyle Busch got nabbed for speeding as Austin Dillon cycled to the lead after the first set of pit stops albeit on older tires. Wallace and Reddick resumed control of the race back in their hands after passing Dillon.
Preece pitted for a second time on lap 151, being the earliest of those to split the stage into even thirds. This did not draw many guys down pit road to counter him as it would be another 13 laps before green flag stops would start for the majority of the field. Mid pit cycle caution would fly on lap 181 as Suarez appeared to move Ty Gibbs and inadvertently sent him into the 45 of Reddick. This trapped those from the 24th on back a lap down. Including Elliott who got the free pass and Shane Van Gisbergen who was running in the top 20 before pit cycles.
Wallace led over Suarez on the restart with 42 laps to go in the stage, they only made it two laps before Cody Ware was spun by John Hunter Nemechek. Van Gisbergen got the free pass. Another melee occurred on the ensuing restart as Kyle Busch got into Chase Briscoe into turn 3 and collected Hamlin, Keselowski, and a plethora of other competitors, Elliott was also tagged by Busch and put into the outside wall after additional contact from his teammate William Byron which ended his day.
After the cleanup we got back racing with 17 laps to go in the second stage, Wallace broke clear for the lead while Blaney and Suarez battled for second behind him. Racing throughout the field did not drop a beat as we had drivers running two and three wide through the field trying to put themselves in the best position for the final stage. Wallace won the second stage, making a clean sweep of the stages for 23XI.
Stage 2 Results:
- Bubba Wallace
- Daniel Suarez
- Ryan Blaney
- Austin Dillon
- Alex Bowman
- Ryan Preece
- Carson Hocevar
- Austin Cindric
- William Byron
- Kyle Larson
Pit stops saw Mcdowell make a bold choice to take two tires and leapfrogged the leaders coming off pit road. Bell had to back into his pit stall to fix a tire that wasnt secured properly costing him all his track position. Austin Dillon would get the lead of the restart after Mcdowell would force his way under Wallace on the second lap of the restart only to be passed by three cars instead of just the two leaders. McDowell quickly fell through the field as Dillon began to stretch iut a lead over Wallace. Things calmed back down a touch as we barreled towards green flag pit stops. Which started on lap 269 with Carson Hocevar. Wallace had a tire come off on his stop but was able to stop in Briscoes stall and get it reattached. This eliminated him from race win competition. Bell also received a speeding penalty. Gibbs had a brake issue that started a fire, however he was able to continue.
After stops Hocevar cycled to the lead. Blaney was able to take the lead as we hit 100 laps to go with Dillon close behind him. The next round of pit stops started on lap 322 with Hocevar’s crew dropping the jack on the right side of his car. Dillon and Blaney engaged in a dogfight for the lead as we approached 70 laps to go. Dillon took the lead and immediately pitted as we hit 60 laps to go. Blaney pitted 4 laps later and came out five seconds behind Dillon on track. Hocevar on the alternate strategy pitted for the last time on lap 359 but again had more pit issues that moved him further from contention. Dillon continued to hold serve as Blaney and Bowman tried to chip into his lead. Bowman moved to second place as we hit 15 laps to go. Bowman made a late race charge and despite his best efforts, Dillon would hold on to back up his win from a year ago and lock himself into the playoffs.
Final results
1. Austin Dillon
2. Alex Bowman
3. Ryan Blaney
4. Joey Logano
5. Austin Cindric
6. Kyle Larson
7. Daniel Suarez
8. Josh Berry
9. Brad Keselowski
10. Denny Hamlin
Photo Credit: @NASCAR on X
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