Good news, bad news for NASCAR Cup teams heading to Richmond
NASCAR prepares for an Easter race, but this time it will be at Richmond Raceway.
The short track will host its first Easter Cup race since 1989 on Sunday. This marks the third consecutive year the Cup Series has raced on the holiday. Bristol has hosted the previous two Easter races.
Here’s a look at where things stand for each Cup organization heading into the seventh race of the season:
23XI Racing — Good news: Tyler Reddick’s fifth-place finish at COTA gives him a top-10 finish in all four starts at that road course. Bad news: Reddick and teammate Bubba Wallace both have never finished in the top 10 in a Cup race at Richmond.
Front Row Motorsports — Good news: COTA is over. Bad news: Both Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland have never scored any stage points at Richmond.
Hendrick Motorsports — Good news: William Byron is the first driver to win two races in a season for a third year in a row after his COTA victory. Nine times in the last 10 years the first repeat winner went on to the Championship 4. Kyle Larson is the defending winner of the Richmond spring race. Alex Bowman has had three top-five finishes this season. He had four top fives last year and also the year before. Bad news: Byron does not have a top-10 finish in his last three starts at Richmond.
Joe Gibbs Racing — Good news: Ty Gibbs has scored five consecutive top-10 finishes, the best in his Cup career, and the longest active streak in the series. Christopher Bell has three consecutive top 10s, including a win (Phoenix) and a runner-up (COTA). Martin Truex Jr. leads the season standings by five points on Gibbs. Bad news: Joe Gibbs Racing has gone three races without a win at Richmond. That is the longest drought between wins for the organization at Richmond since 2015.
Can anyone challenge Joe Gibbs Racing, Hendrick Motorsports in Cup?
The two organizations have won five of the first six points races and led nearly two-thirds of the laps run this year.
JTG Daugherty Racing — Good news: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. has scored stage points in three of six races this season. He has scored 12 stage points in those races. Last year, he scored one stage point in the last 20 races of the season. Bad news: Stenhouse last had a top-10 finish at Richmond in April 2017. He placed fourth.
Kaulig Racing — Good news: AJ Allmendinger finished sixth at COTA, tying the organization’s best finish this year. Allmendinger was sixth in the Daytona 500. Bad news: Kaulig Racing has had one top-20 finish at Richmond in the Next Gen era. That was a 17th-place finish by Chandler Smith last spring.
Legacy Motor Club — Good news: John Hunter Nemechek has earned points in three of the last four stages. Bad news: Erik Jones’ average finish at Richmond is 22.6, his worst among the short tracks.
Richard Childress Racing — Good news: Kyle Busch finished ninth at COTA, snapping a streak of three consecutive finishes outside the top 20. He has completed all but one lap in 36 Cup races at Richmond, winning six of those races. Busch placed third and Austin Dillon was ninth at Richmond last July, in the most recent race there. Bad news: The organization has not had a top 10 in the five races on an oval 1 mile or less since that Richmond race last year.
Ty Gibbs takes top spot in NASCAR Power Rankings after COTA
Ty Gibbs has been NASCAR’s most consistent driver this season.
Rick Ware Racing — Good news: Justin Haley crossed the finish line 17th at COTA. Bad news: NASCAR disqualified his car after it failed minimum weight in post-race inspection. He was credited with placing 39th. That dropped Haley from 26th to 31st in the points.
RFK Racing — Good news: Chris Buescher won at Richmond last year in the most recent Cup race there. He has scored three consecutive top-10 finishes. Buescher is making his 300th career start this weekend. Buescher’s teammate, Brad Keselowski, is the last driver to win in their 300th Cup start. Keselowski accomplished the feat in 2017 in the Talladega playoff race. Bad news: Keselowski has three 33rd-place finishes in six races this year — Daytona 500, Atlanta and COTA.
Spire Motorsports — Good news: Zane Smith finished 19th at COTA, snapping a four-race streak of finishing 29th or worse. Bad news: Corey LaJoie has never finished better than 21st in 12 career starts at Richmond.
NASCAR official says ‘work to be done’ after dozens of penalties called at COTA
NASCAR issued a total of 40 penalties in the Cup, Xfinity and Truck races for short cutting the course.
Stewart-Haas Racing — Good news: Chase Briscoe ranks ninth in the series in most points scored on short tracks in the Next Gen era. That’s best among the SHR drivers. Bad news: SHR’s four drivers have combined for one top-10 finish in Cup at Richmond. That was by Josh Berry last year when he drove the No. 9 in place of an injured Chase Elliott.
Team Penske — Good news: Joey Logano has three consecutive top 10s at Richmond, longest current streak among active drivers. Bad news: Logano’s average finish of 22.6 this season is his worst through the first six races of a season since 2011.
Trackhouse Racing — Good news: Ross Chastain’s average finishing position (10.0) is nine positions better than his average starting position (19.3) That’s the biggest jump from starting spot to finishing spot in the Cup Series. Bad news: Daniel Suarez has not had a top-15 finish in his last seven Cup races at Richmond.
Wood Brothers Racing — Good news: Harrison Burton’s average starting spot this season is 20.5. His average starting spot last season was 25.3. Bad news: Burton’s average finishing spot this season is 28.2. His average finishing position last season was 24.7.
