Chevy Rock & Roll 400 Qualifying Update

Richmond International Raceway -- 09/06/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Sunday Sep 7 2008 2:22am

As I predicted in my Richmond race preview on Wednesday, weather is already one of the biggest stories of the weekend.

Heavy rain from Tropical Storm Hanna forced the cancellation of all the scheduled NASCAR events at RIR from Friday afternoon through Saturday night - including qualifying for the Nationwide and Cup series races - and postponement of the races themselves.

The National Weather Service is currently forecasting sunny skies in the Richmond area Sunday with highs in the upper 80s. The Cup race is scheduled for 1 pm EST Sunday, with the Nationwide race to follow at 7:00 pm EST.

This was originally planned to be an impound race weekend, with no practices scheduled after qualifying. There was supposed to be just one practice session, which was to be held Friday before qualifying.

Surprisingly, the Cup series did manage to get that one practice on the books before the rains moved in Friday - although, realistically, the results may not be much help on Sunday, at least for some teams.

Crew chiefs who were setting their cars up for a planned Saturday night race will face an entirely different set of track conditions Sunday, including daytime heat versus nighttime cool, and a very green race track, as there have not been any cars on the track since the downpours began Friday.

But some teams, anticipating the rainout of qualifying, actually practiced Friday with a Sunday race in mind. Those teams (I know Kevin Harvick's was one), should have an advantage Sunday.

In addition, because of the impound schedule, there were different agendas for the top-35 teams, who typically focus more on race set-ups, than the "go or go home" cars that had to prepare for their qualifying runs - just in case qualifying did not get rained out (which it did).

Jeff Gordon (+1000), still seeking that elusive first win this season, led the one and only practice at Richmond with a 121.534 mile per hour, 22.216 second lap. Following Gordon were David Ragan (+2200), Juan Pablo Montoya, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+800), and Mark Martin (+2000).

Rounding out the top 10 in practice were Greg Biffle (+1650), Jamie McMurray, Jeff Burton (+3000), Joey Logano (attempting to make his Cup debut), and Reed Sorenson. Biffle brushed the wall in practice, but sustained only minor damage and will not need to go to a back-up.

Points leader Kyle Busch (+400) was 11th-quickest in practice, while Regan Smith at 13th was the fastest rookie.

Other notable practice times included Denny Hamlin (+600), 14th, Jimmie Johnson (+550), 22nd, Clint Bowyer (+2000), 23rd, Kevin Harvick (+1400), 28th, Kasey Kahne (+2500), 29th, Carl Edwards (+750), 32nd, and Matt Kenseth (+2200), 40th.

Because qualifying was washed out, cars will line up according to owner's points. This will certainly add a bit of drama in the early part of the race, as the drivers not yet locked into the Chase will be starting right next to one another based on point standings.

Of course, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards will occupy row one, followed by Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Burton, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart (+1200).

Row five features Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon, row six, Denny Hamlin and Clint Bowyer, and row seven David Ragan and Kasey Kahne. This is the group of drivers still battling one another for the Chase. While drivers don't want to miss the Chase, they also don't want to do anything that might be perceived as intentionally sabotaging another contender's chances to make it in.

Track position is typically very important at Richmond, with more than 80% of the 100-plus races that have been run here won from a starting position within the top 10. Still, Clint Bowyer set a new record for deepest starting spot for a race winner in May, coming from 31st place to score the victory.

Due to the qualifying rainout, Tony Raines, Sterling Marlin and Joey Logano will miss the race.