Crown Royal Presents "Dan Lowry 400" Race Preview

Richmond International Raceway -- 05/03/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Thursday May 1 2008 8:36pm

Richmond International Raceway is one of NASCAR's oldest tracks, though it hasn't always had its present appearance.

Since the first NASCAR race at Richmond in 1953, the track has undergone three name changes, five configuration changes, and one surface change - from dirt to asphalt. Lights were added in 1991, and now Richmond is the only track to hold all of its major events at night under the lights.

Richmond is a 3/4-mile D-shaped oval track that combines some of the best characteristics of a short track and a superspeedway. It has plenty of the beatin' and bangin' that we're accustomed to on a short track, along with the multi-groove racing of a larger track, making it a favorite of both drivers and fans.

"I just think for the teams, for the fans and for everybody that it takes to make this sport work, it’s the best all-around track," said Virginia native Jeff Burton, who won here in 1998 and has 12 top-10 finishes. "Richmond has good racing action. It’s big enough where it’s not wreck after wreck, but small enough where it’s close side-by-side action, since you have multiple grooves. To me, it’s a really hard racetrack to beat competition-wise."

Elliott Sadler, another Virginia-born racer, believes racing under the lights adds an added layer of excitement, though he notes tempers will likely flare as well. "We all started racing at some short track before we made it to this level, and most of them were Saturday night tracks," Sadler explained. "There’s just something about a short track under the lights for the drivers and fans - it brings out an extra element that you don’t normally get during Sunday races. I love the atmosphere that surrounds a night race.
You never know what’s going to happen during a short track race, but I guarantee you it’s going to happen fast and someone is going to end up mad."

There will be two three-time Richmond winners in Saturday's race, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Tony Stewart. Earnhardt's three wins came in 17 starts with his latest in 2006, while Stewart has made 18 starts and last won in 2002.

There are also two two-time winners - Jeff Gordon, whose last win was in 2000, and Jimmie Johnson, who pulled off the Richmond sweep in 2007.

Single race winners at Richmond include Joe Nemechek, Kevin Harvick, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth, Kyle Petty, Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton, Mark Martin, and Kurt Busch.

Among drivers with fewer than ten starts at Richmond, two lead the average finish category, though neither has scored a victory yet. Kyle Busch (+1400) has an average finish of 6.2 in six races, with just one finish outside the top 5 and two second-place runs. Denny Hamlin has an average finish of 6.5 in four races, finishing second in the spring race in 2006 and third in 2007.

Among drivers with more than 10 Richmond starts, Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. lead the average finish category at 11.1 for Newman and 11.3 for Earnhardt and Stewart.

Focusing on the past five Richmond races, Kevin Harvick leads all drivers in points accumulated. Harvick has six straight top-10s here including a win in the fall of 2006 - a fact not lost on his Richard Childress Racing teammate Jeff Burton: "You can’t deny that some drivers do a better job at that type of race track than others," said Burton of short tracks like Richmond. "Kevin is a good example. He always runs well at those race tracks and you can’t deny that it has something to do with his driving." Following Harvick in this category are Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan Newman.

Many drivers are comparing this race to Phoenix, which was also a Saturday night short track race. Jimmie Johnson won this year's spring race at Phoenix on a fuel strategy gamble, staying out while other race leaders pitted to top off.

It's interesting to note that many of the statistical favorites at Richmond are also at the top of point standings. This is not always the case, but the drivers currently leading the points also happen to run well here.

Compare the favorites in today's betting nascar nascar odds to their current position in the points:



Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+400) - 3rd

Jimmie Johnson (+500) - 5th

Kyle Busch (+500) - 2nd

Tony Stewart (+550) - 9th

Carl Edwards (+650) - 10th

Denny Hamlin (+850) - 4th

The notable exception is Jeff Gordon, who's at +750 in the nascar nascar odds, but currently ranks 14th in Sprint Cup points. Along with his two wins at RIR, Gordon has 18 top 10s in 30 starts and an average finish of 15.5. After a series of bad runs here in 2005 and 2006 which included two DNFs in four races, Gordon led the most laps in both Richmond races last year, but finished 4th to teammate Johnson both times.