Beccas Pace Lap - Richmond

Richmond International Raceway -- 05/2/2009

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Friday May 1 2009 7:32pm

Becca's Pace Lap: Crown Royal Presents The Russ Friedman 400 @ Richmond International Raceway

• Front Row: Brian Vickers (P1), Jeff Gordon (P2)

• Pole Qualifying Speed: 127.131 miles per hour

• Highest Starting Rookie: Scott Speed - starts 8th

• To the Rear: None at this time.

• Fastest Qualifier by Manufacturer:
Chevy: Jeff Gordon (2nd)
Dodge: Mike Bliss (6th)
Ford: Greg Biffle (20th)
Toyota: Brian Vickers (1st)

• Outside the Top 35 Who Made the Field:
Dave Blaney
Mike Bliss
David Gilliland
Jeremy Mayfield
Joe Nemechek
Tony Raines
Scott Riggs
Scott Speed

• Outside the Top 35 Who Missed the Cut:
Todd Bodine
Trevor Boys

• Weather Forecast: Overcast skies, 68°F, NW winds at 5-10 mph, 50% chance of rain and thunderstorms

• Race Notes:

Last year's race winner: Clint Bower (May race)

Most recent winner here: Jimmie Johnson (September race)

Richmond is now being referred to as a “modified” impound race. What that means, apparently, is that although both practices were held before qualifying on Friday, teams can work on the cars between qualifying and the start of the race – so the cars are not actually ‘impounded.’

Chevy and Toyota appear to be dominant so far this weekend, with Dodge hanging tough and Ford struggling. Of the top 20 qualifiers, 9 were Chevys, 6 were Toyotas, 4 were Dodges, and 1 was a Ford – Greg Biffle, who qualified 20th.

The above manufacturers also dominated practice. Practice No. 1 was paced by Martin Truex Jr. in a Chevy while Practice No. 2 was led by Jimmie Johnson also in a Chevy. There was only one car in the top 5 in either practice that wasn’t a Chevy or Toyota – Kurt Busch, in a Dodge, who was 5th in the second practice.

There were several minor practice incidents, but all damage was believed to be reparable. Teams affected include Dale Earnhardt Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya, Greg Biffle, and David Stremme.

Three drivers ran in the top 10 in both practices and also qualified in the top 10: Martin Truex Jr., David Reutimann, and Mark Martin.

The first five rows on the starting grid are as follows:

Row 1: Brian Vickers – Jeff Gordon
Row 2: Denny Hamlin – Martin Truex Jr.
Row 3: Jeff Burton – Mike Bliss
Row 4: Mark Martin – Scott Speed
Row 5: David Reutimann – Ryan Newman

Other starting positions of note: Kyle Busch (14), Jimmie Johnson (15), Tony Stewart (16), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (25), Matt Kenseth (35), Carl Edwards (37).

Historically, 57% of Cup races at Richmond have been won from a top-5 starting spot and 80% from the top 10; it is notoriously difficult to pass here, though the track widens out more than other short tracks do. 20% of races have been won from the pole, most recently Jimmie Johnson in the fall 2007 race.

The deepest starting spot in the field for a race winner was 31st by Clint Bowyer in this race last year.

Kyle Busch won the Nationwide race Friday. Saturday is his 24th birthday and, if he wins the Cup race, he would be just the second driver to win on his birthday in the Cup series.

Richmond is often compared to Phoenix, where the series ran two weeks ago with Mark Martin the winner. Although cars are on the brakes 28% of the time at both Richmond and Phoenix, Richmond rates an 8.5 (10 = most difficult), compared with Phoenix at 7.5, because of the track dimensions - length, banking, etc. (Thanks to Brembro Brake Facts / Brembro North America for the information!)

• Quotes of the Week:

“The biggest thing at Richmond is it is pretty high braking, so you have to keep a brake pedal in the car all night. Track position is typically pretty important. It is hard to make up a lot of ground here. You can go from the back to the front, but it takes a long race to do it. It is also a place where strategy as far as getting off-sequence on tires has potential, too, like we have seen at some other race tracks. It all depends on how the yellows fly, too.” – Ryan Newman, Stewart-Haas Racing No. 39, on what it takes to win at Richmond.

“Just the atmosphere at a short-track is definitely one that reminds you of how you grew up racing, with not being able to spread yourself out from the competition, always looking for uniqueness in the guy in front of you or the guys that you’re chasing. You just have to get into more depth at a short-track because it’s only three-quarters (of a mile) long.” – Kurt Busch, Penske Racing No. 2, on racing at short tracks like Richmond.

• Current oddsmakers' favorite:
Denny Hamlin +450 (starts 3rd)
Jeff Gordon +550 (starts 2nd)

• Long shots to watch:
Brian Vickers +2000 (starts 1st)
Kevin Harvick +2150 (starts 19th)

* All information current at press time

Comment on this article.

(255 chars max)

Username:
(No HTML)

Captcha: