NASCAR heads to Richmond this weekend

Cup Series competitors ready for the Richmond Raceway short track

NASCAR’s Next Gen car has competed on superspeedways, intermediates, and road courses but this weekend is the first points-paying race on a short track, and not just any short track. The series heads to Virginia for the Toyota Owners 400 on the 0.75-mile Richmond Raceway.

The 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season has been filled with stellar on-track competition producing six different winners in as many races; including three first-time winners (Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Ross Chastain). Plus, the series has seen four different driver point standings leaders through the first six races, with Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott currently out front.

This weekend, the NASCAR Cup Series prepares for the close, beating and banging racing the fans love at short tracks like Richmond. Originally known as the Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds, Richmond Raceway held its first race in 1946 as a half-mile dirt track.

The first NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway was held on April 19, 1953 and won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Lee Petty in a Petty Enterprises Dodge with an average speed of 45.535 mph. The track surface was changed from dirt to asphalt between races in 1968. In total, Richmond Raceway has hosted the NASCAR Cup Series 130 times producing 55 different pole winners and 53 different race winners.

NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty (1961, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 sweep, 1974, 1975) and Bobby Allison (1972 sweep, 1973 sweep, 1974, 1976, 1979, 1982) lead the NASCAR Cup Series in poles at Richmond with eight each. Six of the 55 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Raceway pole winners are active this weekend, led by Denny Hamlin (2006, 2008, 2016) and Kevin Harvick (2005, 2018, 2019) with three poles each.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at Richmond Raceway with 13 victories (spring 1961, 1967 sweep, fall 1968, fall 1970, 1971 sweep, 1972 sweep, 1973 sweep, fall 1974 and spring 1975) – the third-most wins by a single driver at a single track in series history, behind his 15 wins at Martinsville and North Wilkesboro. Nine of the 53 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond Raceway winners are active this weekend, led by Kyle Busch with six victories (spring 2009, spring 2010, spring 2011, spring 2012, 2018 sweep). Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Alex Bowman is the defending winner of this weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway. 

All the on-track action begins on Saturday, April 2 with practice from 10:30 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. ET and immediately followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying from 11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. ET. Both events will be broadcast on FS1.

First-time winners aplenty, who’s next?

Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain became the third first-time NASCAR Cup Series winner of the 2022 season (Austin Cindric, Daytona; Chase Briscoe, Phoenix) last weekend with his big victory at the Circuit of The Americas. The win makes 2022 the first time since 2001 the series has seen three first-time winners in the first six races of a season. Now with the series heading to Richmond Raceway this weekend for the Toyota Owners 400, what are the chances a fourth new winner is sitting in Victory Lane on Sunday? If a first-time winner takes the checkered flag this weekend at Richmond, the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season would become the first season in the Modern Era (1972-Present) with four or more first time winners in the first seven races of a season and just the third all-time; behind the series inaugural season in 1949 (six first-time winners) and its sophomore season in 1950 (five first-time winners).

The 1950 season holds the NASCAR Cup Series record for the most first-time winners in a single season with 12 different drivers getting their first win that year. The 2001, 2002 and 2011 seasons are tied for the series-most first-time winners in a single season in the Modern Era with five first-time winners each.

Richmond Raceway has been the home to five first-time winners in the NASCAR Cup Series with Kasey Kahne being the most recent to accomplish the feat in 2005.

Looking at the field entered this weekend, there are 11 drivers looking for their first career Cup Series win – (alphabetical order by last name) Harrison Burton, Landon Cassill, Ty Dillon, Todd Gilliland, Corey Lajoie, Andy Lally, BJ McLeod, Tyler Reddick, Garrett Smithley, Daniel Suárez and Cody Ware.