The NASCAR Cup Series took on the 0.75-mile Virginia short track known as Richmond Raceway. A year after a controversial finish that left the entire industry, and fans alike, livid, a driver from Welcome, North Carolina, redeemed himself by capturing the checkered flag in domineering fashion.
Stage 1
The green flag waved just after 7:30 p.m. EST on USA Network, with Berlin, Connecticut’s Ryan Preece starting from the pole after securing it on Friday night, alongside 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick. With the race set for 400 laps, and the first stage only 70, teams knew strategy would play a major role. Preece surged ahead on the initial start, while Reddick dropped back to fourth by Lap 30 after being passed by A.J. Allmendinger and Denny Hamlin.
Green-flag pit stops began on Lap 33, with William Byron coming in first as he looked to clinch the Regular Season Championship. Following him were Ty Dillon, Kyle Busch, Erik Jones, and many others. On Lap 59, Reddick passed Preece, whose team had elected not to pit in Stage 1. As Reddick took the lead, Hamlin made contact with the wall while working on Preece’s bumper, allowing Reddick’s teammate Bubba Wallace to slip into second as the first stage came to a close. Reddick was able to capitalize by winning the stage, as he was able to hold off his teammate and boss, coming to the green and white checkered flag on Lap 70.
Stage 1 Results:
- Tyler Reddick – 10 Points + 1 Playoff Point
- Bubba Wallace – 9 Points
- Denny Hamlin – 8 Points
- Austin Dillon – 7 Points
- Austin Cindric – 6 Points
- Christopher Bell – 5 Points
- Ryan Blaney – 4 Points
- Brad Keselowski – 3 Points
- Josh Berry – 2 Points
- Daniel Suarez – 1 Point
Stage 2
During the caution, Hamlin was caught speeding on pit road and had to drop to the rear of the field before the green. To kick off the second stage, Wallace led the field to green, holding off Reddick and Bell. By Lap 100, Wallace still had the lead, prior to Preece pitting on Lap 113.
On Lap 119, 23XI Racing’s development driver, Corey Heim pitted, but was too fast exiting pit road. The rest of the field pitted as well, including Hamlin, whose team struggled to put the left-side set of tires on. During pit stops, Reddick was spun from the lead on Lap 181, after Daniel Suarez sent Ty Gibbs into him while battling for position. This took Reddick out of contention, but he was able to continue in his #45 Chumba Casino Toyota.
When the green flag flew on Lap 189, it was Wallace and Suarez up front, as the field went four wide going into Turn 1. Cody Ware brought out another caution on Lap 192, prompting another restart after his #51 Ford spun in Turn 2. The next restart was the same as the last, only this time, Preece made a bold move on the outside lane to pick up a few positions. However, it didn’t take long for an accident to ensue, as Kyle Busch got into the back bumper of Chase Briscoe, which collected a lot of cars going into Turn 3. This accident collected Justin Haley and Chase Elliott, who had too much damage to continue and this wreck ended their days.
Suarez and Wallace led the field to green on the next restart, as Austin Dillon was able to pick up a lot of positions on the restart. Ultimately, it was Wallace winning the second stage, after his 23XI Racing teammate won the first stage, making this a valuable points day for them.
Stage 2 Results:
- Bubba Wallace – 10 Points + 1 Playoff Point
- Daniel Suarez – 9 Points
- Ryan Blaney – 8 Points
- Austin Dillon – 7 Points
- Alex Bowman – 6 Points
- Ryan Preece – 5 Points
- Carson Hocevar – 4 Points
- Austin Cindric – 3 Points
- William Byron – 2 Points
- Kyle Larson – 1 Point
Final Stage
On the Lap 241 restart, Michael McDowell led the field to green for the first time that evening and looked to possibly play “spoiler” in the playoff field, battling side-by-side with Bubba Wallace, but last year’s winner, Austin Dillon powered through on the inside before taking the lead from the duo. During Wallace’s last pit stop on Lap 293, his crew did not get the left-rear tire on long enough, causing it to come off on pit road, while taking him out of contention.
With 72-to-go, Dillon battled Blaney for the lead before their last pit stop, but the Richard Childress Racing driver proved why he should’ve won this race last year, before the caution came out. He was able to bring his #3 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to Victory Lane two years in a row, this time without having to make contact with his competitors at the finish.
What drivers had to say after the race
After winning his sixth career NASCAR Cup Series race and leading the most laps in the No. 3 Chevrolet since Dale Earnhardt in the 1998 Daytona 500, Austin Dillon was ecstatic in the media center after celebrating with his crew and grandfather, Richard Childress.
“Man, that feels good. Got to thank the good Lord above. I really wanted that one. Last year hurt really bad, just going through the whole process of it. But this one feels so sweet. Man, I love Richmond. Our No. 3 Winchester/Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet was really good. I didn’t feel great this week. I’ve actually been racing with a broken rib for the last two weeks. But man, that was awesome,” Dillon said.
Joey Logano, who crashed in practice and slammed the wall coming out of Turn 4, left Richmond with a fourth-place finish and did not hold back when reflecting on his difficult weekend:
“We had a really fast Shell/Pennzoil Mustang. The car had a lot of speed in it, but we just had to overcome too much. We got up into contention and then we had a flat right-rear and lost all of it again, and then steadily grind your way back into the top five. Apparently, I needed maybe 500 or 600 laps. It’s just not our weekend. We had a flat tire in practice and then another flat tire in the race, and both of them were punctures. It’s not like we were being too aggressive or anything like that; it’s just running over debris on the racetrack. Not our weekend.”
Denny Hamlin also expressed frustration with how his team executed at Richmond. When asked about his race, Hamlin admitted there was work to do, both on pit road and behind the wheel:
“Yeah, just kind of a missed race. We were really bad on pit lane, I sped. Team had a lot of bad stops, and this track, you can’t give up track position, and we did. I thought we were fortunate to get back to the top ten there. The only reason we did is we had a fast Progressive Camry.”
Entering this weekend’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway, which takes place Saturday, August 23, at 7:30PM EST/4:30PM EST on NBC, will be a dogfight until Lap 160. With 14 out of 16 Playoff Spots secured, two drivers look to win their way in or collect enough points to be above the cut line before the post-season begins at Darlington Raceway on August 31. You won’t want to miss all the action this weekend, as drivers look to lay it all on the line for an elusive Daytona victory!
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