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In The Know – Richmond

NASCAR Cup Series Overview:

●  Event:  Richmond 400 (Round 7 of 36)

●  Time/Date:  3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 2

●  Location:  Richmond (Va.) Raceway

●  Layout:  .75-mile oval

●  Laps/Miles:  400 laps/300 miles

●  Stage Lengths:  Stage 1: 70 laps / Stage 2: 160 laps / Final Stage: 170 laps

●  TV/Radio:  FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

 

SHR Fast FACTS:

Kevin Harvick:

Harvick’s win last August at Richmond gave him 29 top-10s at the .75-mile oval, the most among active NASCAR Cup Series drivers. Next best is Kyle Busch with 27 top-10s. Who is the all-time leader in top-10s at Richmond? None other than “The King,” seven-time Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty. He earned 41 top-10s at Richmond in 63 career starts.

Aric Almirola:

In 21 starts, Aric Almirola has earned eight top-10 finishes and two top-fives on the .75-mile Richmond (Va.) Raceway oval. In his last six qualifying attempts there, he has started outside the top-10 just twice with a best start of sixth in the September 2018 race. Almirola’s best finish of fifth came in September 2018, his first year driving for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). He finished eighth in his most recent Richmond start last August.

Chase Briscoe:

Since his 2022 win at Phoenix, Briscoe has finished no worse than 15th in nine of 11 points-paying starts on tracks 1 mile or shorter. The exceptions are his 22nd-place result in last year’s race on the dirt at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, when he led 59 laps but spun on the final lap while attempting a pass for the win, and the 23rd-place finish at Richmond last August. In 2021, Briscoe’s best finish on the shorter tracks on the NASCAR schedule was a 13th-place result earned in the fall at Bristol.

Ryan Preece:

Ryan Preece heads to Richmond Raceway this weekend for the sixth time of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He has a best finish of 20th (twice, 2019 and 2020) and a best start of 16th. Preece has also made four career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Richmond. Last season, he ran for BJ McLeod Motorsports in the No. 5 Ford, started sixth and finished 16th, his best Xfinity finish at the track. He also made one ARCA Menards Series East start in 2015 in the No. 41 for Doug Fuller. Preece started last of 35 cars and raced his way to a 14th-place finish

 

 

Our weekly wraps:

 

What Our Drivers are saying:

Kevin Harvick Driver of the No. 4 Gearwrench Ford Mustang:

When you won at Richmond last August, it was your second straight victory after winning the weekend before at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. How satisfying were those back-to-back wins?

“I think the most gratifying part of it all was the fact that we all worked through it together. Last year, this car was so drastically different from what we had before, and it forced you to look at things a lot differently than what you did before. For myself and Rodney (Childers, crew chief), we’ve been around this for a long time, and having to forget all of the stuff that you’ve done – you’re going to the same racetracks, but it’s a different thought process. It’s a different process of how you get to that answer than what it used to be. You had to be open-minded.”

Aric Almirola Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang:

What are your thoughts on heading to Richmond this weekend? 

“Finally we’re going to a place that I love to go to. These next six weeks are some of my favorite racetracks on the entire circuit. I’ve run really well over the years at Richmond. It’s a really special place for me to run. It’s the first Busch (NASCAR Xfinity Series) race I ran with Joe Gibbs Racing a long time ago. It’s only about 45 minutes away from Smithfield’s headquarters, so it’s a backyard race for them, and so we take a lot of pride in flying the Smithfield colors and running up front at Richmond. Hopefully, we can have a great weekend and start to turn our season around and get everything back on track.” 

Chase Briscoe Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang:

It’s been a slow start to the season. Is there anything that you can pinpoint as the major thing you and the team need to figure out?

“It’s hard to say. We’ve had races where we’ve just been off, some where we’ve got a car that is good, but we get too far behind to start and can’t make up ground. Then, we’ve just had some races where we get caught up in someone else’s problem. It’s frustrating, but it’s nothing we haven’t dealt with before. There are always ups and downs in this sport and, in the end, it comes down to who is able to keep pushing forward to find a way to be better. I know we’ve got the team that can do that, so we’ll keep working hard and hopefully it turns around for us soon.”

Ryan Preece Driver of the No. 41 United Rentals Ford Mustang:

With your short track background, are you looking forward to this weekend’s race?

“I am really looking forward to Richmond this weekend, we’ve got this one circled for sure. I feel like after Phoenix, Richmond has turned into something that I’m really looking forward to. Phoenix was a good race for our team and we got our best finish of the season. We learned a lot that weekend after practice and qualifying. We didn’t show what we had in practice and qualifying but when it came time for the race, we really showed what we had. We were fast and our car was strong. My team and I were able to take notes from that race and I think we’ll be able to capitalize on what we learned there and the success we had and really put it all together at Richmond.”

SHR Most Likely to

Which driver is most likely to embarrass themselves publicly? Who is most likely to become a meme? Our NASCAR drivers Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Chase Briscoe, Ryan Preece, Riley Herbst, and Cole Custer answer these questions and more in Episode 1 of Stewart-Haas Racing’s “Most Likely To”. Our bosses, Tony Stewart and Gene Haas, don’t go unscathed either

Formula One Vs NASCAR with Jenson Button

Before he takes the track for his first career NASCAR Cup Series start, Jenson Button discusses the differences between driving a Formula One car and a NASCAR Cup Series car. From feeling to mechanics, the duo discusses all of the intricacies of the two top-level race cars.