NASCAR Richmond Thursday, April 16, 2020
Richmond Active Leaders:
Wins: 6 Kyle Busch
Top 5 finishes: 18 Kyle Busch
Top 10 finishes: 25 Kevin Harvick
Laps led: 1659 Denny Hamlin
Average finish: 6.8 Kyle Busch
2 Finished top 5 each Richmond race last season – Denny Hamlin & Martin Truex Jr.
7 Finished top 10 each Richmond race last season –
Clint Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman & Martin Truex Jr.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin & Martin Truex Jr. won 11 total Richmond races
Joe Gibbs Racing swept top 3 at Richmond 9/19 – Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch & Denny Hamlin
(Erik Jones finished 4th – Penalized post-race to 38th-place)
1-Kurt Busch: 2 Richmond wins – 2 Teams & manufacturers (Roush Ford 9/05 & Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 4/15)
2-Brad Keselowski: Finished 9th or better last 4 Richmond races
2-Brad Keselowski passed for final lead change 2 of last 3 Richmond races
2-Brad Keselowski: Brad’s father, Bob, won Richmond Truck Series race in 1997 (Brad was 13-years-old)
3-Austin Dillon: Best finish last season: 6th – Richmond April & Talladega Oct.
4-Kevin Harvick: Finished 7th or better last 4 Richmond races – 3 Top 5 finishes
4-Kevin Harvick: 3 Richmond wins– All with Richard Childress Racing (Best Richmond finish with Stewart-Haas Racing: 2nd – Twice)
4-Kevin Harvick: Winless last 13 Richmond races – 3 Wins previous 14 Richmond races
6-Ryan Newman: 1 Richmond win (9/03) – Winless last 32 Richmond races (25-Years-old)
9-Chase Elliott: Finished 15th at Richmond 4/19 – Followed with 5 straight top 5 finishes including win at Talladega last season
10-Aric Almirola: Pit road speeding penalties each Richmond race last season
11-Denny Hamlin:1 Win last 17 Richmond races (9/16) – 2 Wins previous 3 Richmond races
12-Ryan Blaney:No Richmond top 15 finishes – Only track (Average Richmond finish: 25.5)
14-Clint Bowyer: 4 Straight Richmond top 10 finishes
14-Clint Bowyer: 2 Richmond wins – 2 Teams & manufacturers (Childress Chevrolet 5/08 & Waltrip Toyota 9/12)
18-Kyle Busch: 6 Richmond wins – 5 in spring race & 1 in fall (2018)
18-Kyle Busch: Finished 9th or better last 5 Richmond races – 3 Top 2 finishes last 4 Richmond races
18-Kyle Busch passed for final lead change 6 times at Richmond
18-Kyle Busch: 3 Richmond Stage wins – Winless in races after winning Stage
18-Kyle Busch only driver to win 4 straight Richmond spring races – 2009, ’10, ’11 & ‘12
18-Kyle Busch most laps led in a race last season: 202 – Richmond Sept.
18-Kyle Busch first NASCAR win: Richmond NXS 5/04, 50th NASCAR win: Richmond NCS 5/09 &50th NCS win: Richmond 9/18
18-Kyle Busch: Completed all but 1 lap in 29 Richmond races – 11,628 of 11,629
19-Martin Truex Jr.: Richmond 4/19 winner – First of 4 wins in 8-race span last season
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Straight Richmond wins (4/19 & 9/19) – Winless previous 26 Richmond races
19-Martin Truex Jr. won Richmond for first time in 27th try (4/19)
19-Martin Truex Jr.: Richmond 4/19 winner – First win with Joe Gibbs Racing
19-Martin Truex Jr.: Richmond 9/19 winner – Lap 315 spin while leading
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Straight Richmond wins – Last to win 3 straight: Bobby Allison (9/81, 2/83 & 9/83)
19-Martin Truex Jr.: 2 Straight Richmond wins – No driver won 3 straight on Richmond .75-mile track
19-Martin Truex Jr. finished top 5 in Stage 1 & 2 last 3 Richmond races
19-Martin Truex Jr.: Finished 3rd or better last 3 Richmond races – 2 Straight wins
19-Martin Truex Jr. led most laps 5 of last 7 Richmond races – 2 Wins (4/19 & 9/19)
19-Martin Truex Jr. led 970 of 2813 laps last 7 Richmond races (Led 6 of last 7 Richmond races)
19-Martin Truex Jr. passed for final lead change 3 of last 7 Richmond races – 2 Straight wins
19-Martin Truex Jr. won Stage 1 last 2 Richmond Playoff races – 2019 Winner
20-Erik Jones:Finished 38th at Richmond 9/19– Took checkered 4th, finished top 10 in Stage 1 & 2, failed post-race inspection (rear toe)
41-Cole Custer: 1 Richmond NASCAR Xfinity Series win (4/19)
41-Cole Custer: First career NXS race: Richmond 4/16 (18-Years-old) – Finished 6th (#5 JR Motorsports Chevrolet)
41-Cole Custer: 2014 Richmond ARCA Menards East winner – 16-Years-old
48-Jimmie Johnson: 3 Richmond wins – Winless last 22 Richmond races
88-Alex Bowman: Finished 17th at Richmond 4/19 – Followed with 3 straight 2nd-place finishes (Talladega, Dover & Kansas)
95-Christopher Bell: 3 Richmond NXS wins – Most of all tracks
95-Christopher Bell: Jason Ratcliff – 1 Richmond NCS win (Matt Kenseth 9/15)
Richmond 4/19: 8 Post-qualifying inspection failures
Denny Hamlin (Finished 5th), Jimmie Johnson (12th), Erik Jones (14th), Chase Elliott (15th),
Daniel Suarez (18th), Aric Almirola (23rd), Matt Tifft (29th) & Joey Gase (33rd)
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers led 287 of 400 laps at Richmond 4/19
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers led 311 of 400 laps at Richmond 9/19
Joe Gibbs Racing:
16 Richmond wins by 6 different drivers – Kyle Busch 6, Hamlin 3, Stewart 3, Truex Jr. 2, Edwards 1 & Kenseth 1
Richmond 4/19: 148 Lap final green-flag run
Richmond 9/19: Longest green run from start of race last season – 101 laps
Commitment line violations
4/19: 1 (Blaney)
4/18: 3 (A. Dillon, Stenhouse Jr. & Wallace) & 9/18: 3 (Allmendinger, Kenseth & Menard)
4/17: 6 (Almirola, Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Patrick, Sorenson & Truex Jr.) & 9/17: None
3 Pit road speeding penalties by 3 drivers at Richmond 4/19
6 Pit road speeding penalties by 5 drivers at Richmond 9/19
Kyle Busch:
First NASCAR win: 5/14/04 – Richmond NXS
50th NASCAR win: 5/2/09(Birthday)– Richmond NCS
50th NCS win: 9/22/18 – Richmond
52 Different winners in 127 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond races
30 Different winners in 63 NASCAR Cup Series Richmond .75-mile track races
Kyle Busch & Rusty Wallace tied for most with 6 wins on .75-mile track
Kyle Busch (2) & Martin Truex Jr. (2) won last 4 Richmond races
Joe Gibbs Racing won 7 of last 9 Richmond races with 5 different drivers –
Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin & Martin Truex Jr.
Joe Gibbs Racing won last 4 Richmond races – Kyle Busch 2 & Martin Truex Jr. 2
Joe Gibbs Racing (7) & Team Penske (3) won 10 of last 12 Richmond races
7 of 63 races won from pole on Richmond .75-mile track
Stage 2 winner has never gone on to win Richmond race
14 Richmond win streaks – Drivers winning consecutive races
11 Richmond season sweeps – 8 Went on to win championship
2 Straight Richmond season sweeps – 2018 Kyle Busch & 2019 Martin Truex Jr.
1 of 127 Richmond races settled by last lap pass (4/16) – Carl Edwards passed Kyle Busch
Worst official starting position of Richmond winner: 32nd – Kyle Busch 4/18
*Joey Logano won Richmond from rear of field 4/17 (Transmission)
*Kyle Busch won Richmond from rear of field 9/18 (Unapproved adjustments)
First win of season for 9 of last 15 Richmond spring race winners
Mid-race leader failed to win last 7 Richmond races
5 Won first career NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond
18 Won first NASCAR Cup Series short track race at Richmond
4 Shortened Richmond races – 1 Due to darkness (4/62) & 3 due to rain
5 Richmond Overtime races (5/08, 4/13, 9/16, 9/17 & 4/18)
3 Won Richmond in first try – Tim Flock, Paul Goldsmith & Lee Petty
Terry Labonte won Richmond for first time in 33rd try – Most of all drivers
2 Won on previous & current Richmond layouts – Dale Earnhardt & Ricky Rudd
Richard Petty tied for record of consecutive wins at 1 track with 7 at Richmond (9/70-9/73)
Tuesday March 10, 1964 – David Pearson (Scheduled date: 3/8/64 – 100 Laps run 3/8/64)
Monday September 14, 1964 – Cotton Owens (Scheduled date: 9/13/64)
Sunday November 14, 1971 – Richard Petty (Scheduled dates: 9/12/71 & 10/3/71)
Sunday March 8, 1987 – Dale Earnhardt (Scheduled date: 2/22/87)
Sunday May 6, 2007 – Jimmie Johnson (Scheduled date: 5/5/07)
Sunday September 7, 2008 – Jimmie Johnson (Scheduled date: 9/6/08 – Hurricane Hanna)
Sunday April 26, 2015 – Kurt Busch (Scheduled date: 4/25/15)
4/30/67: 54th career win for Richard Petty tied father for first all-time in victories (55th win came at Darlington 5/13/67)
3/1/70: After a record 12 2nd-place finishes – James Hylton won for the first time
2/25/73: Richard Petty won for the 150th time in 600th career race
9/9/73: Richard Petty’s 7th straight Richmond win – Petty won 9 of 10 Richmond races from 9/70 through 2/75
10/12/75: Darrell Waltrip came from 3 laps behind to win Richmond
9/12/76: Cale Yarborough’s first of 4 straight wins (Richmond, Dover, Martinsville & North Wilkesboro)
2/21/82: Dave Marcis won in 400th career race
2/26/84: 2 Weeks after vicious Busch Clash crash, Ricky Rudd won Richmond
2/21/88: Neil Bonnett won final race on Richmond half-mile
9/11/88: Davey Allison won first race on Richmond three-quarter mile
3/26/89: Richard Petty’s consecutive race streak ends when he fails to qualify – 513 Races from 1971-‘89
9/7/91: 51-Year-old Harry Gant 2nd of 4 straight wins (Darlington, Richmond, Dover & Martinsville)
3/8/92: Bill Elliott’s 2nd of 4 straight wins (Rockingham, Richmond, Atlanta & Darlington)
3/7/93: Final win for Davey Allison
9/11/99: Joe Gibbs Racing first 1-2 finish – Tony Stewart (Winner) & Bobby Labonte (2nd)
5/14/05: After 6 2nd-place finishes – Kasey Kahne won for the first time
9/10/05: Roush first 1-2-3 finish – Kurt Busch (Winner), Matt Kenseth (2nd) & Greg Biffle (3rd)
5/2/09: Kyle Busch won on birthday
4/30/17: Joey Logano won in 300th career race
4/21/18: Kyle Busch won 3rd straight win (Texas, Bristol & Richmond)
9/22/18: Kyle Busch 50th career win
4/13/19: Martin Truex Jr. 20th career win, 1st short track win in 81st try, 1st Richmond win in 27th try
February 25, 1990: Low temperature 19 degrees / High temperature: 34 degrees
September 9, 1973: Lap 4 14-car pileup which blocked the track
Largest Richmond margin-of-victory: 6 Laps – 2/23/75 Richard Petty over Lennie Pond