April 26, 2014
- Logano wins at Richmond: #22-Joey Logano won the Toyota Owners 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway for his 2nd win of 2014 and his 5th career win.
#24-Gordon finished 2nd followed by #18-Busch, #2-Keselowski, #20-Kenseth, #47-Allmendinger, #88-Earnhardt, Jr., #31-Newman, #99-Edwards, and #78-Truex, Jr.
#42-Larson, who started from the pole, spun after contact with #15-Boywer on the first lap of the race. He came back to finish 16th, the top finishing rookie.
#24-Gordon, who came into the race as the points leader, is now up 5 points over #20-Kenseth. Logano now leads the Chase Seeding with two wins. #4-Harvick is second, also with 2 wins, but lower in points. They are followed by #99-Edwards, #18-Busch, and #88-Earnhardt, Jr.
There were 20 lead changes among 8 drivers and there were 9 cautions for 66 yellow flag laps.
The average speed was 93.369mph.
See unofficial race results, awards, money won, laps led, cautions and more on the Unofficial Richmond Race Results page (pdf) and check out the Richmond Penalty Report (pdf).
See OFFICIAL race results & points standings on the Official Richmond Race & Points Report (pdf).(4-26-2014) - Race Fast Facts – Richmond International Raceway:
Joey Logano won the 60th Annual Toyota Owners 400, his fifth victory in 192 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is his second victory and fifth top-10 finish in 2014. This win locks in his spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, barring Logano doesn’t fall out of the top 30 in driver points and miss any races.
This is his first victory and third top-10 finish in 11 races at Richmond International Raceway.
Jeff Gordon (second) posted his 27th top-10 finish in 43 races at Richmond International Raceway. It is his seventh top-10 finish in 2014.
Kyle Busch (third) posted his 14th top-10 finish in 19 races at Richmond International Raceway.
Jeff Gordon leads the point standings by 5 points over Matt Kenseth.(NASCAR Integrated Sports Marketing)(4-26-2014) - 2014 Sprint Cup Driver Chase Championship Points Standings:
[after Richmond, race 9 of 36]
1) #24-Jeff Gordon, 341
2) #20-Matt Kenseth, 336, -5
3) #99-Carl Edwards [1 win], 313, -28
4) #18-Kyle Busch [1 win], 310, -31
5) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr. [1 win], 309, -32
6) #22-Joey Logano [2 wins], 292, -49
7) #2-Brad Keselowski [1 win], 287, -54
8) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 282, -59
9) #31-Ryan Newman, 272, -69
10) #55-Brian Vickers, 256, -85
Other drivers with at least one win, should make the Chase:
20) #4-Kevin Harvick [2 wins], 220, -121
25) #41-Kurt Busch [1 win], 185, -156
See UNOFFICIAL drivers championship points standings on the Unofficial Drivers Points Standings (pdf).
See the UNOFFICIAL owner points standings on the Unofficial Owners Points Standings page (pdf).
(4-26-2014) - Current 2014 Sprint Cup Driver Chase Seedings:
[after Richmond, race 9 of 36 if Chase seeding started after this race]
1) #22-Joey Logano, 2 wins, 6th in points
2) #4-Kevin Harvick, 2 wins, 20th
3) #99-Carl Edwards, 1 win, 3rd in points
4) #18-Kyle Busch, 1 win, 4th
5) #88-Dale Earnhardt Jr., 1 win, 5th
6) #2-Brad Keselowski, 1 win, 7th
7) #41-Kurt Busch, 1 win, 25th
(no wins, in by points)
8) #24-Jeff Gordon, 1st
9) #20-Matt Kenseth, 2nd
10) #48-Jimmie Johnson, 8th
11) #31-Ryan Newman, 9th
12) #55-Brian Vickers, 10th
13) #16-Greg Biffle, 11th
14) #3-Austin Dillon, 12th
15) #42-Kyle Larson, 13th
14) #11-Hamlin, 14th
(4-26-2014) - Richmond Rookie of the Year Race Results & Points:
#42-Larson, finished 16th, 11 rookie points
#51-Allgaier, 21st, 10
#3-Dillon, 27th, 9
#23-Bowman, 28th, 8
#83-Truex, 31st, 7
#7-Annett, 33rd, 6
#26-Whitt, 41st, 5
Kligerman, Did Not Race
(4-26-2014) - NASCAR not planning additional SAFER barriers: NASCAR has undergone significant format modifications this season in an attempt to bolster its reach, but additional major changes are unlikely. “More tweaks, if any at all are made, they’d be minor because we believe the current format we have is built to stand a long time,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said Friday at a conference with sports editors.
France suggested that the changes to the championship structure has altered the way drivers race, forcing them to increase “taking risks” and being more aggressive in the pursuit of victories, as opposed to securing points. When weighing safety, however, France didn’t indicate that more changes would be likely, despite several calls from drivers to install SAFER barriers that help absorb crash impacts to any parts of racetrack walls that have concrete. “We’re going to put SAFER walls wherever it’s necessary,” France said. “There are parts of the track that we may determine aren’t necessary for those walls. When and if we think they are, we’ll obviously make sure that happens. We do add SAFER walls to the inside areas depending on if it’s necessary. We’ll do it wherever it’s appropriate. Period. We already have. We’ve been clear about that. We don’t think it’s necessary, as an example, to do it on pit lane, because they’re not running fast enough and it wouldn’t make any sense to do that, so wherever it’s appropriate, we’ll do it.”
Since each race track is different, there are challenges to installing SAFER walls in all places where cars are exposed to concrete. According to France, several factors determine whether or not the barriers are necessary.(USA Today)(4-26-2014) - Goodyear completes tire tests: The early spring has been a busy time for The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company’s racing program. The exclusive tire supplier for NASCAR’s top three has run three at-track tests already, with many more on the books. The testing season started with a two-day session at Sonoma Raceway on March 25-26. The goal was to improve overall grip for cars on the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course.
“The surface at Sonoma tends to be pretty slick, particularly in hot weather like is possible for California in June,” said Greg Stucker, Goodyear’s director of race tire sales. “The recommendation we came up with will incorporate a new tread compound, which was unanimously chosen as a grip improvement by all drivers that evaluated it.”
Two weeks later, on April 8-9, Goodyear tackled Michigan International Speedway, in an effort to monitor the track surface since it’s repave in 2012 and evaluate the impact of the 2014 rules package on performance at the ultra-fast, two-mile track.
“As expected, the cars were extremely fast at Michigan,” said Stucker. “Our tire recommendation will incorporate the same left side as raced in 2013, along with a multi-zone tread right side tire. The inboard portion of the tire – the endurance zone — will use a new compound formulated specifically for the Michigan test, aimed at controlling the heat and wear of that high stress zone. The outboard portion – the traction zone — will utilize a compound very similar to what was raced there in 2013. Overall the grip level was good, as evidenced by the speeds teams were able to run.”
Just last week (April 15), Goodyear visited another recent repave in Kansas Speedway. The initial focus of this test was to refine the multi-zone tread right side tire raced at Kansas last October. With sustained testing speeds at the existing track record, heat and wear rates were up, necessitating a change in direction.
“With the 2014 rules package, more severe operating conditions were expected at Kansas,” said Stucker. “With what we saw on the right side, we’ve decided on a conventional, single tread compound design, formulated to address treadwear, while maintaining the heat resistance still required for this surface. This compound will be the same as the one used in the traction zone of the Michigan right-side tire. The left-side tire will be the same one we raced at Kansas last October.”
The first three tire tests of the year have been fruitful. Goodyear will follow up with sessions at Dover International Speedway (May 6-7), Kentucky Speedway (May 20-21), Chicagoland Speedway (June 10-11) and Indianapolis (June 15-16) in the coming weeks as it continues to fill in its 2014 tire lineup.(Goodyear PR) (4-25-2014) - Special Ford scheme for Edwards at Richmond: In conjunction with the Ford Always Racing fan sweepstakes launch, the #99 Ford Fusion of Carl Edwards will feature a #FordAlwaysRacing paint scheme and fire suit. Edwards, a winner already at Bristol this season, is one of seven Ford Racing drivers who will appear in online videos throughout the year that highlight their competitive nature (Ford Racing), more info on the contest on the NASCAR Contest page and to see imagges of the car, go to the #99 Team Schemes page.(4-26-2014)
- Johnson and Harvick getting most television exposure: #48-Jimmie Johnson has accumulated the most television on-screen time for his sponsors during the first eight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races of 2014. Meanwhile, #4-Kevin Harvick, coming off a victory at Darlington, ranked second in cumulative on-camera time, but at the same time racked up nearly twice as many brand mentions for his corporate backers as Johnson. According to research conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates, Inc., which specializes in measuring the scope of sponsorships across all forms of media , Johnson’s sponsors as a group appeared for 11 hours, 11 minutes, 40 seconds (11:11:40) during live and replayed race broadcasts. Johnson’s sponsors were also mentioned 37 times by the FOX/FS1 announcers. Harvick’s sponsors enjoyed 10:47:00 of in-broadcast exposure time to go along with a Series-leading 73 verbal references. Additional driver sponsorship findings through Race #8:
• The most seen hood on TV belonged to Joey Logano with a total on-screen time of 2:27:16. Jeff Gordon’s hood was second with 2:17:11.
• Brad Keselowski and Gordon shared the distinction for having the most monitored sponsors during the telecast with 58 each.
• Kyle Busch helped generate the single-most TV exposure for a car manufacturer with a contribution of 1:07:17 and 24 mentions leading to more than $6.5 million of exposure value for Toyota.
(Joyce Julius & Associates)(4-262014) - United States Tennis Association looking at Air Titan: The United States Tennis Association may be looking to an unlikely source to help solve the unyielding issue of rain delays: NASCAR. The Air Titan 2.0 is a track-drying technology that uses compressed air and heat, which NASCAR implemented this season. The device is attached to the back of a car that drives slowly over a wet track to make it safe to drive following rain. Now, the USTA may be considering a similar strategy. “I was just out with the United States Tennis Association because they have a similar issue with all those courts,” NASCAR chairman Brian France said Friday at a conference with sports editors. “When it rains, they need about 20 or 30 minutes to dry their courts. This technology is going to have major ramifications. We always believed that it would. It’s a green solution. “To give you a little perspective on that, we can clean the area the size of a football field in 20 seconds with this technology, which gives you a certain feel of why the tennis guys are intrigued to know more about this technology.” So far this season, NASCAR has used it with success, as five of the first seven races were delayed by rain.(USA Today)(4-26-2014)
- Richmond Notes and Facts – Saturday: race:
• 472 drivers have competed in at least one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Richmond; 306 in more than one.
• Only four of the 115 races at Richmond International Raceway have been shortened due to weather conditions: spring of 1962, spring of 1977, spring of 1982 and spring of 2003.
• Since the advent of electronic scoring in 1993, the closest margin of victory in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series at Richmond International Raceway was the (09/12/1998) race won by Jeff Burton with a MOV of 0.051 second.
• There have been two NSCS race resulting with a green-white-checkered finish at Richmond International Raceway: spring of 2008 (400/410) and spring of 2013 (400/406).
• 48 different drivers have won at Richmond International Raceway, led by Richard Petty with 13. Kyle Busch leads all active drivers with four.
• Petty Enterprises has the most wins at Richmond in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series with 15; followed by Hendrick Motorsports with 10, Joe Gibbs Racing and Richard Childress Racing each have nine.
• Chevrolet leads the series in wins at Richmond with 36 victories; followed by Ford with 29 and Toyota with seven.
• The deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Richmond International Raceway was 31st, by Clint Bowyer in the spring of 2008.(NASCAR)(4-26-2014) - T-28 Trojan Aircraft to perform flyover at Talladega: Talladega Superspeedway will be celebrating the United States Military in a big way on May 4 for the Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. At the end of the race, the previously-announced “Freedom Trophy” will be awarded to the race’s winner by the members of the military. But before the green flag waves, fans in the stands will receive a historic symbol of patriotism high above the track in the beautiful blue sky. Two combat veteran T-28 Trojan aircraft, accompanied by a C-45-Expeditor from the Hixson Museum of Flight, Chattanooga’s Aviation Museum (TN), will soar above Talladega Superspeedway near the conclusion of the National Anthem to the roar of thousands of fans at NASCAR’s Most Competitive Track.(TSS)(4-26-2014)
- Oxford Casino to Sponsor July Pole Day at New Hampshire: With the exciting new NASCAR knockout style pole position format being unveiled at New Hampshire Motor Speedway this season, Oxford Casino has anted up with a buy-in as the new official pole day sponsor. Speedway officials announced that the Oxford Casino Pole Day will be named for Friday, July 11 when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers qualify for the Camping World RV Sales 301. There is plenty of on-track action scheduled for Oxford Casino Pole Day on Friday, July 11, including the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Modified All-Star Shootout at 2:10pm; two rounds of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying for the Camping World RV Sales 301 beginning at 4:35pm; and the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East Granite State 100 at 6:00pm. Forty minutes from Portland and located in the gateway to Maine’s Lakes and Mountains Region, Oxford Casino, which opened its doors in June of 2012, features more than 850 slot machines and 26 table games.(NHMS)(4-26-2014)
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