A full moon and short track racing led to plenty of surprises and some not so surprising moments in the 59th Annual Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond International Raceway.
The story of the week surrounds the team of Matt Kenseth as NASCAR passed down one of its stiffest penalties in history as it slapped the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team with a 50 point penalty, a $200,000 fine, and suspended Crew Chief Jason Ratcliff for the next seven races.
After a blazing fast weekend at Kansas Speedway, the NASCAR world sets its sights on Richmond International Raceway and the second night race of the year for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series.
The driver of the No. 15 5-Hour Energy Toyota couldn’t be happier, finishing second in the Chase standings, just 39 points behind champion Brad Keselowski and a mere one point ahead of third place finisher and five time champ Jimmie Johnson.
In a race full of twists and turns, including rain delays and wild card drama, here is what else was surprising and not surprising from the 55th annual running of the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond.
499 or so miles will make up the Aaron's 499 tomorrow afternoon, and all 499 miles will surely be filled with chaos throughout the 43-car field. A slue of rule changes has been passed down by NASCAR officials to break up the two car tango, which we saw last season.
For the first half of the race, it looked like Carl Edwards would be the man in victory lane at the end of the Capitol City 400. However, after a late race penalty Edwards was put to the rear of the field, giving the lead up for grabs.
Virginia may be for lovers but that was not the only emotion running high at Richmond International Raceway. Here is what was surprising and not surprising from the 58th Annual Capital City 400 Presented by Virginia is for Lovers.
Neither Tony Stewart nor Carl Edwards were happy or accepting about the ways in which they lost the Capital City 400. Stewart felt he had the win taken away from him, first from NASCAR then his pit crew.
The beating and banging of Martinsville Speedway and Richmond International Raceway mirror the short-track action Friday and Saturday nights that we all grew up on, and really take me back to some of my best times as a race fanatic.
