NASCAR Cup Series

Exciting buildup to Richmond could end with a popular winner

Published Apr. 22, 2016 12:57 p.m. ET

foxsports

We've definitely had an exciting buildup to Sunday's race at Richmond, to say the least.

We had the announcement from Tony Stewart that he had be cleared by his doctors and by NASCAR to return to the No. 14 car. On the heels of that, NASCAR issued Tony an exemption, similar to what they did for Kyle Busch last year, asserting that if Tony can win a race and make it into the top 30 in points before the Chase for the Sprint Cup commences in the fall, then Tony is Chase-eligible.

Believe it or not, that was not the end of the excitement by a mile. With all the recent increase in loose wheels and lug nuts, Stewart lashed out at NASCAR saying he was "beyond mad" at the sanctioning body for not stepping in and regulating it as they did previously. Stewart went as far to say, "I guarantee you that envelope is going to keep getting pushed until somebody gets hurt."

Well, NASCAR didn't take too kindly to that from Tony, so on Thursday they hit him in his wallet with a $35,000 fine. Tony's fine falls under Section 12 of the NASCAR rule book, specifically member conduct guidelines.

So that was finally the end of it all, right? Actually no.

Thursday evening the Driver's Council issued a statement supporting Tony. They went on to say, "We as drivers believe Tony has the right to speak his opinion on topics that pertain to a sport that he has spent nearly two decades helping build as both a driver and an owner. While we do not condone drivers lashing out freely at NASCAR, we do feel Tony was in his rights to state his opinion. We as a Council support him and do not agree with the fine. Therefore, we fellow council members have agreed to contribute equally to paying his fine."

So the drivers have all banded together to pay the $35,000 to NASCAR.

All this excitement and we haven't even run the race! Looking at Sunday's race I have to say even that's a factor. I like the fact that NASCAR and the track agreed to move it from its normal Saturday night slot to a Sunday afternoon race.

Yes, last year we actually did run it on Sunday but that was simply because Mother Nature rained Saturday's race out.

You all have heard me preach in the past that while I like Saturday night racing, I think we've gone overboard with too many of them, so I'm happy we this was moved to Sunday. I expect another great short-track battle just as we saw at Martinsville and at Bristol. I think unlike Martinsville or Bristol that fresh tires will give drivers a better advantage at Richmond. Also don't forget that Goodyear has brought a new right-side compound to Richmond versus what they had a year ago.

So who should you keep your eye on Sunday? I think we need to keep a close eye on the guy who dominated this race a year ago and that was Kurt Busch. With that said, we all would be foolish to count out any of the four Joe Gibbs Racing drivers. We all know any one of them can win at every single track we go to.

Kevin Harvick, from Stewart-Haas Racing, is another one we better factor in.

There are two teammates who have a lot of momentum and might play a role Sunday: Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Chase Elliott of Hendrick Motorsports. Chase Elliott is coming off a season and career-best finish of fourth at Bristol last week. That surprised a lot of folks. He really runs well at Richmond so who knows what might happen there with him.

We all know what happened to Dale Jr. at Bristol. His ECU unit powered down his engine literally taking the green flag. He lost two laps as the team rebooted his ECU unit. Dale Jr. fought, scratched and clawed his way back to get on the lead lap and unbelievably at the end of the day, with Carl Edwards taking his first checkered flag of the season, there was Dale Jr. in second.

Earnhardt, who is still seeking his first vicrtory of 2016, obviously hopes to build on that at Richmond and it will be interesting to see if he can.