NASCAR: 5 Lessons Learned From The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond
Here are five lessons learned from Richmond. Mandatory Credit: Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports
The Final race of the regular season is over and we now know the 16 drivers heading into the Chase. Before we move forward into the post season though, here are five lessons learned from Richmond.
The Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond signals the end of the regular season and the start of the Chase in NASCAR.
After a race filled with cautions we now know the 16 drivers who will be competing in the Chase.
Richmond saw drivers slide all over the track, and several Chase hopefuls felt the pressure of the post season closing in on them on Saturday night. The race also helped show which drivers look strong heading into the rest of the year and which ones won’t make it out of the first round of the Chase.
Toyota for example, looked extremely strong throughout the race on Saturday night. Should fans expect them to continue looking strong in the Chase too?
Kevin Harvick had issues with this pit crew last week and changes were made to the group for Richmond. Were they able to learn their lessons from the poor performance at Darlington?
The last race of the regular season always adds a ton of pressure to drivers trying to make the post season and here are five lessons learned from Saturday night as we get ready for the Chase.
Toyota continued their strong season performance at Richmond. Mandatory Credit: Michael Shroyer-USA TODAY Sports
Toyota Shows Dominance Heading Into The Chase
From a Toyota driver winning the pole, to the top four positions of the race being held by Toyota drivers early on, and a Toyota driver winning the race, Toyota as a manufacturer remains dominant with their drivers and cars heading into the Chase.
This regular season has been all about who can keep up with Toyota as a manufacturer. Many drivers have tried but only a few have been successful. Now as the Chase is starting up Toyota continues to look like the manufacturer leading the rest of the NASCAR field.
Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards have all been fantastic this season, specifically Busch and Hamlin, and after Richmond they showed that they will be major players in the Chase.
Martin Truex Jr. won two of NASCAR’s biggest races this season and now looks like he could bring Furniture Row Racing their first championship this year.
It’s no surprise that Toyota drivers ran well at Richmond, they’ve run well all season, and Richmond taught us about Toyota is that there is no slowing this manufacturer down heading into the Chase and if another team and manufacturer don’t step up soon, we could see a battle at Homestead for the Championship between all Toyota drivers.
Ryan Blaney was impressive this season. It looks like the pressure of the Chase may have been too much for the young driver though. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Blaney Wasn’t Ready For The Chase
Before Chris Buescher became the first rookie to win a race this year, Ryan Blaney and Chase Elliot were the two drivers everyone was watching heading into the Chase.
At one point in the season it looked like both Elliot an Blaney could potentially make the Chase, but as the post season grew closer, Blaney struggled at some tracks and it put him further back in the points than he would have liked.
Richmond was his only chance to try and make up a little ground, but realistically he more than likely wasn’t going to make the Chase on points as he was too far back in the standings. He needed to win to get in.
Unfortunately when the Federated Auto Parts 400 started, Blaney was the first car out of the race. Early damage to the 21 car, thanks to a flat tire, sent him to the garage and any chance he had of winning the race was lost.
Blaney had a great rookie season but thinking he would make the Chase was a little ambitious. The pressure of the post-season proved to be too much for the young driver, and he will have to wait until next year to try and make the Chase again.
Kevin Harvick had a lot to say about his pit crew last week. Will he take the blame this week for his pit road penalty? Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Harvick’s Pit Crew Isn’t The Only Problem
Last week Kevin Harvick talked about his displeasure with his pit crew and it led to some changes on the 4 team. For the most part Harvick was right to be upset; there’s been several races now where he’s been out in front, only for his pit crew to mess up on a stop and send him backwards.
Richmond was a chance for the pit crew of the 4 team to show that they were ready for the Chase and ready to learn from their mistakes. They were pretty solid Saturday night, but the struggles for the 4 team continue, and this time it was the drivers fault.
Kevin Harvick was caught speeding on pit road and it sent him to the back from the top 10.
Harvick’s penalty though is just one part of the issues the 4 team has had all season. They can’t seem to work their issues out, and when they do, another challenge shows up for them. For
Harvick to call out his pit crew one week and then be the reason why they don’t win the next shows that this group is still not at a championship level.
It was easy to blame Harvick’s pit crew for his loss at Darlington last week, but at Richmond it wasn’t the pit crew that was the issue, it was the driver himself. The 4 team has a lot of work to do if they hope to be a factor in the Chase, and Saturday night’s race was just another reminder of how the whole team is struggling, not just the pit crew.
Trevor Bayne and the 6 team needed to win to make the Chase, but instead of taking a risk on a different pit strategy they just followed the leaders. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Teams Need To Know When To Take a Risk
Tires seemed to be a major issue at Richmond. There were more than 10 cautions for Saturday night’s race and a majority of them came from drivers spinning out because of a tire going down.
As the race started to come to an end, there were certain drivers who could only make the Chase by winning a race. The only way they would win the race though, would be if they took a gamble and tried to get off of the same pit pattern as the lead cars.
They needed to pit when the leaders stayed out, and hope for the right amount of cautions to put them out in front by the time the race ended.
Teams who didn’t take a risk stayed with the leaders and didn’t move up the standings. It’s hard to imagine why teams like the 47 and 6 groups didn’t try to change up their strategy with all the cautions happening at Richmond, and they had nothing to really lose by getting off schedule with the lead cars.
Kasey Kahne and the 5 team took a risk with one of their late race pit stops at Richmond and it almost paid off for them. Kahne finished sixth and had a shot at winning the race at the end, he was in a much better position than he would have been thanks to his risky pit stop.
Than there is Chris Buescher, who would pit during a stretch of green flag racing when he thought he had a tire going down. Buescher needed a solid finish to hold his spot in the top 30, and didn’t want to take the risk of a tire going down and potentially ending his night early.
It was a good thing Buescher and the 34 team didn’t take a risk though, as after he went to pit road and got new tires, his old set did have a flat. They played it safe, and now Chris Buescher is going to be in the post season.
Hopefully Richmond will serve as a constant reminder of how important it is for drivers and teams to figure out when or when not to take a risk to try and make it through the Chase.
Denny Hamlin is at his best heading into the Chase. Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Hamlin Looks Better Than He Has In Years
If having four Toyota’s run up front for a big part of the race makes the manufacturer look like it’s the best in NASCAR, adding another Toyota victory makes them look like they are unstoppable.
Denny Hamlin has always been good at Richmond and Saturday night he showed once again how good he is at short track racing.
Not only did he start from the pole, he led a lot laps and was untouchable on restarts. No matter how many cautions there were, it seemed like no one could catch Hamlin as he controlled the rest of the field and was always able to pull away.
While a lot of people have been focusing on Kyle Busch as the top driver of Joe Gibbs Racing, he is the defending champion and has four wins this year, Hamlin is having one of his best years this season and the 11 team is set to have a real chance at winning the championship.
With his third win of the season and Toyota dominance throughout the season, Denny Hamlin and the 11 team are looking to win a second consecutive championship for JGR and have the momentum behind them right now to do it.
What lessons did you learn from Richmond? What drivers do you think will perform the best in the Chase? Let us know in the comments below. And as always, for more NASCAR news head over to BeyondTheFlag.com.
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