By Roy J. Akers-www.skyviewsports.net – Opinion
Richmond marks NASCAR’s first post-Olympics race that begins the four race sprint to the playoffs. A handful of drivers have a chance to make it on points for the last four spots but all will tell you a win, regardless of points will put you in the 16 driver dance. (Read the story here) A driver who entered Richmond in 32nd place in points wins the race.
Checkered Flag
The 2024 season has not been kind to Austin Dillon. At Richmond, he ran more laps in the top five than he had the entire season. Dillon has more DNF’s this season than top ten finishes (3/2). Dillon dueled with Logano for a couple of dozen laps with Dillon finally going around the 22 with 78 laps to go. Just laps later, the fastest car in Stage three ran down race leader Denny Hamlin. Earlier in the night, Dillon was 7th after Stage one and 5th in Stage two but no one outside of his team at Richard Childress Racing was paying attention. Dillon dueled with the #11 for nearly 40 laps before Dillon finally went around him with 28 laps to go. There were NO cautions in the race until under two laps to go when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got loose forcing overtime . AD quickly lost the overtime lead to Logano and led him by a car length before Dillon caught him and spun him out for his first win in over two years. Dillon explains this way. “I don’t know man, it’s been two years and this is the first car I’ve had a shot to win,” Dillon said when asked if his actions were fair by NBC.
Furthermore, Dillon explains. “I felt like with two to go, we were the fastest car … I hate to do that but sometimes you just got to have it. I have to thank the good Lord above. It’s been tough over the last two years, man. I care about [Richard Childress Racing], my wife, and this is my first … it means a lot. I hate it, but I had to do it.” Dillon came into the race in 32nd place and is now in the 2024 NASCAR playoffs.
Near Winners
Denny Hamlin loves Richmond. It is his home venue on the circuit. In the last seven Cup races at the track, Hamlin has won the race twice, had four additional races in the top five and one more in the top ten, making him a . Hamlin is a lock for a great finish and his pole after qualifying should give fans a lock if you are a fantasy player, Denny fan or are placing a bet. Hamlin did not disappoint at Richmond. He led the race 7 times for 125 laps and nearly won his sixth Richmond race. Christopher Bell and Daniel Suarez led the most laps in the race along with Hamlin but fell off for different reasons. The overtime shootout saw Denny lose a spot and instead of racing along side Dillon, Joey Logano took the spot away. Hamlin did have the lead for about a football field coming down 4th turn of the final lap but was spun out by Dillon in the winners final move. Fi
Suarez started a trend
Daniel Suarez had all eyes on him and it was because of the option tires NASCAR authorized for the race. Suarez went around multiple drivers and other teams were licking their chops to put the tires on the machines at different times during the race. When Suarez went around Hamlin on lap 95, he would set off a chain of leaders where six drivers would share the Stage two lead. Suarez led Bell by over two seconds in the closing laps with a set of Option Reds to use in the final stage.
The 2023 Defending Champion…. falters
Chris Buescher is one of the drivers on the 2024 bubble. He won the race in 2023, but has not been in top form for the second half of the NASCAR regular season. He spoke of the race importance with reporters earlier in the week. Buescher was not really a factor in the race. Buescher was 8th after Stage one, 25th after Stage two and just inside the top 20 for the race.
Don’t speed in the pits
Christopher Bell did everything to pass Denny Hamlin in stage one and lapped traffic foiled him from taking the lead. Lap 47 is where he became the second leader of the day where he used a high pass to get around the #11. Bell cruised from there and led the final 23 laps for the stage one win and playoff bonus point. Bell was hit on the front left side leaving the pits before stage two. Bell found his way back to the lead after Suarez’ tires fell off midway through stage two. Still, Bell ran up front until a speeding penalty for speeding in the pits cost him a lap when he had a pit drive through penalty.
Option Reds helped McDowell
Option red tires also allowed Michael McDowell to take a race where he was going nowhere and allowed him to improve 20 spots early in stage two. McDowell ran as high as 7th after running as low as 30th place. This was McDowell’s highwater mark for the night. He sunk to 15th in the latter stages of the race. “I am proud of everyone on the Love’s RV Stop Ford Dark Horse team. The run before the caution I had to race the 24 and 77 really hard for a top-10. We were then too loose. We tried two tires at the end and got a top 15. Travis made a great call in the beginning to take reds. We went from free pass to seventh. That changed our night and put us in contention.”
Joey has a right to be mad
Joey Logano runs well at Richmond. He has four top-five finishes and two more in the top ten in seven races. He is 15th in points but won this year in Nashville and the All-Star race so his post season is secured. Still, it has not been a typical Cup season for Logano. Logano ran well all night and was a serious factor running in the top five all night. Logano quickly took control in overtime when Dillon did not get a good jump. With a desperate #3 spinning him out, Logano slammed the wall and finished 19th. He was understandably upset after the race. “That’s chickensh*t, there’s no doubt about it,” Logano said. “Four car lengths back, not even close, then he wrecks [Hamlin] to go along with it and he’s going to go up there and praise God and everything with his baby, it’s a bunch of BS, it’s not even close.”
Waiting for Michigan
Martin Truex Jr. has had a 2024 season loaded with bad luck. Truex ran well the first 175 laps at Richmond where a pit stop turned disastrous as the lone lugnut on his Bass Pro Shops Machine would not lock. Fixing it cost MT Jr. a bunch of time and his top four performance sent him to 11th. Truex Jr. finished Stage 2 in 11th and in just laps later, his engine blew up and expired. In our preview for the Richmond race, Truex Jr. had an 108 point lead over the 16th place drivers. Bubba Wallace and others did not flip the track on him. Truex Jr. on the end of his race. “It hiccupped once going down the backstretch, and then it started missing. It’s like it broke a valve spring or something and then it kind of self-disintegrated, self-destructed really quickly. I don’t know. One of those them days.” Truex finishes 37th and last at Richmond. Truex Jr. has no wins in 2024 in his announced final season in the Cup series.
Roy J. Akers is a multi-media reporter and covers several sports for www.skyviewsports.net